So here we are folks, I have a second rant after a short while prepared, and today I am touching on an issue that I'm sure many people have bickered and whined about prior. Judging from the title, you would probably know that I'm talking about the Lions Gate film franchise, the Saw series. Please bear this in mind, if you have plans on watching any of the Saw films in the future and don't want to read any possible spoilers I may end up writing about, then hit the back button now.

Back in 2004, an independent film known as Saw was released. I have only seen this movie fairly recently, but I found it to be one of the freshest and most inventive horror films I've seen in years. The idea of a "serial killer" who doesn't really kill his victims, rather he gives them the option to attempt to save themselves if they managed to save themselves from the trap they were put in, was quite a neat idea for a horror movie setting. The person who does this is known as Jigsaw, and he pretty much tests a humans will to survive depending on what their sins are. He provides quite a few philosophic ideas for his victims to ponder, and he makes them able to appreciate the fact that they are still alive after what they have gone through. Of course that's just the main idea of the first film, the film itself is based on his newest victims who have to determine their will to live.

Luckily for the directors, the movie was a HUGE box office success, raking in $102 million. And that's a lot of money considering the fact that it was made on a budget of $1.2 million. So after that, the folks at Lions Gate decided that they would try and see how much the film was worth to them by releasing the sequel, Saw II. Basically, Saw II is more of the same from the first movie, but unfortunately with an all teenage cast that gets pretty annoying, and a slightly bigger budget, thus resulting in some cooler traps. I'd personally say that Saw II is a decent enough sequel despite its flaws, it worked in what it set out to be at the end of the day.

Of course after making even more money than they did last year with Saw I, Lions Gate could come to this conclusion, "We've got a Cash Cow ladies and Gentlemen. It's time to start milking." Me personally, I think this became evident when they released Saw III. The movie itself was pretty mediocre in my opinion since it's supposed to be based on John Kramer aka. Jigsaw's death, yet for his final moments in life, he focuses his efforts on some random guy who had no relation to him at all. I mean if I were in my last days, I'd do what I could to do the most meaningful things in life possible. At first I thought John was going to confess to this guy that he was the drunk driver that killed his son, but instead it just doesn't add up to much. The movie at least had a good ending though, and it would have been a perfect point to stop the series.

But no, another year, another gallon from the Cash Cow, another farmer in the form of Saw IV comes along to milk it. Jigsaw apparently had been watching a lot of people before he finally keeled over, because he's apparently capable of working his magic after death, and going on to other random characters who he had no relation to prior to make final amends. Instead he's just continuing his work, but the story is even weaker this time around, and barely makes much sense at times. For me, it was up to the point of Saw IV that I just decided to give up on this series, because it was getting so redundant and pointless that I just couldn't see myself being interested in it anymore. So as a result I haven't seen Saw V, but I don't think it could be any better than III or even IV thus I can't say anything about it. And also for a while, there hasn't only been a Saw VI out this year, but there's also a video game that came out.

I'm just amazed as to how Lions Gate is capable of making all these cash ins and still making enough money to fund the Saw movie for next year. Because really, if you think it's ending at Saw VI, then you really need to smell some open trash cans, because for next year, a Saw VII is being made, and of course a Saw VIII for the year after, and a Saw IX after that year. If you can't see a Saw X on the horizon, you probably need to get out a telescope and notice that it's there and who knows how many other sequels are going to be preceding it?

Up to this point, the only way the series is ever going to end is if either A) Tobin Bell dies, at which point they might just start making prequels anyway, or B) People finally realize that they have been seeing the same movie the first 5 or 6 times and stop seeing them. Personally I'm the kind of person who's cool with sequels, if I liked something, then I don't mind seeing the same formula two or three more times. But if those two or three more times are done poorly, then I don't feel like trying to give a crap about the series anymore up to that point. Saw is just a perfect example of this, Saw III wasn't my favorite, but it at least managed to tie everything up and just should have ended there.

I know some might argue, "Well at least they're caring about narrative continuity unlike a lot of other sequels." My answer to this is, "Why should the directors get an A for effort in trying to make a long convoluted series of trap settings by Jigsaw, all of which have no relation to him whatsoever?" By that logic, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are great movies just because they made an attempt to chronologically follow the Tim Burton Batman movies. (No they aren't great, but not too bad either. Batman Forever can be pretty boring when Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey aren't on camera, but Batman & Robin has camp value in a post Dark Knight world.)

Overall, this is just what I have to say to the folks at Lions Gate, yes I know up to this point it's pointless to act like I'm actually writing a letter of complaint to the company itself, but it's a good way to close off a rant and it makes me feel a little less agitated. What I have to say is this, "STOP! JUST STOP ALREADY! It's not cool anymore, its originality is soon to hit rock bottom, and every sequel that's been coming out has had about as much point as your typical Land Before Time sequel (Yes, I went there.) Personally I thought only the first two movies were particularly good, but if I was supposed to recognize the Saw series as a film series, I'd only follow it up to Saw III. Or better yet, just stick to the first one and act like the sequels don't exist." Of course considering the title of my blog, I doubt that anyone at Lions Gate is going to be reading anything I write.

The real case scenario is, of course, that Saw movies generate a lot of money, and in a capitalist economic system, if it generates money, more of it is made. There's no question of quality or anything like that, just a "generate and take" scenario. Though I can say that one thing is true about every Cash Cow, the utter eventually goes dry. People just have to start realizing that it's pointless for adding any more sequels to the Saw series and stop seeing these movies in theaters. Although if you are going to see Saw VI in theaters just because you actually managed to enjoy Saw I-V, then I can't really stop you from doing that unfortunately. Me however, if I ever do end up watching any of the future sequels, I'll just use the same "method" I used to watch Dragonball Devolution so that no money goes to the directors.

That's my rambling on the Saw series. If you want my recommendation, then just watch the first one only. If you want to watch any of the sequels though, I'd say just watch up to Saw III, believe me, you'll be thankful that you did. Have a happy Halloween, and I hope to do something productive another time.

That's the news from Myviewing as of October 31, 2009. Happy Halloween yet again.