Saw II

Now and again, you have to watch a modern-day horror movie, just to see if the new generation is coming up with anything as interesting as their forebears did. On the whole, of course, it seems that they aren't; after all, why else would they feel the need to keep remaking the old films? The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Dawn of the Dead... Need I go on?

The horror movie of choice this week was Saw II.


I have previously watched the original Saw movie. Obviously. I mean, who would watch the sequel without seeing the first film first? And to be honest, I thought that first film was "okay". The biggest letdown in that film was the acting. Cary Elwes was simply horrible as an actor. I was glad to see that the ability of the actors in the second film on the whole is up, with a couple of notable exceptions. You'll know them when you see them, but with America being the land of equal opportunity, it's good to see that one is black and the other Hispanic.

Ultimately, though, Saw II lacks the edge of its predecessor. There doesn't seem to be as much going on, since this time around, the victims are all together in one place, rather than being separate consecutive cases, as they were in Saw. While this arguably makes for a more epic set-piece film in theory, the reality is that it's simply less interesting.

As you would expect, the ends met by most of the characters are suitably grisly. And that, after all, is why we're watching. And the final couple of scenes are very good.

Overall, Saw II was watchable -- a reasonable way to pass 90 minutes -- but it's not a classic of the genre, and I can't imagine why anyone would need to watch it more than once.

I give this film 54 points out of 100.