SAW DVD Trilogy
Own all 3 SAW movies in one collection! Is this worth it?
2004 will mark the year that the horror genre took a turn for a different direction as the years of the slasher genre had died back in the 90’s. Many have tried to bring back Jason, Michael, and a few of the remaining slashers here in the 2000’s, but with no success, unless you are Rob Zombie who did an excellent job with his re-imaging of Halloween. Back in the 90’s it was the Scream trilogy, that reboot the horror genre with its smart campy storytelling and twists/turns. It spawned off so many copycats that everywhere you turned it was a horror movie that resembled Scream in some way or form, we even had the Wayans brothers create their own spoof the Scary Movie franchise which started from Scream. I see the same cycle occurring here in the mid to late 2000’s with the emergence of the SAW franchise. SAW is in the middle of rebooting the horror genre trying to carve its name in horror legacy and differentiate itself from all the “Hollywood remakes” and even other movies which have taken “torture porn” to the extreme.
With SAW IV having released on 10/26/2007 in the theaters, what does Lionsgate do that their famous for with all the previous SAW movies? They re-release SAW III as a Director’s Cut, but also release a box set titled SAW DVD Trilogy with Billy the Puppet’s face model in the packaging. While many might feel that this is a bit overkill that we continue to get the standard theatrical release DVD earlier in the year and then around Halloween time we get the Uncut or Director’s Cut version with additional scenes and bonus features some really love it. I wouldn’t mind this so much if they took a different approach to how they deliver this package and Lionsgate would make more money in the process by doing it my way. If they were to re-issue a Director’s Cut of the movie, why not repackage each movie as an Ultimate Uncut Edition – which would include the theatrical and director’s cuts of the movie + all of the bonus features from both releases spanning 3 discs. If they did this for each movie, there would be a lot less fans getting overly upset that Lionsgate is doing this. To top this off, even us BluRay owners of the Trilogy have been slighted by lackluster features with the releases having many of us still hold on to the standard definition versions of the movies also for the extras. Maybe next year Lionsgate will get this right for all of us when SAW V releases.
The SAW DVD Trilogy box set is designed as a set that you would get for TV shows on DVD where usually you have 5-6 discs in a multi-disc keep case. When it comes to TV shows, I am fine with this since all they need is the one case to sit in, but when it is done for movies in a franchise/series, I dislike this with a passion. They took all 6 discs from SAW: Uncut, SAW II: Uncut, and SAW III: Director’s Cut editions and placed them in the multi-disc keep case. This set if you look hard enough could be bought for as low as $19.99 and as much as $39.99. At this price it is a good deal to own all 3 special editions of the movie, but this is not a package that I would recommend to someone that already owns all the standalone disc sets. This package is only for collectors and people that haven’t seen any of these movies before. Nothing new is being offered here which is a real disappointment for the hardcore fans.
To give everyone a brief rundown of the story for each movie release in this package, read below. It is rather interesting how every piece of the “Jigsaw” puzzle ties together.
The Story: The original SAW for being very low budget was a great piece of work and the storytelling made the movie interesting from start to finish. SAW was to originally be a stand alone movie with no sequels; the phenomenon was crazy enough that it spawned off sequels. James Wan and Leigh Whannell were at the helm of writing the original and boy did they take us for one wild ride in this one that only left you with your jaw to drop to the floor at the end. The movie starts off with Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam shackled by their foot to opposite ends of a dirty, dingy bathroom in some desolate warehouse location with a dead body sitting in the middle of the room. All they have is the clues that are presented in front of them and the mini-cassette players which only further the story along. It turns into a battle of both men being pawned against one another via Jigsaw’s game for a battle of survival. As one thing leads to another, the connection between Dr. Gordon and Adam only becomes more interesting. While this is all ongoing in that claustrophobic bathroom, we have Detectives Danny Glover and “ on a manhunt for Jigsaw and investigating the traps that he has laid out for his victims which are criminals.
How does Dr. Gordon play this game with not only his life in the hands of a maniac, but with his wife’s and daughter’s lives at stake?
My Take: 4 years later, I still find SAW to be a very brilliant piece of work and how the story came together and character buildup only unearthed more. Not once have I been bored with the onscreen suspense with this movie even to this day after multiple viewings. The madness in that bathroom and how primarily almost the entire movie was held in that one location, gave it that claustrophobic sense and what would two men chained to the pipes by shackles do to get out. This is the type of movie where we are fed piece by piece of the entire puzzle, until the shocking twist at the end. I found that both actors did an excellent job pulling this through albeit a few times where it got a bit too dramatic towards the end where people were laughing in the theater with some of the dialogue.
