Hohum.

I’m thinking of doing a list of my top 10/20 favourite horror icons. This may or may not appear because I’m trying to concentrate on getting more of my story written right now as opposed to writing long blogs. I did write some tonight, but it’s difficult to get into it with so many other destractions. I’m also very aware that I haven’t been playing my electric violin, it’s dead cool and I really should. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get stuck into all these creative persuits between work and sleep. Will work something out though (crossed fingers)!

Lordy that Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross thing’s gone on a bit. Basically I think there were some stupid decisions made but I rather like those two – at least they’re characters, overpaid characters maybe, but they have to be more entertaining than a lot of other souless chat hosts, even if you do hate them. Sach seems like a very nice man though, and I’m sure a 78 year old gent doesn’t want to hear those kinds of things left on his answer phone. Also, anyone else would’ve been sacked – if that had been a live show, but that it got past the BBC and then got shot down was crazy. They should never have aired it. These are all humans we’re talking about though, so bugger it. It’s been done to death. Let’s let it lie. Speaking of which, time for some kip…

..but before I go, the MSN website did an interesting little top 10 iconic gaming characters poll as voted by users. I was suprised to see Sonic in the number 1 slot followed by Mario and then Lara. Next was Pacman, Link (from Zelda), Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Crash, Solid Snake and finally Luigi. I’m certainly glad Lara and Snake were up there, Mario and Kong too. Not too bothered about the others, really.

Laters.

(Tried to post this last night but it wouldn’t have it)

The now-iconic “billy the toy”

If you’ve never seen any of the Saws… well, they aren’t really (and by not really, I mean not at all) family friendly. Like other recent gore-fests, e.g. Hostel (2005), they are designed to make you bring up whatever you ate for lunch and possibly breakfast too. For instance, the first film gave you a man forced to saw off his own foot, the third a nice bit of brain-surgery and the last sequel the full autopsy of the recently-deceased antagonist/antihero of the entire series – John Kramer (Tobin Bell), AKA “The Jigsaw Killer”. These films aren’t, as you would imagine, everyone’s cup of tea.

While the first film provided a different and imaginative take on horror, whereby the enigmatic killer allegedly never actually killed anyone and prayed on those who had wronged, the sequels have done little to alter the formula. However, provided you liked the first act then the other parts are worth giving a go. Gore is much increased with parts 3 and 4, and it all becomes a bit like “Se7en Lite: the series”* to watch.

I was particularly interested when they planned a sequel (part 4) despite the fact that Jigsaw was out of the picture, and they vowed they wouldn’t bring him back in a Michael Myers-esque fashion, or to make him some sort of ghost. As it turned out, we were treated to more flashbacks, which felt somewhat stretched in this instalment and a brand new killer to boot. It was OK, entertaining in fact, but how long can they keep it up, especially now there’s no way for Kramer to return? Hopefully there will be more flesh on the bones of any future flashbacks we will undoubtedly see, giving more of a kick to Kramer’s story, which is an interesting one. He is (or was) a cold bastard, but when dying of cancer he had an epiphany that he would put people through a series of deadly traps and trials to make them respect life. He is clearly a nutcase, but at least he tries to give a logical argument.

Dr Gordon weighing up priorities

I am fascinated by trends that form when a mythology is born, and the desire for recurring/returning characters is one of them. For example, Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) first seen in Saw 2 who returned in part 4 and most fans are still hoping to learn the fate of (now vertically challenged) Dr. Gordon and see him one more time. I’d like to see Glover back as Tapp as he’d been driven mad by Jigsaw in the first place and was his own brand of unhinged, but I’m pretty doubtful on that count (the character being dead and all). While the sequels all try hard to fit in and allude to each other (like pieces of a jigsaw, hahaha), I think it’s very unlikely that the makers know exactly where it’s going. They just leave leftovers and catalysts, unexplained bits and bobs that can be used to spark interest in a sequel. Which is cool, really. At least some thought goes into it.

Arguably Saw was only ever meant to be one film, despite the open-ended finale. Arguably Saw was only ever meant to be three films, as Jigsaw pops his clogs. Arguably again, they are milking the Jigsaw cash-cow, but somehow it’s nice to see a trashy, gritty, gory horror franchise still going strong with an army of drooling fans.

Amanda shocked by her new braces

Now here’s a quick list of my “Sickest Saw moments”

Saw: The sound of the saw – imagine having to do that to yourself? Yeesh

Saw 2: the needle pool – a nightmare for anyone who like me hates injections.

Saw 3: brain surgery – if the stuff on screen didn’t make you queasy, the sounds must have. I’d also like to mention the rotting pigs on hooks/grinder scene, which although not at all bloody was to me, much grosser than yet more blood and guts being fired every which-way. Kinda like the little crazy ghost girl/person in the Japanese Ring.

Saw 4: opening – this is the only Saw to date which I’ve seen at the cinema. While I was used to the formula by this time, it wasn’t a pleasant autopsy to watch. Much worse than the real autopsies they did late nights on Channel 4, in fact.

Which ones did you reckon were worst, huh, huh?!

Saw 5 hits cinemas on the 24th October 2008 in the UK and America.

*no such series I’m afraid. To be honest it’d probably be a bit gash, wouldn’t it?