This Friday—October 29th, 2010—is an important date to horror fans. On that day, Saw 3D, the seventh and officially final chapter of the Saw series, hits theaters. It will be the last time a Saw movie marks the coming of Halloween weekend.
Like it or not, the series is this decade's horror staple. The disembodied voice on the television spots is right: "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw." Since Halloween 2004, every year we've been treated with a new entry. Fitting then, as the decade comes to a close, so will this latest slasher icon. For the fans, it's the last hurrah. For the haters, it's time to find something new to complain about.
Kevin Greutert is the groundskeeper of Saw of sort. He came on board as an editor on the first film and continued this role for four sequels before stepping up as the director of Saw VI. Suffice it to say that he knows his Jigsaw inside out by now. Given the task of closing the book, Greutert feels that it's due time for the series to end, before it becomes a stale tradition.
"I do think that we do and should try to outdo ourselves and I'm just not sure how much longer that that process can be true to itself," he told the press at New York Comic-Con earlier this month. "The scope of the production is a lot bigger than any of the other Saw films. The idea was to go out with a bang, rather than go sideways or let itself deteriorate."
Betsy Russell, who plays Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill and has appeared in the series since Saw III, admitted that there's a certain responsibility that comes with a definitive (for now, says the skeptic) ending. "I was definitely feeling the pressure with this one. Just to do a great job and to end on a high note."
One of the ways it is raising the spectacle quotient is spelled out by its title: for the first time, Saw is going 3D. This fact is not exactly a very alluring attribute, at least not as much as it could've been if it wasn't arriving at the tail of many other 3D horror movies, but Greutert points out that many of those were post-conversion 3D that sought to apply the format after the fact, whereas his movie was actually shot in 3D, fully intended to be so since its conception. This, he believes, makes all the difference.
"This was shot with state-of-the-art cameras that are a lot more lightweight than any previous 3D films, so we're able to preserve the Saw style of doing a lot of stuff handheld and keeping the camera moving around a lot," said Greutert.
Another thing that sets the final chapter apart is the return of its original star Cary Elwes, back to bookend the film with his character Dr. Lawrence Gordon.
"It was a very pleasant surprise to find out that we finally got Cary Elwes back into the franchise," said Greutert. "It was something that we wanted to do and needed to do for a very long time."
Last we saw of him was at the end of the first Saw—alive, but having just amputated his own leg, he crawled away into the dark, fate unknown.
"I thought I was dead," Elwes said of his character's previously open-ended status. "I thought anyone who sawed his leg off with a rusty hacksaw is not gonna get very far, but you know, this is filmmaking."
In Saw 3D, Dr. Gordon meets up with many other survivors of Jigsaw's traps to form a support group. Through this, they somehow become involved in another game courtesy of Jigsaw, who's long been physically dead in the series but whose presence remains significant through the use of flashbacks, video instructions and several apprentices who carry on his work.
Ewles didn't exactly come back to the same condition he worked in his prior appearance. Back then, Saw was just a Sundance Film Festival indie by two young filmmakers from Australia making their feature debut. Six films later, it's arguably the biggest horror franchise today.
"It's incredible, really. I never expected it. I think I speak for the original filmmakers, James [Wan] and Leigh [Whannel], that none of us had any idea it would turn into this huge thing," said Elwes.
Being huge has its share of drawbacks. The Saw films, along with Eli Roth's Hostel, are the frequent targets of the derogatory "torture porn" moniker. The term is usually reserved for gore-heavy movies that linger in the victims' pain without a story of measurable worth. Not surprisingly, the term doesn't endear itself to the filmmakers.
"I don't really like the phrase," Greutert sighed. "To me, it sort of cheapens what [Saw] is, which is a psychological thriller. If it was just one scene after another of people getting tortured with no story through-line, then sure; but it's not that and everyone knows that. The only people who call it that are people who've never watched a Saw film."
Yes, of course they don't see it as pornography, but it's a hard sell to convince people that the elaborate torture scenes in these films—which are the methods the Jigsaw killer employs in punishing his victims—aren't what fans keep coming back to see.
Greutert believes that it's in a Saw film's best interest to keep up with its social issues and to feel "today," though he admitted that they might've gone overboard with the Healthcare angle for Saw VI, even if he insists that the plot was locked long before President Obama made Healthcare a hot button topic on the news.
For what it's worth, they do try to inject some drama (if not just irony) into the dilemmas faced by Jigsaw's victims. Most of his chosen ones are damaged in their own ways, and it takes Jigsaw's violent meddling for them to reevaluate their lives and perhaps, after a traumatic fight for survival, use their second chance to the fullest potential. Of course, considering that the most prominent of them use said second chance to keep getting involved in Jigsaw's perverse games in sequel after sequel, it's arguable just how thought-provoking they really want this scenario to be.
Betsy Russell is one cast member who takes the embedded message to heart. Admitting that she gets emotional over the Saw scripts and stories of inspired fans, Russell seems to view the Saw franchise as a profound cautionary tale that she hopes would be studied in college classes in the future.
"I do spiritual psychology and [the Saw fans] are very spiritual," said Russell. "They are getting the message behind Saw, which is appreciate your life, be grateful in every moment, make the best choices that you can, and forgiveness. If you really read between the lines and listen, that's, to me, what I take away from Jigsaw and his plan."
So she believes that Jigsaw is a force of good?
"I think behind everything that he's doing, in the end, his message is grattitude and making right choices. Yeah, for sure."
It's a statement that's sure to turn some heads if processed properly, but you can see how she could subscribe to that. Unlike most slasher icons, the Jigsaw killer doesn't inflict harm out of nature or sadism, but as a way to teach morality in a roundabout and grisly fashion. It's that grisly part that should be stated more, because if you don't find Saw's promotion of self-examination convincing, well hey, there's still splatters to get off to.
Elwes, a self-proclaimed horror fan who grew up with the British Hammer films and is now an admirer of Guillermo del Toro's horror films, evidently was not prepared for the level of gore when he saw the finished film.
"It's without a doubt the most graphically violent movie I've ever seen. Hands down, it's relentless. At one point, I was just laughing hysterically, it was so unbelievably intense," he said.
"It's not a film I want to sit through a second time. No way."
It would be interesting to see if Saw 3D can draw more people or not, either from the 3D novelty or the fact that it's the last one. At $17 million, its budget is small change compared to the average Hollywood production, but it's still the highest of all the Saw movies. While the first Saw was a giant success—made for a measly $1 million and grossed over $100 million worldwide—subsequent chapters had been on a downward curve since Saw II, but always made enough to greenlight the next one. The popular sentiment was that they'll keep making Saw movies until they stop being profitable. Since Saw VI grossed far less than its predecessors, the time has come to move on.
As for Elwes, who kept crediting his fans as the primary reason he's back in the horror game, all he wants is for them to go check it out.
"I don't know how many fans of Princess Bride will come and see Saw," he laughed.
"But I hope so."
