"Saw" was a breath of fresh air for the horror genre when it hit theaters last fall. It was clever
and completely engrossing. Also it conquered the horror movie Achilles Heel!! It had an ending that left you out of breath and completely satiated instead of angry and disappointed.. It didn't rely on CGI or other typical Hollywood crutches. It was character and story driven with much of the action occurring in one room with 2 actors. Sometimes this can make a film seem too stagy but not here. The films many twists and turns never seem forced or out of place and Director James Wan does a masterful job at building and releasing tension throughout until by films end you feel like you've gone through the same hell as the films characters. Kudos also to Leigh Whannell for his excellent screenplay that made the bizarreness on screen very believable and real.

 

   Okay so now we know that "Saw" was a great film in the theater so how about the DVD ? Well....GOOD NEWS!!!  "Saw" is EVERY bit the movie on DVD as it was in the theaters. It's character driven story actually might be better on the box. I don't think people who watch this on DVD for the first will be lamenting that they missed it in the theater because it just translates to the small screen so damn well! The film looks fantastic and the surround sound kicks butt! Considering the relatively low budget of the film I think we will be spared a Director's Cut because I'm betting they used pretty much all the good stuff already. It's also really cool to get a closer look at some of the great death scenes that the jigsaw killer concocts. If you're like my wife and kept getting confused it's great to be able to stop and rewind to better comprehend the mind bending plot twists.

 

    Now on a much less enthusiastic note I"ll move on to the Extras. Phooey! Not much here to get excited about. The making of  mini-featurette is only minutes long and gives you nothing. Hopefully there will be a GOOD reason to have future release with a good behind the scenes look
at "Saw" because the film is more than worthy of a closer look. The commentary by Whannell and Wan sounds like two guys smoking pot and watching their own home movies and other than a few funny anecdotes provides no real insight. I'll give them a pass as (by their own admission) this is the first time they've done anything like that. There are 2 music videos (plus a making of ) that is decent and probably a must have for fans of the band "Fear Factory". Sadly the making of the Video featurette is far more interesting than the "Sawed Off" featurette. The requisite TV spots and Trailers are actually pretty cool because of how effective they were as commercials and you will likely not have seen them all. I was also pleasantly surprised by the poster gallery because I own  3 "Saw" posters and hadn't seen a lot of these before. It's telling though when those are among the best Extras on a DVD release.

 

   Luckily you still have "Saw" itself on the DVD and that alone is worth the asking price. In fact I'd buy the DVD even if there were no extras at all because the film translates to the medium far better than most.

 

Eric ZL