"Saw III" is Just Another Sick Film

I have been avoiding the popular Saw movie series like the plague. While I am a horror movie fanatic, I view "horror" and "slasher" movies as separate genres. I realize that, in critic's minds, they are one and the same. However, I define horror movies as films that can give the audience a good scare without resulting to 90 minutes of blood and guts. Obviously, on the other hand, slasher movies are all about blood and guts.

I decided that in order to be completely objective concerning this series, I needed to watch at least one of the three films. I chose the latest one "Saw III" for several reasons. First, I wanted to see if the moviegoer would understand what was going on without having seen the first two films. Second, I wanted to see how gory it might actually be, since each film in a series tends to get progressively worse. Lastly, I kept hearing it touted as the "best Saw ever!"

I stand by my original statement. The Saw series is an insult to true horror aficionados. It is a slasher film, plain and simple. It is a slasher film with an actual story, which is truly rare within that genre. Nonetheless, it is nothing but a slasher film.

In "Saw III" the notorious Jigsaw has, once again, set up a series of games for his victims to play in order to choose life or death. The movie begins in the middle of one such game. A man is shackled by the foot to a wall in a cold, dark, damp room. Just out of his reach are a gun and a flashlight. By romoving his boot and using it as an extension of his arm, he manages to get hold of both items. Of course, the gun is empty. He uses the flashlight to check out his surroundings. After doing so, he has a pretty good idea of what is going on and realizes that he can only get free with his own initiative and courage.

This sets up a series of three such games. The second one involves a career criminal and his penchant for continuing to break the law. He is chained at the shoulders, wrists, abdomen, legs, and face. The masked Jigsaw, on the video he views while in captivity, accuses him of being more comfortable in chains than with freedom. The game challenges him to choose freedom over the chains.