Episode 52 - The Saw Franchise Afterthoughts

I am not really certain how the Saw Franchise is viewed by others in general, and even more so within the horror community. I cannot tell if it is something widely accepted by horror fans that they just don’t talk about because its recently successful in the mainstream? Maybe it isn’t accepted but just not verbally put down often? I am really not sure. For me however, I am just impartial to the Saw films. I do not love them nor do I particularly dislike them. Sure, they get a little long in the tooth but as a community when has that caused a franchise to be disowned? See Freddy’s Dead or Jason Goes to Hell along with the dozens of other late franchise duds.

Something that Saw did accomplish, besides making boat loads of money, was it provided a new entry every year. It had been an exceptional length of time since a franchise provided this consistent service to a fanbase. Whether you enjoy the films or not, this cannot be denied. My problem isn’t really with the films but rather the categorization of horror applied to them. We ran a hour and a half on the show so I didn’t touch this topic so I want to mention it here. It bothers me a little for the current state of horror that this is a horror franchise. To me these are thrillers with a bunch of gore thrown on top of them. Its high drama blended with plot twists reminiscent of a James Patterson novel, then a dash of Fulci spit on top of them and that puts it into horror realm where the important factor is: sequels. If this is just a thriller we leave it alone almost undoubtedly as a singular effort. However, with the gore and what is considered a mascot in Billy the doll and Jigsaw, we have a bank to keep cashing checks on sequels. I am curious what you guys think about this idea? In your eyes, do these movies belong in the horror genre or no? Let me know on social media!

I did say this on the show and I think it is worth repeating, these movies were commendable for their effort. They could have gotten continually more stupid but they did not. They aimed for plot twists/developments, were always presented in the same quality production, and maintained the same performers throughout. I think if the films would have gotten increasingly more and more dumb, we would have feasted on slamming that. But they didn’t so to me it is unfair to not point that out. We can’t have our cake and eat it to!

I am not crazy about the Saw movies but I respect them for what they set out to do and did. There are much worse franchises out there, hell even that we have covered. I would rather watch these 7 films 3 times through before watching a Leprechaun entry again. Until next time…

Beware the moon

The Professor