Saw (film series)
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| Saw film series | |
|---|---|
 Saw logo |
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| Directed by | James Wan Darren Lynn Bousman David Hackl |
| Produced by | Mark Burg Daniel Heffner Gregg Hoffman Oren Koules James Wan Leigh Whannell |
| Written by | Darren Lynn Bousman Marcus Dunstan Thomas Fenton Patrick Melton James Wan Leigh Whannell |
| Starring | Tobin Bell Shawnee Smith Leigh Whannell Cary Elwes Donnie Wahlberg Dina Meyer Lyriq Bent Bahar Soomekh Angus MacFadyen Costas Mandylor Scott Patterson |
| Music by | Charlie Clouser |
| Cinematography | David Armstrong |
| Editing by | Kevin Greutert |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate |
| Release date(s) | 2004 — present |
| Running time | 411 min. (total) |
| Country |  United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25.2 million (combined total of I-IV) |
| Gross revenue | Domestic (as of June 4, 2008) $285,763,829 Worldwide $548,874,868 |
The Saw film series is a horror franchise created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Four films have been released and two more are scheduled, with a video game planned for a 2009 release. The series is one of the most financially successful rated-R movie series of all time.
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[edit] Premise
The plot of the series revolves around the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell), a dying vigilante who kidnaps his victims and places them in deadly traps to test them and give them an opportunity to repent from their former lifestyle in which they took their lives for granted. The films typically consists of several small traps that are resolved within a short length of time and lay foundation for a larger trap which occupies most of the time of the movie. Each movie tends to conclude with a twist-ending that wraps things up, but also creates more questions to be answered in the following film.
[edit] Media
There have been four Saw movies in total, with a latest released on October 26, 2007.[1] Each film has been rated R by the MPAA, though each was originally rated NC-17. Each release made to date was released in theaters in consecutive years on the Friday before Halloween and released in an uncut version on DVD the following October.
[edit] Films
- Saw, released on October 29, 2004.
- Saw II, the first sequel, released on October 28, 2005.
- Saw III, the second sequel, released on October 27, 2006.
- Saw IV, the third sequel, released on October 26, 2007.
- Saw V, the fourth sequel began filming on March 17, 2008,[2], with a release date of October 24, 2008.[3]
- Another sequel has been planned to follow Saw V.
[edit] Video game
- Brash Entertainment LLC has licensed the film property from Lions Gate Entertainment to develop a video game with James Wan and Leigh Whannell[4] based on the Saw series.[5] The game was officially announced on January 30, 2008 and is set for release in October 2009 for all platforms.[6] It has been confirmed that Charlie Clouser, the music composer for the Saw films, is doing the music for the video game. Mark Berg explained that it will be a "walk-through" game, where the player picks up weapons along the way. The plot of the game will be set during the timeframe of the first film. Oren Koules revealed that the characters will be voiced by the corresponding actors from the films.[7]
[edit] Other media
- Saw, a 2003 short film which served as a promotional tool in pitching the film's potential to Lions Gate, included on the DVD release of Saw.
- Saw: Rebirth, a comic book prequel to the original film released to promote Saw II. Its continuity was later contradicted by events in Saw IV.
[edit] Future development
Tobin Bell has stated that he was signed on for a total of five sequels,[8] and Producer Oren Koules confirmed on June 22, 2007 that both Saw V and VI were being written at the time. Authors of the scripts include Marcus Dunstan, Thomas Fenton. Lionsgate has also hinted at a third writer. The name Brennan Nold was mentioned by Lionsgate founder Jon Feltheimer, in a recent interview.[9][10] Saw V started filming on March 17, 2008.[2]
[edit] Prominent characters
[edit] Synopsis
Flashbacks from Saw IV reveal the earliest roots of the series, which presented John Kramer as a successful civil engineer and devoted husband to his wife Jill, who opened a rehab clinic for drug addicts. Tragically, Jill lost her baby due to the inadvertent actions of a drug addict named Cecil, who fled the scene. John grieved over the loss of his child and distanced himself from his friends and wife.
