It started in with the dollar theater when one of my friends who is studying wanted to see a movie there. Unknowingly he picked the right person as I can watch a movie anytime. As the dollar theater was closed, we landed up in a regular theater and saw SAW IV.
The Production Companies for the movie series are Lions Gate Films and Twisted Pictures. Special effects in the movie are by "Switch VFX". I like the introduction of Lions Gate Films with the mechanised gears as it tells me the movie is going to make my brain work! I like the introduction of Twisted Pictures in the beginning as the words "Twisted Pictures" are encased in a barbed wire that is tightened around the words by a spinning nail resulting in the barbed wires leaving marks on the words. Wonder what the thought was in the introduction. the movie made by this company is going to scar my soul?
For the uninitiated, the series is about a psycho killer who picks and profiles his subjects carefully. he analyzes their psyche and then gives them tasks to perform based on their habits/wrong-doings. In each task, the subject has to either kill someone or hurt themselves inorder to save their own life or the life of a loved one thus redeeming themselves of their sins. The task involve inflicting a lot of pain and torture that usually leaves the subjects scarred or dis-membered for life if they manage to complete the task in the stipulated timeframe and more often then not, the result is death for the victim.
Cast
Tobin Bell . Jigsaw / John Kramer
Costas Mandylor . Hoffman
Scott Patterson . Agent Strahm
Betsy Russell . Jill
Lyriq Bent . Rigg
Athena Karkanis . Agent Perez
Justin Louis . Art
Simon Reynolds . Lamanna
Donnie Wahlberg . Eric Mathews
Angus Macfadyen . Jeff
Shawnee Smith . Amanda
Bahar Soomekh . Lynn
Dina Meyer . Kerry
Mike Realba . Fisk
Marty Adams . Ivan
Made in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, SAW IV is a psycho-thriller that has a lot of blood and gore. The movie is composed of various intersecting sub-plots that make the whole movie. Everyone in the cast plays their part without overdoing anything. As the movie has various plots, the lead in the movie changes with each plot at differnt times.Though for this movie, officer Rigg can be called the lead as his character has the beefiest sub-plot. For the series, JIGSAW is certainly the protagonist.
The movie totally lives upto its rating of "R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture throughout, and for language" and starts with the autopsy of the serial-killer JIGSAW. Having recently read a Robin Cook book where there were many scens of autopsies described in detail, I must say that I enjoyed this autopsy scene very much as the movie showed layer-by-layer details of the human anotamy clearly. At first I thought the director was just trying to create shock-value by making the scene so gruesome. But this being the 4th installment in the series, the audience must come to expect such scenes from this series and I must say, the desired effect was achieved as the audiences’ attention was captured a 100% with the scene.
However, the scene is not just mindless gore and is very much relevent to the plot as even in death, JIGSAW leaves a tape with the message for the homicide detectives that says "You think it is over, but the games have just begun." Thus starts the twisting plots and gore that will leave you cringing as the victims have to make gut-wrenching choices or die! The movie has many such gory scenes that are vital to the plot and none of them are put there for the sake of the director’s convenience. The lack of irritating semi-nude girls killing away brain-cells with their incessant screaming makes the series more enjoyable.
The movie really gets under your skin and in your head as the serial-killer JIGSAW tests his victims at the edge of morality and the movie leaves you pondering - didn’t the subject deserve to die for the crimes they committed? Is JIGSAW really a vigilante cleaning up the scum of the earth and doing society a favour ? Should he be given a badge so he can catch many serial killers who kill just for the thrill of it(a La catch me if you can.)?
I must say that the watching this movie in the theater made my experience less enjoyable. I was not able to get the maximum chills from this movie as I was surrounded by so many people. I think this series is strictly made for DVD watching where you get comfy on your couch, turn out the lights and get maximum chills from the movie.
For those who enjoy twisted reading, IMDB has description of the gory scenes in the movie. enjoy!
https://imdb.com/title/tt0890870/parentalguide
If you cannot handle gore and violent killings, this series is not for you as it has many scenes of gory limb chopping, brains-exploding-in-you-face action scenes. If you have weak guts, you will puke! In that case, JIGSAW will make you watch many such movies back to back and "cure" you of your weak guts. LOL
However, If you like psycho thrillers that are a good mix of horror, terror, suspense and really get under your skin, this series is made just for you! Go to the store, buy the DVD and get twisted! The movie and the series is guaranteed to make your date cling to your arm, however, you can forget getting too comfy as it’ll also most likely make her puke . now thats really twisted. right;-)
! Spike!