Saw

This is a feature on the second disc on the Uncut edition of "SAW". James Wan and Leigh Whannell wanted to have something to show the American Studios so they quickly made this. This is basically just the "Reverse Bear Trap" except Leigh Whannell is playing the roll of Amanda. I believe this is pretty good for a nine minute short which later lead to the release of the actual movie "SAW". The interrogation scene in this short I believe is much better than the interrogation scene that make it to the final cut. In this you actually get to see how jigsaw captured David (Leigh Whannell). As you can see I am running out of things to say about this so I will just finish with this: This is a great extra on the second DVD of the Uncut version of SAW.

"I want to play a game..."

Those words have taken on such a wonderful and nostalgic meaning for horror fans the world over thanks to the massive success of one of the most profitable and widely-beloved horror franchises of all time. That of course being "Saw", created by future cinematic masterminds James Wan and Leigh Whannell.

The series is now legendary in its status, and held among the other great franchises as horror-royalty. Even having been honored by Guiness World Records for its wide success and adoration. Yet, like many other icons of horror that came before, the roots of "Saw" were somewhat more humble- a dream project of a few film students trying to get their first film made. And this is best represented by this short- film... produced by the creators as a tool to help sell their concept and script to potential producers and investors.

Based upon a modified excerpt from the original completed script, "Saw" (2003) revolves around a man named David, who is kidnapped from his ho-hum job as a hospital orderly and taken to a secluded location. Now with a device around his head that will rip his jaw apart in mere moments of time unless he can complete a dark and devious task set forth by his captor... David will be forced to make a terrible and potentially life-shattering choice should he wish to stay alive...

Should that sound familiar, it is for good reason. The short is essentially a miniaturized and slightly restructured version of the sequence involving the character of Amanda as seen in the final feature-length film released just one year later. Yet, for something you have essentially seen before- arguably more refined in the theatrical film- it's still as enthralling and terrifying as ever thanks to the expert direction and sharp storytelling of Wan and Whannell.

It's shocking with how small a budget and how fast a shoot this short had that it's also so darned stylish and well put-together. It's very close to the quality of the future films that it spawned. James Wan's visual stylings are obvious and evident even from this small beginning, and Whannell's knack for structure and creating truly unsettling scenery is on full display here. He also turns in a pretty good performance as David- the main character here.

True it may not be quite as good as the feature films at their best, but still, for what is essentially a proof-of-concept slapped together by two friends who just wanted to find the support to make a movie- it's fantastic!

I give it a very good 9 out of 10. Fans of the series, fans of horror and even first-time filmmakers could learn a thing or two from this short!

The short film, SAW, shows very clever filmmaking in the horror genre. There hasn't been anything clever like this short film for years.

David, an orderly of a hospital, has been kidnapped and faces his ultimate test. He must survive by killing another man that holds the key to his freedom. He wakes up, having a rusty contraption strapped to his face. Then, a mysterious puppet on the TV says if he doesn't remove the trap off his face in sixty seconds, his jaw will be ripped open.

Once this short gets green-lit into a major motion picture, this exact scene has been tweaked up and was used in the first SAW film. It's heart-pounding and fun to watch! I recommend this short film to not just to SAW fans, but to curious folks that want to take step into the world of horror. Great short film!

The short that started a multi-billion franchise (including 9 films, 2 video games and a one-shot comic book) and counting. A nicely done short with interesting camera movements and out-of-the-box concept.

In January 2004, a horror film titled simply as "Saw" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival generating a lot of interest among the audience, and most importantly, winning a distribution deal with Lions Gate Films, which released the movie to general audiences on October of that year. The rest, as is said, it's history, as the modest horror film became a huge commercial hit that has spawned several sequels by now and also influenced a lot of the style that mainstream horror has had in the first decade of the century. Not bad for a project that started as a short film. Only a year before "Saw"'s rose to stardom, its creators, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell, were using a little 9 minutes short film produced by themselves to pitch their concept to various studios and actors. That short film would later become the concept now know as "Saw".

"Saw" is the story of David (Leigh Whannell), an orderly at a hospital who is explaining to a Cop (Paul Moder) the story of how he ended up involved in a heinous crime against his will. One day after work, David gets kidnapped by a mysterious man who drugs him and takes him to an unknown location. When he wakes up, David is sitting on a chair in a darkened room, and has a bizarre artifact placed over his head. In a TV screen he sees an odd looking ventriloquist's dummy, who informs him (obviously the voice is the one of his captor) that the device is a "Jaw Splitter", a machine that will crush his skull if he can't stop it on time. The key to David's survival is to find the key that stops the Jaw Splitter, a key that the killer informs him is hidden inside the body of the dead man lying in the same room as David. But when David goes to get the key, he discovers horrified that the man he has to open is not dead.

Written by actor Leigh Whannell, "Saw" has all the core elements of the "Saw" series premise: a serial killer who do not kills with his own hands, but who instead puts his victims in a deadly trap where they have a chance (albeit small) of survival by doing an often difficult and painful (either physically, mentally or emotionally). It's an interesting take on horror that returns elements of suspense to the genre, as the shock is not only in the killing itself, but in the tension caused by the events that lead to it, and in the idea that the characters can escape from their dreadful fate. It's certainly a simple story, but despite this the concept feels truly fresh and original thanks to this focus. As many will notice (specially fans of the series), "Saw" the short film eventually became part of the first "Saw" film, as it evolved into the experience Amanda has with Jigsaw.

Just as the screenplay has most of the elements that became core part of the "Saw" series, James Wan's work as a director already shows where he was going with this concept and what exactly he wanted to do with it. Like the "Saw" films, the visual look of the short film is sleek, but with a welcomed touch of grittiness that fits perfectly the concept of brutal torture devices of the modern era. The highly dynamic camera-work that Wan uses later in "Saw" is also here (courtesy of cinematographer Martin Smith), as well as his preference for industrial metal music as soundtrack. However, while this was only a low-budget short film, this style feels more at home here than in the feature movie (where it gets tiring), as the atmosphere of fear, shock and desperation it's supposed to create works better in the short than in the films (no wonder why this scene in the feature film is the most iconic).

The acting is also better in this short than in the scene from the feature film, with Leigh Whannell giving a solid and very realistic performance as David. One can truly feel that his character has gone through hell and back, specially in his scenes with the Cop. Please not that I'm not saying that Shawnee Smith (who plays Amanda in the feature) is a bad actress, I'm just saying that Leigh Whannell seems to put a lot more of effort in the role than her (without a doubt because this was his pet project). However, that also must have something to do with the fact that in the feature, Amanda is just another victim, while here, the tortured character is also our narrator, so that gives Whannell more room to explore the role. By the way, Whannell's character is different to the one he plays in the feature, although one is certainly the evolution of the other.

Personally, I found "Saw" the short to be a lot better than "Saw" the film, mainly on the basis that it has everything that makes the first film in the series great (the fresh, original approach to horror and its creative story) without the elements that in my opinion work against it (it obviously lacks the underdeveloped subplots that lead to nowhere in the film). As it was done with a low budget, Wan and Whannell had to use creativity to make it work, and the result is wonderful, as while it may lacks the more graphic violence of the feature (due to the already mentioned budget constrains), it plays more with suspense and tension, which make it a bit more atmospheric and haunting than the movie gets to be. "Saw", the short film, is a very interesting movie to watch (and not only for fans of the series), as it shows what one can do when one plays with an idea and lets it grow.

8/10