The Saw Franchise

I own every DVD in this series of horror films (eight, to date), which follow the traps a man sets to test his victims’ will to live.  Even though I’ve written splatter myself (‘Snuff’ and ‘The Bathtub’ for example), I admit the explicit violence in the Saw films had me fast forwarding in places.

I didn’t buy the DVDs as they came out, or in order, so my understanding of the underlying threads was disjointed.  Having had the house to myself for a few days recently, I decided to binge watch the series in the right sequence.

I agree with most reviewers that the earlier films are generally stronger, although I think all have something to offer.  ‘Subtle’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind when watching Saw, but I liked the themes that run through the series, and particularly how the different characters are used and pop up unexpectedly yet in context time after time.  It does all get complicated though and I would have found it difficult keeping track of everything without having with the franchise’s comprehensive Wikipedia page to hand. 

To summarise, in my opinion the Saw films are worth a watch if it can be done in a binge, because they make better sense when seeing them in order in only a few days.