Director: James Wan, 2004
Stars: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover
Two men awake shortly after 10am, chained to the pipes in an abandoned gents’ toilet. The only other occupant is a dead man sprawled across the tiled floor, a revolver by his shattered head. By 6pm, one of the living must kill the other, or his family will be slaughtered. The gun is out of reach, but the sick mastermind who’s pulling the strings has provided a hacksaw too flimsy to cut through their chains, but strong enough to cut through flesh.
A horror film from the irony-free old school that’s currently enjoying a renaissance with the likes of Creep and Switchblade Romance, Saw expands from a claustrophobic two-hander to fill in some of the plot holes via a series of flashbacks that eventually explain why the men were chosen for their grisly fate. It seems our heroes are the latest in a long line of victims, all of whom were killed or tortured in the most ingenious ways I’ve seen since Seven.
Glover provides classy support as a detective driven out of his mind by his relentless pursuit of the murderer, while the plot has enough twists to keep thriller lovers entertained.
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DVD extras Director and writers’ commentary, Sawed Off featurette.
Nigel Kendall