I may attempt to see Saw X this week so I wanted to try and see as much of the series as possible before hand so I plowed forward into Saw 3-D or Saw: The Final Chapter as it was also called and we know was also a big stinky lie. Saw 3-D was directed by Kevin Greutert who also directed Saw VI as well as the latest installment Saw X. Back writing once again is Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan who both co-wrote parts 4, 5, and 6 before this. The films stars once again Tobin Bell as Jigsaw. I mean how could you have a Saw film without Jigsaw, am I right? This ain't no Season of the Witch, ya know! Also back is Costas Mandylor as Jigsaw's apprentice Detetive Mark Hoffman as well as Betsy Russell who returns as Jill Tuck, John Kramer's ex-wife. Making a surprise return is Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon who we met in the very first movie. Two other interesting names appear here as well; first is former lead singer of Linkin Park Chester Bennington as Evan one of the latest "players" in a series of deadly games. Also starring is Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints and Suicide Kings) as Bobby Dagen a man who falsely claims to be a survivor of a previous Jigsaw trap.
Hoffman is left stitching himself up after barely escaping the trap (the same one Kramer used on Amanda Young) that Jill put him in at the end of the previous film. Hoffman continues to set up elaborate traps including one with a group of white supremacists as the victims. Dagen runs a support group for people who has survived other Jigsaw traps. Soon after, Dagen finds himself in a real Jigsaw game where he has to try and save his wife. I gotta say for the most part, modern day 3-D movies do nothing for me as I hate wearing glasses over my glasses in order to see the 3-D aspects. It's hokey and for the most part unnecessary. I mean has anyone ever said "That movie would have been trash if it wasn't for the excellent 3-D effects!"? I'm thinking no, never. Originally meant to be two different films as well as the final ending of the series but due to Saw VI's low box office numbers the studio decided to do it in one film.
Somehow I missed a show named Scream Queens which was a competition show designed to pick a new "Scream Queen" to appear in horror films. Saw 3-D features not one but two winners of the show. Tanedra Howard returned as Simone who was the girl who cut off her own arm in Saw VI, and Gabby West as Kara one of the white supremacists. I find myself conflicted especially since I have not enjoyed a Saw franchise film very much since Saw III. I appreciate the series as a whole (as a trilogy this would have been an instant classic series) I like the theme but somewhere the story line changed. The "games" are no longer a test of morality or the ability to follow instructions or even the ability to work together as have all been featured in previous films. Rather we have the traps that are designed just to torture and kill that Amanda and later Hoffman designed. So some of the story changed and I'm not really sure if that's what has turned this for me but it all just seems pointless gore to me now. They used more than twenty five gallons of fake blood here nearly three times the amount used in Saw II. It's also feeling a little repetitive as well. Easily the worst film of the series with the Elwes' parts being the only redeeming quality of the film. Two body bags out of five. Jigsaw and Spiral are the only two films left in the Saw universe for me to see before the latest film Saw X. I've seen Jigsaw but for the life of me I cannot remember a damn thing about it and Spiral I've never seen. We'll see what happens.
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