The Story: SAW II begins a few months after the original, this time we have Detective Eric Mathews hot on the trail of Jigsaw. What turns for the worse is that Jigsaw has called Mathews to a dark warehouse where we learn that Jigsaw’s health has worsened, but also in the process we find out that there are not 1 or 2 playing the game this time around, but a total of 9 (8 strangers in a house) and 1 if you include Eric Mathews. The 8 strangers have 2 hours to solve each puzzle along the way as they need the anecdote to live, but even much more important is to get out of that house before the nerve gas takes over and their dead. We learn that Amanda from SAW who escaped Jigsaw’s trap is also one of the eight, but even worse is that Eric’s son is one of those strangers that were also abducted amongst the remaining criminals. One of the bigger mysteries here is that what connects all 8 strangers and how does Amanda fit into all of this since this is yet another test for her from Jigsaw? We learn that Eric’s test is that he must patiently talk with Jigsaw to ensure the safety of his son.
My Take: I found this one to be the weakest outing of the entire series so far; even though it is not a bad film at all and really pushes the story forward unlike some sequels that really hurt franchises more than help. Whannell wrote this entry, but Wan didn’t return to direct which you can tell with the different direction in directing. SAW II does fall in the sequel trap of taking a group of people and dumping them in a crazy scenario where they must work their way out of to survive. I never like the idea of too many characters that focus tends to get lost in movies, but it was handled fairly well for the most part in this one. I really enjoyed the interaction between John/Jigsaw and Eric Mathews; it gave purpose to what was happening with the strangers locked in the secluded house.
The Story: SAW III beings right after the end of SAW II where we are back in the bathroom from SAW with Eric Mathews shackled trying to free himself to go after Jigsaw and the other parties involved. Yes, you heard that right, Jigsaw has an accomplice and trying to keep this spoiler free we won’t give away any of the details. Enter the surgeon Lynn Denlon whom becomes a focal point to help save a dying John Kramer/Jigsaw. Lynn must perform surgery on John, but not with consequences if his heart stops…….a contraption has been built around her neck to where if John’s heart stops for any reason it will blow off her head. While Lynn is racing against the clock from her head being blown up and trying to save John/Jigsaw, we get another man that has to run the gauntlet or play the game by the name of Jeff. Jeff has the challenge of forgiving a set of people that have ties to the death of his young son. If Jeff can’t forgive each individual, they will meet their untimely death. The question is for Jeff, does he forgive each one by trying to save them or does he let them die not having forgiven any of those individuals.
My Take: I liked that the writing team ditched the multi-character story of the last movie for the central focus on our 2 characters that are playing a game, but we learn more about Jigsaw and his apprentice. It is some of the scenes here that we learn what and how much Jigsaw means to the apprentice as almost that Jigsaw is like a father figure. I like the traps and all, but I’m starting to look at them more like a supplement to the story with each movie in this series. With SAW III we had story + extra gore/gruesome elements that would make both sides happy. When I said earlier that I was completely shocked with the ending of SAW, this one caught me by complete surprise while some people had already figured it out at the beginning of the movie. These writers do one thing so well, they know how to create multiple interwining storylines that circle back around to the main story and bring the focus back around by the climax and ultimately the end. This is where M. Night Shamylan has failed on several occasions with his last few films. His twists have become very unimaginative and not shocking as I think he lost his touch on building that needed suspense right to the finale with a twist that will blow your mind.
None of these transfers have been remastered in anyway, and are the same exact transfers for all 3 films as they are on the Uncut/DC editions. My whole beef with this package is that if their going to do a boxset, why not throw a bone at everyone and remaster the films + added a few more bonuses. The DTS tracks still sound just as good as they did on the originals. Being a big movie buff myself and moving to the highdef era, I hope that one day we do get to see these editions released on BluRay in their full glory. All 3 SAW’s on BluRay are missing a lot of the extras that are offered here, especially when the original SAW has no extras, SAW II has a fraction, and SAW III has a good amount. Lionsgate, maybe its time to give us a proper release on hidef! This might be the best that the SAW series will look in standard definition, but with an upconvert DVD player they look a bit better.
The Bottom Line
I would only recommend this trilogy set to fans that don’t own any of the previous versions of SAW I, II, or II or if you are a collector. Nothing new is offered in this package and at $29.99-$39.99, it’s hard to justify this purchase.
