I'm watching the Redskins-Panthers game, and I'm being assaulted repeatedly by commercials for Saw VI. People screaming. People begging for mercy. People chained or tied to all kinds of nasty machines designed to inflict slow, agonizing death. And now, back to the game.
Seriously, can someone explain this to me? Six of these films, in six years. By now, it's pretty clear that there will never be any kind of resolution, which I thought was the reason why people went to the movies- because in real life, we don't get a lot of conclusions we can look forward to, but in film, we get storylines wrapped up in a satisfactory manner (and if we don't, we think "that's a pretty lousy film.") I've never seen any of these Saw films, but you'd have to have something seriously wrong with you if you think you are going to see an actual "conclusion" to the story in the sixth installment.
No, what you are going to get is more torture, more pain, more brutality, more begging, more blood- and an "ending" that lets you know what you were sure of when you walked in- that there will be a Saw VII, coming to your local theatre sometime next year, probably in time for Halloween. Which means that if you go to these movies, you are going simply because you enjoy watching people getting tortured.
Ok, maybe that's your thing. Personally, I think that anyone who has gone to more than one of these pointless violence-porn gorefests ought to be required to undergo a psychiatric screening, but that's just me. I don't wonder why these films are made- they aren't big budget, and they rake in tons of cash. I'll stick to the commercials- why do they have to run during the only time of the week where I engage in extended tv viewing? Why do they have to run during a sporting event no doubt being viewed by kids who (allegedly) can't get into the theatre to see the film anyway? In fact, why do they have to run at all- I'm pretty convinced that there's a core audience of people who have seen Saw I through Saw V which will march like lemmings to see Saw VI, VII, VIII, IX and X, due for release in October 2013. So why bother with commercials? Does the studio really think that people are going to see the ad and think "gee, that looks interesting. I think I'll check that out."
If so, I hope that he has second thoughts later- "nah, I didn't catch the first five installments. I'd be totally lost."
Personally, I think that anyone who has gone to more than one of these pointless violence-porn gorefests ought to be required to undergo a psychiatric screening, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteActually, it's not just you; I remember that there was a time when the sort of freaks who dug these celebrations of mindless embowelment were deprived of cinematic validation. I wish that the Government would step in and muzzle the slop artists who visit this ugliness upon us....after, of course, lobotomizing the fans.
Remember when "A Clockwork Orange" was rated 'X' until Kubrick edited the scenes that these days would pass for 'R'? Something tells me that desensitization is running too rampant for there to be any sort of "stopping point" anymore. Let's hope our youth aren't already desensitized to the point that they'll pass a mugging with nary a backward glance.
ReplyDeleteI watched the original "Halloween"(1978) the other day. I remember when it scared me and pretty much everyone else to death. Today the violence in that film is almost comical compared to what we've seen just in TRAILERS of recent films. I bet teenagers today would snigger at the level of violence in films like "Halloween"- "what a bore, not even one person had their fingers pulled off or eyes gouged out."
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