WattMag: Spooky November Issue

Featured Movie: Saw

Featured Movie: Saw

By: imbethqui

Are you fond of playing games? What if the game is for your life?

Jigsaw, a serial murderer, places individuals into traps for having wasted or misused their lives; each trap serving the purpose of testing the victim's will to live. As such, these devices force subjects into near-death situations where they are typically given the opportunity to either save themselves or die.

Jigsaw or The Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer in real life, is a fictional character from the Saw franchise.

Saw is a 2004 American independent horror film directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell.

It was first screened on January 19, 2004. Lionsgate picked up the rights and released the film in the United States and Canada on October 29, 2004. Critical responses were generally mixed and divided, but the film gained a cult following. The success of the film prompted a green-light of a sequel soon after Saw's opening weekend, which was released the following October.

The film will be theatrically re-released by Lionsgate for a period of one week on October 31, 2014, celebrating its tenth anniversary.

What makes this movie a must watch this Halloween?

This movie and all its sequels were best known for Jigsaw’s “traps” and “games”. In accordance with Jigsaw's ideology, the traps are meant to act as a form of immediate rehabilitation for the subject upon completion, work rewarding the survivor with a new lease on life and ridding them of their vices (that is if the subject doesn't fail and die, which is usually the case in the films)

And speaking of traps, here are some of the “most loved” traps in the movie. Dare to be in one of these?

*The Bathroom

The bathroom trap was the main game of the first film, and involved two players, Adam Stanheight and his opponent Dr. Lawrence Gordon. Both men were chained at the ankle to pipes at opposite ends of a dilapidated, industrial bathroom. Between them laid what appeared to be a dead man, holding a tape player in one hand, and a gun in the other. Both men found tapes in their pockets which gave each of them instructions on how to win. Lawrence had to kill Adam before 6AM, if he failed his wife and daughter would be killed, and he would be left to rot. Adam, on the other hand, had to escape before 6AM, or risk suffering the same fate. Using a hidden message from one of the tapes, Adam found hacksaws hidden in the toilet. Jigsaw intended for both men to saw their feet off, Lawrence would need to do so in order to reach the gun, and Adam would need to saw his foot off to escape before Lawrence could kill him.

*The Razor Wire Maze

Paul Leahy woke up mostly naked in a fenced-in area within a basement. Between him and the door was a gauntlet of densely strung together razor wire which a tape informed him that he had to navigate through in order to find an exit. Hidden somewhere in the fencing was a hole which would have served as a way out of the maze, but the hole was located in a spot where the victim was not likely to look. The door leading out of the basement was set to close and lock on a timer, and the victim was required to escape before the timer went off.

*The Flammable Jelly

Mark Wilson was stripped nude and placed in a dark cellar with broken glass covering the floor. A tape informed him that there was a slow acting poison in his blood and the antidote was locked in a safe, the combination to which was amongst thousands of numbers scrawled on to walls. Mark's body was smeared in a flamable substance, and he only had a lit candle for light. Mark was burned alive when he fumbled with the candle.

*The Reverse Beartrap

Amanda Young woke up strapped to a chair, in a dimly lit room, with a large metal device locked into her mouth. A video tape showing Billy the Puppet , and a voice-over of Jigsaw explained that the device on her head was hooked into her upper and lower jaw. When activated, she would have sixty seconds to unlock it. If she failed to do so, it would rip her jaw apart, killing her instantly. The key needed to remove the device was in the stomach of Amanda's drug dealer, Donnie Greco, who was lying across the room (paralyzed). When Amanda escaped her restraints, she inadvertently activated the timer. She went over to Donnie, realizing he was actually alive, just heavily tranquilized. With no other options, Amanda took a scalpel next to him and cut through his stomach, retrieved the key and freed herself from the trap with one second to spare. After this Billy rides out on his tricycle, and congratulates her on her survival.

*Drill Chair

When Detective Sing and Detective Tapp find Jigsaw's lair, they find that there is a victim there in another one of Jigsaw's traps. This trap involved two power drills attached to the sides of the chair. Over time, the drills would move closer to the victim's head. Sing orders Jigsaw to release him, only for him to say that a key is needed to stop the trap. Sing didn't know what key was needed to unlock the neck brace, so he shot the trap repetitively until the drills paused, saving the victim's life. TRIVIA

§ Originally, Adam and Lawrence were to be trapped in a lift or a basement. (SAW I)

§ Director James Wan created Billy the Puppet for the film.

§ All the people killed in the film are men.

§ All corpses seen in the film were the actual actors, except for Mark Wilson's burnt corpse which is a dummy.

§ Shawnee Smith (Amanda) filmed all her scenes in one day, and was sick.

§ When Lawrence starts cutting his foot, actor Cary Elwes (Lawrence) actually scratched his foot despite the saw being blunt.

§ Director James Wan did not get paid and instead got a percentage of the profits.

§ After Lawrence cut off his foot in a scene, where he tries to shoot at Zep with empty revolver, his presumably severed right foot isn't removed, actor is only wearing black shaggy sock.

§ Despite Jigsaw claiming he detests killing (Saw II) he orders Zep to kill Lawrence's family if he fails his game.

Now, can you say that you are living your life with sense and value?