Except that Saw already belonged wholeheartedly to a genre which existed for decades before it was released -- it's a splatter exploitation film. Saw follows in the footsteps of films like Blood Feast (the first "splatter" film), Twitch Of The Death Nerve (the first "slasher" film), various European cannibal films (Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox especially), I Spit On Your Grave, and others. That the effects were better and more gruesome is a sign of advancement in special effects and a larger budget moreso than anything else. ISOYG has no "triumph" or "overcoming of odds;" in fact, I'd wager that as far as the "display of the infliction of agony," ISOYG is much worse than anything from the modern cinema. Same goes for Cannibal Holocaust, which was so vicious that the producers and director were formally charged with creating a snuff film and had to prove in court that it was all movie magic. That the horror-hating industry press has labeled it as "torture porn" might make the term trendy and mainstream, but it's not accurate from a generic standpoint. The term is better applied to largely plotless films such as the Japanese Guinea Pig movies and their ilk. Hostel fits the term better as well, though I will say that by Hostel 2 the plot has improved dramatically and the film is substantially better for it. (Hostel 3 sucks, though.) I'd much rather watch an original and intelligent horror film (gore filled or otherwise) like Saw than either 1) false scare rehashes like Paranormal Activity (AKA "Fake Boring Nightvision Crap") or 2) terrible remakes and ripoffs of genuinely good J-Horror and K-Horror movies such as The Ring, The Grudge, feardotcom, Pulse, etc., both of which industry press tends to praise. But as they say that is why they make 31 flavors of ice cream. (Or, as The Question discovered, 32 flavors!)
On Wednesday, July 24, 2013 9:19:20 PM UTC-4, cwpreston wrote: > I don't mean to insult something you enjoyed; enjoyment is far to > subjective and I've loved some really bad movies too. That being said, the > term is entirely appropriated and was partially coined due to this flick. > It blazed a trail for others (most notably Hostel) to take the concept even > further and has become a recognized subgenre of horror flicks. Explicit > scenes of torture (both physical and mental) along with a heaping helping > of gore make movies like Saw stand out from other horror flicks. They > differ from the old school teen slasher flicks in that they focus more on > the intentional infliction of mental anguish and extended pain as much as > the villain killing someone; its not simply the blood and violence, it's > the display of the infliction of agony. There's no triumph, no overcoming > odds; those that escape are damaged and haunted by the events of the movie. > It's a spectacle of anguish that would do Pinhead proud; much in the way > that real porn makes a dehumanizing spectacle of its subject. > > Sorry, we'll have to agree to disagree. I also hate the term "torture > porn," it's a nonsense term invented by fans of J-Horror ghost story > rehashes. No "porn" of any kind ever had this much story. > > On Wednesday, July 24, 2013 11:53:26 AM UTC-4, cwpreston wrote: > >> The only one of the Saw franchise I watched was the first, and it was a >> stinker. Huge plot holes and bad writing hiding behind torture porn. Kept >> me from ever watching any of the sequels. >> On Jul 24, 2013, at 11:48 AM, Luke Jaconetti <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I vehemently disagree with putting Saw on there. All 7 Saw films are >> solid, they made good box office, and together they tell a coherent, >> defined story. And we have not gotten a Saw film in several years and >> despite the claims in the article, there is no serious discussion about any >> new entries nor a reboot. >> >> Final Destination I will disagree with because when they say that it's >> "become all about the bloodletting," I think they have missed the point. >> The Final Destination films exist soley as a series of setpieces, and >> attributing anything more to even the first one is being generous. It's a >> splatter horror film stripped down to its most base generic elements; "plug >> and play" is not just the order of the day, it's the entire reason for >> existance. It's like watching film theory with gore squibs. >> >> Ice Age, hey, you can't argue with success... what is it about >> prehistoric animated series having lots of entries? I'm looking at you, >> Land Before Time. >> >> On Wednesday, July 24, 2013 8:45:55 AM UTC-4, cwpreston wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/173800-the-10-film-franchises-that-are-way-past-their-prime/ >>> >>> >>> >>> Hard to argue against any of these. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "The Unique Geek" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Unique Geek" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<javascript:> > . > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
