Bookmonkey Saw: Day 18

Taking a step away from the films for a few days, lets look at some the other Saw-related media out there.

But first a little background.

1) In 1999 Konami released a survival-horror video game called Silent Hill (which in itself became the beginning of a series of games, comic books, movies, and novels), in which an "everyman" type character explored the frightening town of Silent Hill and sometimes slipped into a darker and more violent place.  Unlike it's most popular competitor in survival horror, the Resident Evil series of video games, Silent Hill focused on moody atmosphere and could best be described as psychological horror rather than the zombie-filled action horror of the Resident Evil series.

2) One year earlier, in 1998 the television series Felicity began airing which focused on the character of Felicity Porter (played by Keri Russell) as she attends college at the fictional University of New York, and throughout the series balances school with a love triangle involving two boys named Ben Convington and Noel Crane.  The first season ended on a cliffhanger, wherein Felicity had to choose between taking a road trip to California with Ben, or a trip to Europe with Noel.  Season two began with the knowledge that Felicity chose (mild, 13-year-old spoiler) the road trip with Ben.

Now, before you get upset and and start wondering why I'm filling my Saw blog with Silent Hill and Felicity, bear with me, It will all make sense I promise.

1a) Before season two of Felicity began, fans could buy a novel called Felicity: Summer which focused on her European trip with NOEL!?!  Which, of course, didn't happen (although the series does get involved in time travel later - seriously - so who knows, maybe it did?).

2a) Already considered one of the leaders of horror games in the video game industry, Konami began to look for a new concept which would further cement their hold on this sub-genre of video games.

Now, let's talk about Saw, for Playstation 3.  Like Felicity: Summer, Saw the game plays around with the franchise, taking place between Saw and Saw II, and featuring the character of Detective Tapp, who DIED in the first film, as the main character.  At the time of the games release, Saw VI was due out in about a month, so a game wherein the main character, who is clearly referred to as dead in the second film, somehow survives and gets to go through another bout with the Jigsaw killer may seem strange, but that is what players were met with.

The game looks an awful lot like Silent Hill, taking place in a largely-abandoned location, and with a very similar atmosphere, it is easy to make comparisons.  Also, having played through the first half of the game myself, it is probably the most fun I've had with a Saw-themed text since the first film.  The game is filled with timed mini-puzzles, and although it has a pretty high violence factor, the fact that you control the character makes it a heck of a lot more enjoyable than watching another half-dozen random characters get fed through death-manchines (sorry, Saw III - V).

So there you have it, even a passing familiarity with the series of films is all you need to enjoy the game, and as long as you are not put off by the onscreen violence, it was actually a lot more fun than I expected.

Also I got to put Saw and Felicity together for the first time on the web!

Bookmonkey Saw: Day 16

Saw V

On to the fifth Saw film now, and it begins exactly where the fourth left off – many people have died horrible deaths (again) and a plot twist has left the audience wondering exactly who is doing the killing now and why(again).

Directed by David Hackl (who was the production designer for Saw II – IV) Saw V strives to answer exactly that question, using flashbacks to the first Saw film (again) and for the first time in the series, the second film as well.  In this film the victim running through the gauntlet is once again a group (5 this time), and the story flashes between them and the parallel story of an FBI agent who found an unexpected way out of a trap and is right on the trail of the new Jigsaw Killer.

By this time in the series, much of the focus has shifted from story to the horrible death traps used by the killer, but as my interests don’t run that way, neither will my blog posts.

An interesting note my wife pointed out to me was that the heavy use of dioramas in the series (first in the original film, but most strongly in the fifth), looks an awful lot like those used by “The Miniature Killer” in the seventh season of the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which lasted for the majority of the season and began airing about a month before the release of Saw V. 

For the next two posts I’ll be looking beyond the films, following the logic that “…if the film and television industries invest so heavily in previews, bonus materials, merchandise, and their ilk, so should we as analysts..” (Gray, 2010, p. 8). So get ready to learn about the first Saw videogame and the VH1 Reality TV series Scream Queens.

Gray, Johnathan (2010) Show Sold Separately: promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York , NY : New York University Press.