Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3993 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Adam (Leigh Whannell) wakes up in a dank room across from Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and the body of a guy who has blown his own brains out. Not a happy place, obviously, and it gets worse when both men realize that they've been chained and pitted against one another by an unseen but apparently omniscient maniac who's screwing with their psyches as payment for past sins. Director James Wan, who concocted this grimy distraction with screenwriter Whannell, has seen Seven and any number of other arty existential-psycho-cat-and-mouse thrillers, so he's provided Saw with a little flash, a little blood, and a lot of ways to distract you from the fact that it doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. Wan and Whannell (who's not the most accomplished actor, either) pile on the plot twists, which after some initially novel ideas become increasingly juvenile. Elwes works hard but looks embarrassed, and the estimable Danny Glover suffers as the obsessed detective on the case. The denouement will probably surprise you, but it won't get you back the previous 98 minutes.--Steve Wiecking

DVD Description
The dvd release of 'Saw' as shown in UK cinemas.

Synopsis
Be prepared to be scared. James Wan's directorial debut, written by and starring Leigh Whannell, is a violent, bloody, psychologically exhausting and exhilarating exercise in terror. Adam (Whannell) and Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) are chained in a vile, disgusting bathroom, separated by a bloody corpse holding a gun and a tape recorder. They are each given a saw--the only obvious way out is to cut one of their feet off. A serial killer who specialises in torturing morally bereft strangers is playing a game with them: Gordon has less than eight hours to kill Adam or else the doctor's wife (Monica Potter) and daughter (Mackenzie Vega) will be murdered. As the two men engage in a battle of wits, alternately trying to help each other and secretly attempting to win the game, a series of flashbacks reveals the history of the madman and the pair of detectives (Danny Glover and Ken Leung) handling the case. Some of the torture scenes are excruciatingly horrible and hard to watch, a real treat for fans of the genre. Inspired by the work of David Lynch (BLUE VELVET, TWIN PEAKS) and Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA, INFERNO), Wan has created a scintillating suspense thriller that will have audiences continually shocked, repelled, frightened, and surprised, right up to the very last second (which Whannell has said was influenced by the endings of such films as THE USUAL SUSPECTS and THE SIXTH SENSE). The accompanying heavy metal soundtrack is appropriately scary as well.

Customer Reviews

Saw
Fantastic film.
In all ways.
Obviously there was a little bit of characterisation missed out on, but that just added to the fact that it doesnt matter who you are, if you do not appreciate your life, you are at risk.

Saw (2004)
Movies like "Saw" have no relevance in the movie industry. They are filled with mindless violence, over the top gore, gallons of blood, and poor direction/dialogue. They are utterly awlful. Horror movies have become a disaster, a castrophy (look at the likes of "Hostel", "Wrong Turn", "The Decent" etc). "Saw" is gory. And it is very gory. But "Saw" is different. "Saw" is clever. And it really is very clever.

The story centers on two men, Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes), both are unaware of their surroundings. They both wake up at opposite sides of a dirty, disused bathroom, chained by their ankles to pipes. Between them lies a dead man loosely clutching a hand-held tape player and a handgun. Each finds a tape the perfect fit for the player in their back pocket. They play the tapes. One is threatened, the other isn't. But they have a task: One must kill the other by 6:00, or his wife and daughter will die.

They find hacksaws in a toilet, and try to cut the chains, but it doesn't work. They are the two newest victims of the Jigsaw Killer. In a flashback, we learn of Amanda, a girl who falls victim to the Jigsaw Killer. On her head is a mask, which is hooked into her lower jaw. There is a timer on it. Only one key will unlock it, and that key is in the digestive tract of her cell mate who lies paralyzed on the opposite side of the room. If she doesn't unlock the mask in time, her lower jaw will be ripped wide open. She survives, but her cell mate doesn't. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn of more victims, and of the nearly-successful capture of the Jigsaw Killer, who doesn't actually kill his victims. Instead, he finds ways to make them kill either themselves, or each other, and he thinks the entire 'game' out perfectly, with no other ways out. Or so it would seem.

It is a tense movie, sometimes almost to tense. The director, James Wan, is a master of tension. The original verison of "Saw" was written by Wan two years before the theatrical verison (this one). It was a nine minute horror based on a hospital patient who is kidnapped and is forced to play a twisted game. These 'games' become an essential part in all of the "Saw" movies.

The Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell) is never seen throughout the movie, maybe this add's to the tension (What does this character look like? Is he disturbed? Is he old?), however we do catch a glimpse of his puppet ("Billy") who delivers the messages of Doom before each victim begins the "game". Of course, the voice whom delivers the message is The Jigsaw Killer, but his face is never shown. Only the Puppet's. Each message is recorded on either a audio or visual tape. The ideas that have flown out of Wan's mind have been projected perfectly. Some of the scenes couldn't have been done better.

However, there is a star missing. This missing star comes from the cast. Most of the cast did their roles very well, however the detectives were very badly portrayed as were many of the victims. But apart from those performances, the movie was perfect.

really good!
I had to leave a review of this movie just because its soo good!
It's a really intelligent(sp?) movie and to be honest it is really kinda disturbingly graphic and gory but to be fair you are watching a horror movie so it should be expected.
Theres no point going on and on and about this, so i would recomend you watch it if you do like a good storyline, a good horror movie and if you dont mind some gore (which, as i said you should be expecting if you want to watch a good horror movie)
The acting is perfect in the movie and as i said the storyline and everything is top notch.
A brilliant phsycological thriller/horror.

i definatley recomend you check this one out!