Jill and John eventually drifted apart and divorced. After this turn of events, John found himself in a rut that he was too complacent with to give up. This lifestyle continued for some time until John became sick and was diagnosed with an inoperable frontal lobe tumor. Extremely bitter over his squandered life, John began observing the lives of others, and was even more depressed when he sees them squandering the gift of life that he had just been denied. After surviving a suicide attempt when he drove his car off a cliff, John became "reborn", and nurtured the idea that the only way for someone to change is for them to change themselves. He designed a test for Cecil and decided to use the rest of his existence to design more of these traps, changing the world "one person at a time", thus assuming the identity of the "Jigsaw Killer", so named because he removed a puzzle piece shaped chunk of flesh from those who do not escape his traps.
Few of John's victims are able to survive his brutal tests, which are often ironically symbolic representations of the problems in the victim's life and require them to undergo severe physical or psychological torture to escape. The first surviving victim, Amanda Young, views Jigsaw as her hero who ultimately changed her life for the better. Amanda, upon Jigsaw's request, agrees to become his protégé. She oversees Detective Eric Matthew's test in Saw II, but is angry when she observes that the test has not changed his selfishness and begins designing inescapable traps, much to Jigsaw's chagrin.
In the first Saw, Jigsaw has chained Dr. Lawrence Gordon, who diagnosed his cancer, in a dilapidated industrial washroom with Adam Faulkner, the private investigator who has been taking pictures of the doctor cheating on his wife. Lawrence has instructions to kill Adam in eight hours, or else his wife and daughter will be killed. Meanwhile, detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing, who suspect Lawrence of being the killer, follow a trail of clues from his other traps. Eventually, Lawrence saws his own foot off to escape and leaves Adam alone, when it is revealed that the supposed corpse that has been in the room the entire time is actually a disguised Jigsaw, who leaves Adam sealed in the room to die. Flashbacks from later films show that Amanda returns and suffocates Adam as a mercy killing.
Saw II begins with the police tracking a severely weakened Jigsaw in his newest lair. However, another test is in place, as he has kidnapped the son of Detective Eric Matthews and trapped him and a group of seven convicts previously framed by Matthews in a house that is slowly being filled with a toxic nerve gas, Amanda among them. He will trade Daniel Matthews' life for Detective Matthews' time conversing with him until the game is concluded. Matthews loses his patience and assaults Jigsaw, and Jigsaw escapes as Eric goes to the house shown on Jigsaw's screens, only to discover that the test in the house occurred much earlier and was videotaped; although his son is safe, Matthews is knocked unconscious by a masked figure who is later revealed to be Amanda. Matthews wakes up imprisoned in the bathroom from the first film, in the foundation of the house. He escaped the bathroom where he confronted and beat Amanda demanding to know where his son was. Amanda defeated him and left him for dead. It is later revealed in a flashback that someone, whose identity remains unknown, placed Eric in a prison cell, keeping him for a future game.
The events of Saw III and IV occur concurrently. Saw III begins when Jigsaw, weakened from his disease, is confined to a makeshift hospital bed, and Amanda picks up his work, designing traps of her own. However, these traps have no escape, as Amanda is convinced that Jigsaw's traps have no effect. During this time Detective Allison Kerry is kidnapped and placed in one of Amanda's traps, despite her efforts she is unable to escape and discovers Amanda to be Jigsaw's apprentice before her trap activates killing her. A kidnapped doctor is forced to keep Jigsaw alive while another test is performed on Jeff, a man obsessed with vengeance on the drunk driver who killed his son. Jigsaw, unwilling to allow "a murderer" to continue his legacy, designs a large, complex test for Amanda, which she ultimately fails, resulting in the deaths of both Jigsaw and Amanda. Saw IV, meanwhile, revolves around tests meant for Officer Rigg, which are overseen by Forensic Hoffman, an accomplice. Rigg fails his tests resulting in the death of Eric Matthews. Rigg is left in the factory to bleed to death by Hoffman, who later discovers the bodies of Jigsaw and Amanda. However Rigg's fate is left unknown at the climax of the film.
