The Saw Franchise
 

o.k,a bit of talk about the saw films over on the halloween/myers thread,so thought id start one.sorry if there is one?
anyway i really enjoyed the 1st film,but feel that the rest are basicly the same!
traps and revenge!
good idea to start with but i feel this had its day after saw2?
i dont think the latest in 3d will be the last though!give it a few years and
there will be another instalment.

When the "www dust" settles and the "anti-hype" and "bash campaigns" are getting reserved for something else by that part of the community who grew up with Freddy, Jason and Michael, yet has to label the "Jigsaw" adventures "uninspiredl"/"more of the same" etc:loco:, many fans and critcs will look back at the "Saw" series with a far higher degree of appreciation.;)
Let's face it, we never had a genre franchise which made quite the same effort to keep the plot flowing, continuing the storyline where others would have already ignored the events of the previous installments, thrown in a mysterious cult or sent Jigsaw into space.:pound:
"Saw" is for the 00's what the "Elm Street" movies were for the 80's.:popcorn:

I disagree.
First saw was a new and fresh horror film and the next 2 sequels were not that bad but thats where it should have ended. All the movies after were riddled with plot holes and stories became so far fetched for a non supernatural villian.

Peter with you tal;king about Freddy, Jason and Michael, those are VERY different kinda movies. Mianly as they are not human villians so you can make up really far fetched storys. Yes some of the sequels are bad but still they kept the main theme of the villain and all were slasher flicks.

I respect your view, nekromantik, but nevertheless I have to keep disagreeing with you.:pop2::)

In the end, regardless of "Saw" starting out like a "Se7en"-esque thriller, what we have here is another HORROR-franchise- and compared to the regular contradicting plot-chaos, loss of continuity and sudden lapses in quality in the long-running-likes of the "Friday, the 13th"-, "Halloween", and "Elm Street" series, the "Saw" movies have kept their storyline actually going till the (supposed) end, with each entry keeping up (to a more or lesser degree) the same level of quality production-, direction- and performancewise (antother thing NOT to be taken for granted with horror franchises;)).
I find "Saw" to be closest to the "Elm Street" movies in the sense that the series has/had a studio behind it that actually cared (and grew based on the success of the series:woot:).
Unlike "Friday" or "Halloween", the "Elm Street" flicks actually reflected on the era they were made in. The same goes- from my pov- for the "Saw" outings, which are/were basically the only current running genre franchise which bothered to comment on the present age we're living in.:popcorn:

I agree with you Peter. I think the series is smarter, better and more fun than people give it credit for. And I also agree that quality wise I'd actually say it's better than a lot of the franchises that we view through rose tinted specs because we grew up with them. Yet Saw does seem to have this stigma attached to it.

There is a lot of suspension of disbelief needed, especially after part three (or 4 if you know what I mean), and if you can't do that then yes, the series isn't for you, but if you can then I think they're a good time myself.

I do think they should stick to ending it with Saw 3D. While the ending was predictable it was also fitting. Plus it means I can get a nice complete blu ray box set without worrying about another one coming out!

I think the Saw franchise is pretty unique as it's a series of "extreme thrillers" who seemingly flirt with the Italian giallo genre as well as the US survival horror genre.
I really think we need (and will get) a part 8 though,because 7 was disappointing in imo and really was no fitting ending.
There's also a lot left unexplained.

If you're into Saw,check out:
House of Jigsaw - Powered by vBulletin

There are way too many plot holes and random story changes to keep it going IMO.
They tried to keep it going for as long as possible, if you look at box office sales for saw films you will see it started to go down with the last 3. last years saw did patheticly bad so they decided to end it finally and to go against Paranormal Activity 2 they added 3D and delayed it to after PA2 is released.

I find it to be the only fitting ending at this point. Without spoiling the exact ending, they used the only thing that was really left in the series arsenal to tie it up into a relatively neat bow. I think if they do continue they'll waste that, because there's nothing else left.

Really did enjoy the first Saw when it came out. On second viewing a few years later it had lost most of it's impact but still a decent film. Not bothered with any of the others though I will probably pick up the boxset of the lot one day if I ever see it going cheaply.

People tend to forget that most the Fridays or Halloweens were not actually very good but with Saw we can't look back with Nostalgic eyes like we can do with the Elm St series.

I'm sure when I get around to picking up the lot they won't be very good but I'll probably get my moneys worth out of them.

Looks like there is a new one on the way!

Lionsgate Hires Writers for New Sequel SAW: Legacy - iHorror