Saw III

— Or you can RENT IT and watch it tonight!

The first "Saw" was cool, and clever, but this one takes the cake. It doesn't matter that I haven't seen Saw II yet, they all stand on their own pretty well. Though I do plan on seeing the second one.

Saw III featured some Great torture rigs and contraptions. Appalling is an understatement. I'm a horror fanatic from way back and some of the scenes in this movie made me shutter and wince. Okay, I was actually squeemish during a few parts. It is definitely not for the feint hearted.

The plot is strong too. We get the rundown on what's really been going on behind the scenes through the other Saw movies, but it's not necessary to see those films to appreciate this one. Strong story, good directing and excellent set design, camera work.

There is a lot of jumping around between past and present so be alert, it can get confusing. I actually found that back and forth to be a little annoying. Also there were a few parts that seem insignificant, but I guess they serve to give us insight into the characters. One example is the girl who play's Jigsaw's psycho-let's test your will to live-in-training, and the part where she sits down and begins carving a line into her leg. We see other lines there so we can establish fairly quickly that she has issues, though I think we're be able to get that early on in the film anyway.

The acting was good in most cases, but Jigsaw's protege delivered some pretty weak lines.

I recommend this to any horror fan with a strong stomach. But it is not for the squeemish or easily offended. This is a seriously gruesome, and violent film.

Reviewed by Drew Vics

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