Halloween Countdown (Day 16: 6...6...6...)

Thanks to a weekend of staying in, I've caught up on the scheduled blog posts, so even if I'm a day late for whatever reason, I have one ready to post. Nice to be on a roll, of some sorts. With that in mind, let's jump into SAW 6.

Oh yes, there will be.....well, if you don't know the answer to that, then check the beginning of the other blog posts.

I surprise myself sometimes.

Back then.....

Yeah it's a good film. I'm surprised how they're still able to connect it to the other sequels. But why do I get the feeling the next sequel will either never happen, or will just end up crap?

And now.....

As I mentioned in the SAW 5 blog post, I thought this was better than its previous installment. After tonight's viewing, along with its relevance to the ongoing story threads in the whole series, it's no better or worse than the last movie. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the movie, and I noticed a few things that I never picked up on until now.

In the blog entry for SAW 5, I made a point where the five people involved in the burning building deaths were in no way connected to any of the main characters of the series. But it turns out they were all investigated by FBI agent Strahm. While it does seem a little forced, because of the open narrative of the SAW series, you have to make allowances for strange twists, whether they make sense or not, or whether they're just convenient.

Like the fact that FBI agent Perez actually survived the exploding doll trap in the fourth movie, or that Amanda was an accomplice to the man who caused the death of John and Jill's unborn son in the fifth movie, which was known to Hoffman, who blackmailed her with this information with the envelope that had Amanda's name on it in the third movie.

"The game comes full circle".....whether the story
does depends on the demand for another sequel.

These are the types of twists where you either buy into them, or you think they're a whole load of rubbish. But I think credit is due to whoever the writers were of these installments, for actually tying up loose trends, some of which created with no explanation at all. Like the envelope Jill drops off at the hospital. It's an obvious nod to a potential sequel, but depending on the viewer, that would either be enticing, or just illicit groans.

The film has the usual characteristics of a SAW movie; an opening game with an inventive way of pitting people against each other, a lead player in a game who happens to be connected to Jigsaw (an insurance executive who denied to help John with his cancer problem), tests that put other people's lives on the line, and a twist that befalls onto him, which was hinted at throughout the movie, but only lead to the bait and switch as to what family he was aiming to save.It even included a reporter that was briefly shown at a press conference in the last film.

Again it has all the elements of the SAW series, it's around the 90 minute mark, so it's easy to digest, and at least it involved a game where the unwilling participant is actually connected to the characters instead of just put there for what seems like the sake of it, which was why I had an issue with the fifth movie. Sure it may have been explained at the beginning here, but it does seem a bit too convenient.

And again we see the work of Hoffman, from creating evidence that Strahm was behind the killings, to orchestrating the demise of Amanda, and being a spectator to the investigation where he is on both sides of the law. We also see the flaws in Hoffman that Jigsaw would find distasteful, in his attitude to the victims, and his apparent blood lust coupled with arrogance, especially in a heated exchange with Amanda.

Of course the revelation that Perez survived has him on his toes, and there is suspense as to whether he would get caught, or find a way out. But it turns out to be John's ex-wife, Jill, who is given the task to stop him. Whether she knew he had knowledge of Amanda's involvement with the death of her son, or whether Jigsaw knew, is open to interpretation (as it is with all the sequels).

In the end, he escapes the infamous "bear trap" attached to his head, and it's apparent that there will be at least one more film. While I didn't have a problem with the movie ending like that, as at this point I enjoyed the yearly October release of a SAW movie, as it gave me an opportunity to watch them all over again. But at the same time, I still didn't know how much more they can squeeze out of the series. I had been proved wrong many times, as there would always be a new twist. But I couldn't help but think maybe they should just wrap this up.

Now that I watched it again, with the knowledge of what came afterwards, I wish that they just ended the series right there, even taking the ending of the final movie, and sticking it at the end of this film. I will have plenty of time to explain this in a future blog post concerning "Saw: The Final Chapter".

Let me put it this way: I still don't own a copy of Saw 7.

I mentioned earlier about things I never picked up on in previous viewings until now. Another part involved how the FBI agents working on the case suspected Hoffman, without the aid of gaining knowledge from Strahm's investigation in the previous film. Sure he used the "inferior" blades that Jigsaw mentioned in the fifth film, and there was the residue coming from the fingerprint of Strahm. And even Perez told him everyone knew who he was while Hoffman stabbed her. But there was one more scene that not only had I not seen, but I never knew of its existence until now.

I've made a habit of letting the credits roll to the end after watching the previous installments, just to hear the music itself. But what caught me by surprise was an extra scene where Amanda is walking to a locked door, and talking to the daughter of Jeff through the keyhole, during the events of the third and fourth movie. She warns her not to believe the man who saves her, which of course turns out to be Hoffman.

That scene, for want of a more dignified term, blew my mind. The fact that I own the DVD and watched it in the lead up to the release of the sixth and seventh film, not once have I ever thought to check the very end of the disc. I'm still gobsmacked.

Shawnee Smith (aka. Amanda).....yikes.

And on a final note.....

In the SAW 5 blog post, I talked about the use of instrumentals instead of the rock songs during the credits. Funny that I should talk about the music videos included on the SAW 6 DVD, which include videos from Mushroomhead, Suicide Silence, Memphis May Fire (admittedly I've never heard of the last two bands) and this one from Hatebreed.