Review of Saw VI (2009) by Gus B — 20 Nov 2011

Love it or hate it, there's no denying the impact the original Saw had on the horror genre and pop culture in general. In a perfect world they would've stopped after the first, but apparently in Hollywood they like milking a franchise until it's bone dry. Yeah, who knew? Now if you'd asked me what I thought of the Saw series after suffering through the last few miserable sequels I'd say who cares. But something extremely weird just happened. I watched Saw VI and liked it....a lot.

There are people out there who love all the films, hate all the films, like the first and hate the sequels, etc. Needless to say, Saw fans are a fickle bunch. I personally dug the second just as much as the first. The third was average, at best, and the last two were just a waste of time. The series didn't really have a point anymore. By now it was all about gore, countless flashbacks, and basically making a bunch of rich people richer. I'm not too sure what happened here, but we've actually ended up with a sequel that's the best since the first two, and not only that, this one is actually about something!

Now don't get me wrong here, this is still a Saw movie....meaning the characters are pretty much cardboard, the film moves along from one trap to the next, and requires you to have seen all the others to understand what's going on here. But the film is also surprisingly suspenseful, tightly paced, interesting and, of course, pretty damn gory. Thankfully the film relies FAR less on flashbacks than the previous sequels and, like I said, is actually about something (well, as much as a Saw film can be about something).

Long story short it's all about how insurance companies play God by choosing who gets coverage and who is denied, basically picking who lives and dies. Easy enough to do from behind a desk, but what if you had to make these choices face to face with a person? Obviously this isn't some overbearing melodrama....it's all done for splatter, but it's done extremely well.

If you've hated all the others then why the hell are you even reading this review? But if you've actually stuck with this series and have been extremely disappointed with the last few entries, fear not, this one is actually worth your time. Suspenseful, gory, surprisingly thoughtful, fast paced....this is a very nice return to form for a series that's rapidly been getting worse with each new sequel. Of course since the next one is in 3D (fuck!) enjoy the good times while they last.