Saw (2003, Short Film)

Format: Short Film (DVD)
Director: James Wan
Distributor: Lions Gate Films
Release Date: 2003
Runtime: 10 minutes

Today Saw is a juggernaut of a horror film franchise. After seven films it is soon going to be returning in Saw: Legacy later this year. Flashback to 2003 and this short film was created on an extremely minimal budget to show to studios to try and get funding for a full feature film. Clearly this short film was successful in that endeavor. So how does it hold up today?

Well, the film is about a man named David who is being interviewed about a horrific experience that he had. As an orderly at a hospital he was kidnapped and woke up with a reverse bear trap on his head (essentially when the timer runs out it stretches ones jaw permanently open so that they die). The initial premise is scary and disturbing. The film itself has minimal gore (probably due to the small budget) which I think makes it more effective as what you don't see is often more frightening than what you do.

David doesn't have a lot of depth or character development (not that I was expecting much from a 10 minute short film) so he works more as an analogue for the viewer to place themselves in the character's place and in that it is effective enough, The acting is decent enough considering the budget (although nothing spectacular). Leigh Whannell (playing David) later went on to be in the actual film series.

This film is decent but is pretty unnecessary given that this was recreated in the first film. So unless you are a completest or a big Saw film I wouldn't worry about this. However, if you are really curious then it is available as a bonus feature on the unrated DVD for the first Saw film (although not on the Blu-Ray from what I can tell for some reason).

Spoilers

I thought that forcing David to make a decision between killing somebody else to save himself, or letting them live but he himself would die is a pretty scary thought. It really makes one wonder what they would do if put in such a situation (I would probably just let myself die). The puppet at the end is really creative and I like the idea that the killer goes after people who they view as not appreciating their lives as a way to make them see value in their own lives (from the killer's perspective). In reality it would probably just mess somebody's life up more due to PTSD rather than help them see value but from the killer's perspective I can see what they are getting at (even if they are going about it the wrong way).