Saw IV ends on a cliffhanger when an autopsy is performed on Jigsaw and a cassette tape coated in wax is found in his stomach. The tape informs Hoffman that he is wrong to think that it is all over just because Jigsaw is dead, and he should not expect to go untested, and that the games have just begun.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Box office performance
| Film | Release date | Box office revenue | Box office ranking | Budget | |||||
| Worldwide | United States | United States | Outside US | Worldwide | All time US | All time worldwide | Reference | ||
| Saw | October 29 2004 | October 29 2004 | $55,185,045 | $47,911,300 | $103,096,345 | #872 | - | $1,200,000 | [11] |
| Saw II | October 28 2005 | October 28 2005 | $87,039,965 | $60,700,000 | $147,739,965 | #447 | - | $4,000,000 | [12] |
| Saw III | October 27 2006 | October 27 2006 | $80,238,724 | $84,635,551 | $164,874,275 | #514 | - | $12,000,000 | [13] |
| Saw IV | October 26 2007 | October 26 2007 | $63,300,095 | $71,705,078 | $135,005,173 | #736 | - | $10,000,000 | [14] |
| Saw film series | $285,763,829 | $263,111,039 | $548,874,868 | ||||||
[edit] Critical reaction
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Yahoo! Movies | |
| Overall | Cream of the Crop | |||
| Saw | 46% (153 reviews)[15] | 29% (7 reviews)[16] | 46% (32 reviews)[17] | B- (12 reviews)[18] |
| Saw II | 35% (109 reviews)[19] | 23% (6 reviews)[20] | 40% (28 reviews)[21] | C (11 reviews)[22] |
| Saw III | 27% (79 reviews)[23] | 6% (7 reviews)[24] | 48% (16 reviews)[25] | C (5 reviews)[26] |
| Saw IV | 19% (63 reviews)[27] | 0% (6 reviews)[28] | 36% (16 reviews)[29] | - |
[edit] Records
- With each year bringing a new dose of Saw, Saw IV has marked a Hollywood record for the most films to be released consecutively - one each year - in a movie franchise.[30]
- Saw III gave Lions Gate its highest-grossing weekend in history, outdoing the previous record set by Saw II of $31.7 million to a bettering $33.6 million.[31]
- Both Saw II and III broke records when they were released in the holiday period of Halloween. Both movies managed to top the "Halloween Weekend Openers" Saw II premiered with $31.7 mil in 2005, and Saw III, which bowed to a slightly higher $33.6 mil in 2006. Saw IV premiered at $32.1 million, making it number one at the box office on Halloween weekend 2007.[32][33]
- All the movies in the Saw series have managed to gross over $50 million, putting them in the top 10 all-time highest total gross for Lions Gate.[34]
- On IGN's list of the top twenty-five movie franchises of all time, the Saw series ranks as number twenty-five. [35]
[edit] References
- ^ Saw 4 News. The Official SAW Website and Fan Club. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ a b OfficialSaw.com.]
- ^ Lionsgate Publicity lists Saw V for October 24, 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
- ^ James and Leigh to consult on Saw videogame
- ^ Wingfield, Nick. "A Start Up's Risky Niche: Movie-Based Videogames", The Wall Street Journal, 2007-06-04.
- ^ Saw announced (2008-01-30). Retrieved on 2008-01-30.
- ^ "'Saw V' Films 3 Different Endings, 'Saw VI' Talk and Videogame Details!". Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ "Lionsgate Thinks Ahead... Preps 'Saw 4'", Bloody Disgusting, 2006-10-18.
- ^ Scott Collura & Eric Moro. "Getting Jiggy with Saw IV", IGN, 2007-06-22. Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
- ^ Riley, Jenelle. "Interview with the Makers of Saw", UGO, 2007-06-10. Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
- ^ Saw (2004). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw II (2005). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw III (2006). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw IV (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw (Cream of the Crop). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ Saw (2004): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw - Critics Reviews. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw II. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw II (Cream of the Crop). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ Saw II (2005): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw II - Critics Reviews. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw III. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw III (Cream of the Crop). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ Saw III (2006): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw III - Critics Reviews. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw IV. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Saw IV (Cream of the Crop). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ Saw IV (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_4/news/1649688/ One year release patterns set to break records
- ^ http://www.thewebnewsroom.com/?itemid=826 Saw III breaks previous Saw II record for Lions Gate
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/halloween.htm Halloween Openers - Saw II and III highest gross
- ^ Rich, Joshua. "'Saw' Conquers", Entertainment Weekly, 2007-10-28.
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=lions_gate.htm All Saw films reach Lions Gate top 5
- ^ IGN: Top 25 Movie Franchises of All Time: #25
[edit] External links
- Official Saw site
- Official II site
- Official III site
- Official IV site
- Official SAW website/fan club
- Official SAW Props, Wardrobe and Autograph Auction
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