Saw IV {The Prelude}

If it's Halloween…it must be saw. It's rare that ever so often a low budget movie like Saw comes along and has the lasting effect that it has on people year after year. Most franchises become stale and repetitive (I.e. Halloween, Friday the 13^th, just to name a few) after that magic number of 3 but something tells me that Saw is going to buck the trend of such franchises that overstay their welcome. With a reported 5^th and 6^th installment already planned for release in 2008 and 2009 respectively, Saw IV will be the stepping stone for the aforementioned to take place. The only question is…how? Jigsaw is dead (like it or not…he's dead people…there's no way humanly possible that someone can survive a slash to the throat) as well as his apprentice Amanda, so for the creators to kill off two of their main characters is franchise suicide in most people's eyes. I, however, beg to differ. The possibilities from here on out are endless if done the right way and in less than 24 hours, all questions will be answered. The only bad thing is that soon there after, more questions will be up for discussion and the long wait until next Halloween will not come soon enough.

I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first when Saw first came out a few years ago because I've never been much of a fan of horror movies. Quite frankly, horror movies just don't do anything for me so for a movie like Saw to come along I questioned the fortitude of it's premise and chalked it up as "just another horror movie". Needless to say, I was wrong. I had heard from countless people of how good it actually was so my expectations were raised somewhat and with every passing frame, I felt as if I was swallowing every single word I had bad mouthed about Saw. I guess what really drew me in was the fact that it wasn't your typical horror movie and more so a psychological thriller…with a little element of shock value to classify it as a part of the horror genre.

I'm a HUGE fan of movies that make me think and Saw does just that. If you don't believe me, watch for yourself. Upon first viewing it's hard to piece together the puzzle pieces that are laid out before your eyes that are in EACH movie, but they're there. What exactly am I talking about, you ask? Case and point, Saw II is a perfect example of the double entendre (*a double entendre is a word or phrase that could mean one thing but also another) technique that the Saw creators have come to know and love. In the case of Saw II, early in the movie Jigsaw tells Detective Matthews that "your son is in a SAFE place". Assuming you've seen Saw II then most of you know that Detective Matthews son was in deed SAFE when it was all said and done BUT he was also found in a SAFE that was in the same room as Jigsaw and Detective Matthews the whole 1^st half of the movie. It's all one big puzzle and when the last piece comes together I'm sure we'll be looking at one of the greatest endings to a franchise since…since…fill in the blank.

Albeit the end is quite some time away with Saw 5 and Saw 6 in planned production, Saw IV opens nationwide in a few hours and the anticipation is slowly eating away at what all is going to be revealed. Like I said, Jigsaw is dead and so is Amanda so even though Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) and Shawnee Smith (Amanda) are credited as being in Saw IV, I expect most of their time on screen to be limited to flashbacks…however, It wouldn't surprise me if they pulled a fast one and brought one, or both, of them back somehow. If so, a little bit of credibility will be lost from my vantage point anyway but if it makes for a good installment to an already well-established franchise then I'm all for it. I expect a lot from this year's Saw as well as a lot of questions answered. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way as well but I'm not talking from the casual fans point of view, I'm talking from the point of view of someone who watches Saw religiously in hopes of piecing together this whole thing and see how it will all come together in the end.

First and foremost, the last thing I'm worried about is the anticlimactic end of Saw III. I could care less if Jeff finds his daughter because all of that is a mute point when compared to Jigsaw being dead along with Amanda. I'm sure questions will be answered as to if Jeff succeeds or fails his new test but to hell with Jeff…he's had enough screen time and all his fucking complaining was getting on my nerves. He got what he wanted in facing all the people that were partially responsible for the death of his son but in killing Jigsaw, he shitted on everything he would've gained and lost it all…AGAIN! I now present to you, Jeff, the award for dumbass of the year!

I know that may be a little harsh but I beg to differ. His actions set off a new chain of events that I'm sure Jigsaw already knew ahead of time would be set in motion so the opening of Saw IV will reportedly be an autopsy scene of Jigsaw which leads to the examiner(s) finding an infamous "play me" tape. Before I continue…backing up to Saw III…a lot of people were wondering what Jigsaw was doing towards the end while trying to defuse the Amanda and Lynn situation. If you remember, Amanda was literally at her breaking point over the fact that she felt as though she was losing John (Jigsaw) but all John would say is that "Lynn is bigger than you know". Turns out she was because she was Jeff's wife and due to the fact that Amanda was a murderer with a high tolerance for pain for pleasure (she cut herself to alleviate)…it led to her killing Jeff's wife, and Jeff killing her. All that aside, while all this was going on, (before Jeff makes it into the room) Jigsaw pours wax over a tape and nothing more is mentioned about it. He isn't shown to have swallowed it or nothing so one would have to assume that he had to have or he had done so prior…meaning their were two tapes and depending on how things played out then one is the one that will be played during the opening sequence of Saw IV and the other…is a mute point.

