Parent reviews for Saw

Parents need to know that this is one of the most frustrating reviews on this website. This is NOT "torture porn" by any means. In fact, this film shies away from gore very often. The camera angles hide the most grisly images. I am not going to try to convince you that this movie is good for kids, because it isn't. Saw still has a ton of disturbing content, even if there is little to no gore actually shown. The film has a lot of psychological torture rather than physical torture. A man is forced to saw off his own foot, a woman is forced to dig through the stomach of a man for a key, and a man has his head smashed with a toilet tank. However, all of this is off-screen, but it is still really disturbing to watch people have to do these acts. When this film was released, it causes quite an uproar because of how disturbing it was. People called it "torture porn" because the movie was so disturbing to them that they felt like the movie was only made to show gore, which is NOT the case. These days the movie is extremely tame, and most teens wont be disturbed by it at all. The person who wrote this "professional" review (Nell Minow) is extremely biased against anything she doesn't like. Seriously, click on her name and see the movies she has reviewed. If he doesn't like it, the movie will get a really high age rating. Ifs he likes the movie though, even if it's really mature, it will get a lower age rating. Again, this movie has a reputation it doesn't deserve. While it has extreme psychological torture, it barely shows any blood, (except the pool of blood on the body in the bathroom that is shown throughout the movie) It actually has a good message about teamwork, and it actually is a very smart and original thriller. I personally really like this movie, but it does have some issues. Like I said, it is very smart and effective. It has a fantastic and very interesting villain as well. The plot is well written and I love the huge twist at the end. However, the acting is not great at times, it has a very low budget that really shows, and some scenes are really poorly directed. Overall in terms of quality, I would give this movie a 6.5/10. In terms of how mature the movie is though, because of the disturbing content and frequent strong language I would say that Saw is probably okay for teens ages 15 and up. One thing that should be noted is that the Saw series gets more graphic, sadistic, and disturbing as it goes on. Saw, Saw 2, and, Jigsaw, are probably okay for teens 16 and older. The other ones are NOT okay for anyone who is not an adult. Another thing is that this movie is definitely not okay for ALL 15 year-olds. Some will be extremely disturbed and this movie is not for the faint of heard. If your kid is asking to see the movie and already knows what they are signing up for, it's probably fine if they are 15 or older. However, if you are planning on showing it to them, make sure they know what they are getting into. Thanks for reading.

Amazing and the director being James Wan, I watched every movie he's made, all horror all popular all an original concept, and although Saw is his most popular my favorite of his is Dead Silence, the Tongue Ripper movie, because I can tell you this much getting your tongue ripped out is definitely a new concept and how about chewing up your own tongue in your mouth.

I believe Saw was a terrific, compelling, frightening, and enjoyable film. The ending was both stunning and brilliant, making this one of the best horror/crime thrillers I’ve ever seen, much better than the over-hyped Se7en. In terms of violence/gore, the filmmakers were as tasteful as they possibly could in what they decided to show, considering the dark subject matter of the film. It’s intense, sure, but it’s not visually gory. As for language, it’s present but it’s also realistic. Most of the cussing comes from the two main characters chained in the bathroom. And come on, let’s be realistic. Probably 90% of the world’s population would let loose a little if they were chained to a bathroom with their family at risk of being killed. It is important to understand the psychological effects these traps play on their characters, and when we do the language makes sense. As for sex, there isn’t any.

Finally, a return to "R" rated Horror movies, I am SO SICK of all these PG-13 so called "horror movies" that have flooded our movieplexes over the past 5-10 years. And then when they come out on DVD they are R or Unrated, these cheap studios are only making PG-13 versions to release in theaters to get the young kids money and butcher an otherwise smart flick for adults. Saw is very, very GOOD!!

