• Director: James Wan
• With: Cary Elwes, Leigh Wannell, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith, Mike Butters, Michael Emerson, Paul Gutrecht, Benito Martinez, Makenzie Vega, Tobin Bell
• Music by: Charlie Clouser
• Duration: 1h43
• Studio: Twisted Pictures & Lionsgate Pictures
• Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

Waking up in a bathroom, two men, Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon, discover they have been captured by the infamous Jigsaw Killer. The men must escape before time runs out, otherwise, they will face the deadly consequences.

Review:

Ingenious is what this movie is! Ingenious from start to finish! When you think you got it thought through you’re in for another surprise!

At the time, almost twenty years ago already, when this was released this movie was deemed one of the most cruel horror/thriller movies. And it became the first in a franchise that even twenty years later still spawns new instalments (Saw X is to be released soon).

Of all Saw movies this is the best one as it is intricately smart and not the torture porn it became after this one (don’t get me wrong, I do love a movie that is bloody and gore and such but this movie proved we didn’t need that)

And there is an amazing cast in this movie: Danny Glover, Cary Elwes and Ken Leung all proved their worth in other movies and tv-shows.

The only thing that I find disturbing, especially in hindsight and rewatching it years after its release, is the way the people in traps trying to get out of them are filmed… the going round them in a very fast pace and blurring out things that way is something that must have been popular then but now it just feels a bit amateurish… they repeat this technique in the follow ups and it feels clumsy. But like many other filming techniques used in earlier decades, they don’t always age well…

What I do like is the soundtrack by Charlie Clouser who returns for every single Saw movie so far! Especially the ‘Hello, Zep’ musical track (that became the theme of Saw) is amazing!

The posters for these movies are always so great but not for the faint of heart, very brutal!

For those who can’t get enough of this franchise, there is also a one issue comic called Saw: Rebirth that had been used for the animated short film with the same name. (you can find it on youtube)

https://youtu.be/BCe03k0HeG0?si=1OQN7fszoFlZwGWs