Saw IV

I can't even begin to give an explanation as to why I willingly watched Saw IV, but I can't give a rational explanation as to why I watched Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Hostel or Hostel II. But the sad reality is that I have seen all six of these movies. Maybe they are like car wrecks and I fit the standard cliched observer. I don't want to look, I know what I will see is awful and yet I am irresistibly drawn to take a peak and low and behold what I see is not only awful but I feel shame and guilt that I did what I just did.

The Saw films and the Hostel films are capitalizing on a new trend towards exploitation. If you can think up elaborate and bloody ways to kill people, you should cram it into a poorly formulated plot structure and hope that horror fans desperate for good horror film making (and I do think there have been examples of it out there) will be duped by the pseudo-intelligence of the film. The main problem seems to be that the people involved with the film think they are cleverer than they actually are.

I can scarcely remember the plot of any of the Saw films beyond two things. A man called Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) kidnaps people puts them in elaborate death scenarios with a slim opportunity to survive which somehow purifies them of their sins. The other thing is that inevitably there is a cop/FBI investigator who is the dumbest guy or gal around. In fact that pretty much sums up every single person who comes into Jigsaw's circle. The world is filled with people who couldn't make a good decision if it reared up and gave them a swift kick in the ass.

Saw IV may be the most convoluted of them all as it begins with the notion of Jigsaw finally being dead and yet he still manages to leave a body trail longer than Jason. There are sad attempts to explain Jigsaw's evolution in poorly written flashbacks. The amount of work this guy had to put into his murders is absolutely exhausting and apparently at no time was he concerned that someone might just go wait a minute why don't I do x instead of y. I actually found myself asking repeatedly why does he just do this.

As the film got more convoluted and cops continue to do things that are beyond asinine, including one FBI agent who must truly be the dumbest person to ever graduate from the academy. How come not one of these so called Jigsaw experts ever sees that running brashly into a situation and listening to one of his tape recordings is basically a recipe for disaster.

But truly the saddest testament to the Saw films is that although I've glimpsed the car wreck (four times now) and although I've felt the shame afterwards and despite my clear disdain for this entire enterprise, come next fall when Saw V comes out (yes it is green lit and currently being written as is Saw VI) I'll likely find myself at the theater asking myself the same question "why the hell did I agree to see this, again?"