Many questions abound in the Saw universe and seeing that I'm working my way backwards I guess I'll stay on Saw III. Referring back to Amanda cutting herself for pain/pleasure, she only does so after reading the contents of a brown manila envelope. Again, nothing is mentioned about it after the scene so the contents of the envelope had to of been something that was disappointing because up until that point, Amanda was fragile as far as her state of mind was concerned, but after that point she was fucking crazy. I guess her true self shined and as a result it led to her death but the whole point is that Jigsaw knew that she was not ready to be his apprentice. Why? Because Jigsaw is not a murderer and Amanda is. Amanda was the mastermind behind ALL the traps in Saw III and nobody was able to survive their trap. None of the traps were winnable and the one time somebody did win (Detective Kerry, technically won her trap of putting her hand in acid for a key to unlock the harness she was being held in high off the ground), their ribcage was ripped apart as Amanda watched on. The separation between Amanda and Jigsaw is plainly evident in their approach in that Jigsaw actually wants his subjects to survive. Amanda, however, wants them to survive kind of but wants them to fail also because she feels that even though they survive…what's going to keep them from being the way they once were. A near death experience doesn't change everybody so Amanda feels that they don't deserve to live, plain and simple.

Getting back to the envelope, rumors are running rampant that the contents of it entailed that it was a paternity test proving that Jigsaw is not Amanda's father but that is strictly rumor. I can see how figuratively Amanda would want Jigsaw to be her father (*she says it in one of the Saw films too btw…"I found someone who was like a father to me") seeing that she survived her reverse "bear trap" trap and the relationship there after was "weird" to say the least but I hope it's something more creative IF even revealed in Saw IV. Off subject but still relevant, another theory around Amanda is that she purposely sabotaged the trap of Saw I. Everything Jigsaw say's is for a reason so when you hear him tell her, "put the chain on Adam's LEFT foot" but it's on his right when his "corpse" is shown in the second movie. It leads some Saw fanatics to believe that when Amanda came back to kill Adam, that she didn't finish the job and Adam is possibly still alive ..meaning that the corpse is not him. How much value can be placed on that? I'd say slim to none but it's a possibility so take it for what it's worth. What can be said though about this whole Amanda and Adam thing though is that some would argue that Adam was designed to win his game. This goes back to the fact that Amanda didn't want people to survive their game so what I'm referring to is the opening of Saw I and the shot of the key being sucked down the drain. The key, I'm assuming was supposed to free Adam from his ankle chain and was supposed to be placed down next to it but instead…Amanda lazily tosses the key onto Adam while he's laying in the water. Adam slips down in deeper and it's easy to see how the key could make it's way down the drain. Maybe I'm reading too much into this whole scene along with the other people who have noticed the same thing, but motive has to be questioned with Amanda and everything she does because of the way she is.

Rewinding to Saw II, not many questions surrounded this film but in reviewing it I noticed a lot that I didn't the first few times. The most obvious being the fact that of all the people in the house, Amanda was the only one who didn't show signs of the "fast acting poison" that everybody else was coughing, spitting up blood from. In hindsight, we all know why when it was revealed that she was a part of it but she also picks up something from every scene that the group is in together. Watch it for yourself, if you don't believe me. Amanda can be seen off to her self manipulating something in every scene so that right there was a clue that something was a bit offsetting about her being there. Besides the fact that she had played before, nobody questioned these two things in the movie nor did it reveal that she didn't have a number on the back of her neck. Why would she?

Amanda wasn't the only shady character in Saw II, however, Obi was one that was revealed to have captured everybody and helped place them in the house. What relationship does he have to Jigsaw? I'm assuming those questions will be answered in Saw IV but for all you people who didn't know…Obi WAS actually in Saw III. Think back to the brain surgery scene where Jigsaw had a flashback of a woman (that was his wife/girlfriend) but as she is walking on the left side of the screen and pauses to look back at John presumably, you can see Obi walk towards the screen on the right so there has to be something their not telling us…just yet. Whatever the relationship is, I'm sure it will solve quite a few things but I'm thinking it will fall along the lines of the Zeb character from Saw I. Zeb was the orderly who captured Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter in the first film so maybe that may be explained more also so we'll see.

As for the rest of Saw II, I felt that it was lacking the aptitude that made the first Saw what it was but it was essential to whatever their building for this next installment. The characters are relevant for a reason so the relationships between them as test subjects to jigsaw will serve a purpose to Saw IV so look for the analysis of their inclusion in Saw IV. From what I'm hearing, a lot of people are coming back…even people we don't expect.

Even people we don't expect…? What a segue into Saw IV, don't you think? In trying to piece together what Saw IV could be about, my own personal theory is that it is going to be revealed that Dr, Gordon (the guy who cut off his foot and crawled out the room…he NEVER was shown to have died) has played a pivotal role in all of this the whole time, somehow. Remember his pen WAS found at one of the crime scenes in Saw I so I'm sure there's a reason for that. If not Dr. Gordon, then Detective Matthews will be back in some way. He was never shown to be killed either but it is assumed so I'm just throwing that out there. As far as facts, I'm hearing that it will be revealed that Jill (Jigsaw's wife/girlfriend…from flashbacks) was pregnant at one time or another and that she lost the baby. How exactly? My lips are sealed but it's going to make for one hell of a trap involving a guy named Cecil. I just love how the Saw franchise keeps everything so SHARP, don't you? Continuing on, I'm also hearing that the reason why a jigsaw piece is cut out the victims will be revealed somewhat and just that a mixture of old/new characters will help pull all three films together…leading up to a climatic 9-minute ending that will be sure not to disappoint Until then…let the games begin.