Appreciating the art

Appreciation is "understanding of the nature, meaning, quality or magnitude of something." It is also "an admiration; a favorable judgment." Admiration and appreciation can go a long way when you know how to appreciate things. I've always had an appreciation for art - namely photography and movies. When done tastefully, movies become works of art. When it's done in a horrible fashion, movies just take up space and becomes a black hole - a black hole that sucks up 2 hours of your life at a time. Some of these movies resemble a bad car accident... so horrible and appalling - but you can't look away.

Among these black hole movies, I would have to put horror up on the top of the list. Horror movies aren't worth your time unless it achieves several things. One: It scares you. Bad. Two: Well, there isn't really a 2nd requirement - maybe better acting. But despite my better judgement, I've watched tons of horror movies. Some I liked, and some I hated. There was once a time when I liked Scream. Now - I think it's lame.

After many disappointments, I rented a movie with extremely low expectations. Expectations that proved me wrong. VERY wrong. In my opinion, the Saw franchise has to be one of the best horror movies around nowadays. Creatively written, the whole franchise is based on one single idea: If you value your life enough, you'll come out of it alive. And if you come out of it alive, you'll have a whole different perspective on what it means to live. Good lesson, huh?

Not only the movies are written extremely well, it leaves the viewers with a moral question. Is Jigsaw a murderer? He doesn't actually kill these people himself. And he always, ALWAYS provides them a way out. Of course, it goes without saying that there have been many victims that didn't make it out - however, the option was always there.

My friend and I contemplated whether the whole series was written beforehand - and once it was completed, the filming started. Well, much to my surprise, the movies were written one at a time, by several different men. The first movie was written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Whannell played one of the two main characters that were trapped in the bathroom in the first film. Whannell went on to write the next two movies with the help of Bousman for the 2nd film and Wan, who came back for the 3rd film. The first three was produced by the same man - Gregg Hoffman. He passed away shortly before fourth film. For Saw 4, 5 and 6 (yes, there's a 6th coming!), the films were written by two different men. The different writers proved to me that the movies were written separately, and with extremely cautious and creative writing, anybody can make a successful horror movie.

To truly understand and appreciate the art of keeping viewers interested, Saw should be studied with anticipation. It's unbelievable how each movie is beautifully tied in with one another, prompting new questions and providing answers to questions from previous movies. Just when you think you understand it all, you'll find that the next movie will hold the answers you need.

What I like best about the Saw franchise is it's gore. Someone once asked me in an aghast manner, "How can you watch that!? It's disgusting!" My answer was - it's WHY I watch it! While researching, I found an interesting tidbit. Saw 3 had to be trimmed 7 times before it could qualify for an "R" rating. After seeing it, I absolutely believe it. Although now, I'm curious to see the unrated version.

To top it all off, I'm amazed at how long it took them to film each movie. Saw 1: 18 days. Saw II: 25 days. Saw III: No information. Saw IV: 6 weeks. Saw V: 7 weeks. Saw VI will begin filming in 2009.

Will this be the next classic?