Be Reel: Saw

In the spirit of Halloween, my friends and I recently decided to watch Saw. Although we didn’t think so at the time, watching the movie turned out to be a good idea. From the opening scene, where photographer Adam wakes up in a bathtub across from oncologist Lawrence Gordon who are both chained to different poles, the audience is captivated by the sheer mystery of the story. The dead body in between the two, paired with the cassettes in the men’s pockets only add to the mystery that continues throughout the entire movie. The lack of background information given, isolated setting, and ultimatums given to the characters created suspense between the characters and for the audience-- all of which are deliberate choices the producers made to set the tone of the film. The seemingly dead body positioned in between the two men leads the audience to believe that that is the fate to come of the two main characters; however, the psychopath who kidnapped them establishes many ‘activities’ for the two before that happens. The perpetrator targets those who he feels have done something wrong, specifically those who are not living the right way in his eyes, and the creators of film chose to explain this with flashbacks and glimpses into the two individuals’ pasts and with personal anecdotes they are forced to share with one another in order to build trust. The isolated setting paired with the fear of what the unknown perpetrator may do next leads the audience constantly guessing at what is to come, but never prepared for what happens next.

In my opinion, I thought the producers took a very unconventional approach at developing this narrative as a horror film. Usually, horror films consist of the paranormal, a lot of gore, and/or a known perpetrator that targets the characters throughout the story. This film, on the contrary, has a psychotic individual as the perpetrator, but little is known about him besides what he has done during his previous crimes. Overall, this film was more realistic in the sense that the underlying story could very well happen in real life. the fear that struck the audience watching was not due to ‘jump scares’ or other things usually present in horror films, but rather due to the fear that this could happen to one of them. Through creating an unorthodox twist to horror films, I believe the producers expanded their audience to try and include those who usually do not watch these types of films, as well as those who do. One scene in particular that I believe captures this is one in which Lawrence Gordon is seen talking to his daughter before she goes to bed and everything is seemingly normal throughout the scene. This establishes empathy with the audience, which is why I believe a broader audience can relate to this film, and is also shown right before things start to go wrong the Lawrence, further contrasting the normality of the film with the horror aspect that people are ultimately drawn to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YegA1WNRKnU

This is a scene in which the two men are sharing information with one another and are gaining trust through telling stories about their pasts and actions.

Be Reel rating: good-good