Saw (2004) really is one of a kind. Back when this was filmed, they had a really small budget. So, contrary to what people think, this 1st movie is pretty far off from "torture porn", because they couldn't afford to film that stuff in heavy detail. Below I'm going to go into heavy detail on what exactly is shown in this movie, so, if you want a spoiler free review, this one isn't great. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Nudity/Sex- Let's get the easy stuff outta the way. In this movie, there's only 'nudity' in a short, 2-3 min scene of a man in a trap, but it's so dark you honestly can't see anything (The Flammable Jelly Trap). Beyond that, there is a scene implying that Lawrence (Bathroom Trap) is about to have an affair, but he stops her before she can unbutton her shirt. Adam (Bathroom Trap) makes two jokes, including "I don't care if you cover yourself in peanut butter and have a 15 hooker gangbang." and "This is the most fun I've had without lubricant." There's also a brief mention of a dentist who 'liked kids too much' from Officer Tapp, but nothing is shown. /////////////////////////////////////////////////// Language- There's quite a bit of cursing in this. Like, a lot. But I mean, if I was trapped in a death trap, I'd curse too. Words used are along the lines of 'F*ck' 'Sh*t' 'B*stard' etc. Most cursing is done by the two men inside the bathroom trap, Lawrence and Adam. ///////////////////////////////// Smoking/Drinking/Drug Use- Officer Tapp drinks fairly heavily after an incident regarding his partner Officer Sing (see Violence section). Quite a few characters smoke, including Adam in the bathroom. No one is seen using drugs, but Amanda (Reverse Bear Trap) is referenced to have been a heroin addict and you can see marks from that on her arms. Additionally, the person kidnapping these people uses a syringe to make them unconscious. /////////////////////////////////////// Violence/Gore/Torture- As I said above, the Gore in this one is pretty tame due to a low budget. But I'll still go over every violent scene. There are 4 main traps in this movie, and at least one person dies in all of them. In the 'Flammable Jelly trap, a man is tasked with finding a safe combination written on the wall while covered in a Flammable substance, he fails and burns to death (though the editing shows pretty much none of it). Another man is tasked to escape a maze made of Razor Wire, and the editing shows him moving frantically and fast, along with maybe 3-4 minutes worth of a scene of cops looking at the body and body, though it's pretty tame. Next is the reverse bear trap, featuring a woman named Amanda with a device on her head that will rip apart her jaw if she doesn't cut open the stomach of her drug dealer and find a key. We don't see her actually cut him or anything, just her shadow on the wall as she stabs him repeatedly. Followed by her lifting up some extremely red organs and digging around, though the scene lasts maybe 2 mins max and can be skipped. Lastly is the main trap, the bathroom. In it, two men named Adam and Lawrence are chained to opposite walls and a 'corpse' is in the middle. There isn't any Gore, as the body isn't really dead, and the biggest thing is the pile of fake blood underneath him. Near the end of the movie, Lawrence is delirious after finding out his family is in danger and he saws off his own foot to escape the chain, though most of that scene is showing his face and Adam's, once again due to budgets. Lawrence then shoots Adam in the shoulder, and another man enters the bathroom (Zepp). But Adam isn't really dead, and proceeds to bash in Zepp's head with a toilet lid, though we don't see much aside from red streaks on the toilet lid. I believe only two cops die in this film. In one scene, a 5th Trap is set up but Officers Sing and Tapp manage to disarm it before it can actually harm the man in the chair. Tapp gets his throat sliced open (but doesn't die) and Sing chases Jigsaw down a hallway but trips a wire and causes 4 shotguns to shoot him in the head. There's some blood in this, but I think we only see that body for maybe 20ish seconds. Tapp ends up dying later on from a gunshot wound from Zepp(we don't see him die, we just see him slide down a wall after being shot and are lead to believe he's dead, he canonically dies in the Saw videogame.) I believe that's the bulk of the gore/Violence, but much of this first movie focuses more on psychological torture than physical. Zepp, mentioned above, keeps Lawrence's wife and daughter held hostage and is ordered to kill them (he ultimately fails to, but not before severely traumatizing them both). And of course, there's a scene or two where people are abducted by someone wearing a pig mask, other gross situations, and etc. //////////////////////////////////////////////////// Final Thoughts- [Sex/Nudity- 1/5] [Language- 4.5/5] [Smoking/Drinking/Drug Use- 1.5/5] [Violence/Gore- 3.5-4/5] /////////////////////////////////////// I watched this for the first time when I was 14, and my only prior horror movie experience was The Conjuring (and maybe The Walking Dead if you count that?). I believe I was only scared for a night or two. If your child has seen movies before with abductions/kidnapping, some small amounts of gore, and you're okay with two sex jokes and some cursing, then they'll be fine. And if not, best to hold off for a few years.

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - The film contains a constant, sustained sense of strong threat and unsettling atmosphere. More specific sequences include flashbacks to victims of a serial killer's "games", in which people are placed in elaborate torture rooms and devices which will kill them if they do not complete a certain task before the timer runs out. These sequences are very tense and disturbing. One particularly upsetting sequence, however, actually involves the kidnapping of a mother and very young girl, in which they are tormented by the killer with a gun while they scream and cry in terror. Another issue is scenes of strong violence, sometimes with accompanying bloody detail, such as a woman stabbing a man repeatedly in the stomach, a man having his throat slashed, a man being shot in the shoulder and a man walking into a tripwire where his head is completely blown off by some hidden shotguns (lots of blood is quickly shown splashing on the walls, although there is no explicit gory detail). There are a few gory images and images of injury detail throughout, mainly in crime scene photos depicting the grisly aftermath of the serial killer's "games". There is also brief sight of a woman fumbling with a man's stomach contents to try and find a key to unlock the device on her head before it kills her, and sight of a man beginning to saw his foot off with brief bloody detail. The films also features frequent use of strong language ("f*ck"). | OTHER ISSUES - There are frequent scenes of characters in emotional distress. Some other content problems include references to drug use and drug addiction, occasional strong sexual references, and frequent use of milder language ("sh*t", "b*stard", "son-of-a-b*tch" etc). | Rated "16" - Suitable only for persons aged 16 years and over. Contains content not recommended for viewing by any person below the age of 16.

Saw is without a doubt my favorite horror movie of all time. This partially has to do with the fact that it was the first horror film that I saw when I was first getting into the genre, but mostly because I think that it’s a legitimately well made movie that is engaging all the way through. A lot of people that have reviewed saw have criticized it for being too reliant on its use of violence, and while I can kind off understand that criticism, especially for the sequels, I just don’t think that that’s an accurate way to critique the first movie in the saw series. I am not saying that it isn’t violent, because it is, especially towards the end, but what I am saying is that it never feels like it sacrifices telling a compelling mystery plot for that violence. A few years back I watched the movie Hostel and found myself really unengaged. It tells a very similar story to saw, but does so in a way that feels very dependent on the violence because it doesn’t have a good story beyond that, and it really solidified in my mind just how good Saw is. I will give a few caveats though. I am fully aware that this movie will not be for everybody. I’ve had conversations with friends of mine who hate the Saw series with a passion, I’m just not one of those people (with the exception of Jigsaw and Spiral, two of my least favorite horror movies that I’ve ever seen). I am someone who is able to suspend my disbelief, and go along with the story of a film, and I think that someone’s ability to do that ( since the story of saw is such a heightened and unrealistic one) will greatly affect their enjoyment of it

I hate this movie as too much violence and I specially jigsaw and I’m never seen the other movies and I will never see this one again