Hi, Welcome to another edition of Anthony T's Take. This time around I explain why "Saw VI" is actually one of the best horror films of the year. And no, I'm not joking.

(Please note that it represents Anthony T's Opinion and not the opinion of Filmarcade.net.)

I do apologize about the language in the beginning, but I'm still shocked at how much I liked it.

Do you want to play a game? All year long, you’ve been letting your mind rot watching romantic comedies and World War II dramas. Jigsaw invites you to test your limits and earn your salvation by experiencing the ultimate horror movie experience, the SAW MOVIE MARATHON. This Thursday, October 22nd, movies theaters nationwide will be playing a marathon of the first five films of the most successful horror movie franchise of all time, leading up to midnight screenings of SAW VI. To buy your tickets now, go to www.fandango.com and/or www.movietickets.com

Here is a list of theaters where the SAW VI Marathon will be playing:

Carmike 10-Asheville - Asheville,NC
Carmike Market Fair - Fayetteville,NC
Carmike 18-Greensboro - Greensboro,NC
Carmike 14 Hickory - Hickory,NC
Carmike 16 - Jacksonville,NC
Carmike 15 - Raleigh Raleigh,NC
Carmike Cinema 14 - Columbia,SC
Carmike 14 - Dover,DE
Carmike 16 - Allentown,PA
Carmike Ohio Valley Mall 11 CinemasSt.- Clairsville,OH
Carmike Park Hills 7 Altoona,PA
Carmike 15 - Greensburg,PA
Carmike 6-Charlottesville - Charlottesville,VA
Carmike Midlothian 10 - Midlothian,VA
Carmike 10 - Roanoke,VA
Carmike Wynnsong 16 - Auburn,AL
Carmike 12 - Athens,GA
Carmike 15 - Columbus - Columbus GA
Carmike Wynnsong 11 - Savannah,GA
Carmike Governor's Square 10 - Clarksville,TN
Carmike Thoroughbred 20 - Franklin,TN
Carmike Johnson City 14 - Johnson City,TN
Carmike Wynnsong 16 - Murfreesboro,TN
Carmike 20 Edinburg - Edinburg,TX
Carmike 16 - El Paso,TX
Carmike 14 - Tyler - Tyler,TX
Carmike Sikes 10 - Wichita Falls,TX
Carmike 10 - Stillwater,OK
Carmike 12 - Kennewick,WA
Carmike Shiloh 14 - Billings,MT
Carmike 10 - Great Falls,MT
Carmike 10 - Missoula,MT
Cinemark Tinseltown 10 - Melrose Park,IL
Cinemark 16 at Seven Bridgesc -Woodridge,IL
Cinemark Tinseltown 19-Louisville - Louisville.,KY
Cinemark Tinseltown Movies 15 - Canton.OH
Cinemark 24 - Valley View (Cleveland),OH
Century 20 Jordan CreekWest - Des Moines,IA
Cinemark Tinseltown 16-Rochester - Rochester,NY
Cinemark Movies 16-Somerdale - Somerdale,NJ
Cinemark 20 - Moosic,PA
Robinson Township 16 - Robinson Township,PA
Cinemark 14 Chico,CA
Century 16 Greenback Lane - Citrus Heights,CA
Century 20 Daly City - Daly City,CA
Century 20 Oakridge - San Jose,CA
Century 25 @ Union LandingUnion City,CA
Century Park Lane 16 - Reno,NV
Cinemark 24 - West Jordan,UT
Theatres at the Mall of America - Bloomington,MN
Goodrich Portage 16 IMAX Theater - Portage,IN

The Collector
Year: 2009
Director: Marcus Dunstan
Studio: Freestyle Releasing
Stars: Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 88 Mins.
Official Website: http://www.thecollector-movie.com/




2009 will be known in horror genre, as the year of the independent horror film. There have been some great films like “I Sell the Dead”, “Martyrs”, “Laid To Rest”, “The Burrowers”, and “Rec”. Now, you can add “The Collector” to the list.

The film is about, an ex-con, who is working as a handyman for a jewelry broker and his family. Unknown to the family, he’s planning to rob them into order to repay his ex-wife debt. His robbery is going to plan, until he hears screams in the house. Unfortunately, there’s also another person, who has also laid claim to the house. That person carries around with him an old trunk and wears a mask. As the ex-con tries to leave the house, he finds out that the masked man has set up booby traps around the house that makes it impossible for him to escape. Now he faced with a dilemma, escape and flee the scene or try to save the family and stop this demented madman, known as “The Collector”.

Going into “The Collector, I had two question going into this film. Is this the film that redeems Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, for the mess that was known as “Saw V”, and can a writer actually direct a descent film, considering it’s becoming the latest trend. The answer to both questions is yes.

This film is an intense and frightening film, from start to finish. Marcus Dunstan really has an eye for direction and the horror genre, in general. His direction here felt some odf David Fincher’s earlier films, with the graphic imagery, the intense tone and the Nine Inch Nails like soundtrack. Dunstan also does a very good job not making this film feel like a “Saw” film, even though this could have been easily been one. The reason for that, Dunstan doesn’t try to redo “Saw” all over again, as he allows his villain to be creepy in the way that he moves, like Michael Myers in the original Halloween. By doing that, it makes you fear the villain. The death scenes were directed very well, as it was more elaborate and quick. It makes the scenes intense and shocking. Dunstan also does a good job directing his actors. The acting here was pretty intense. The reason for that is way the way he makes the performances fit the tone of the film. It was one of those films, where I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, until the end. That’s how an intense movie works.

The screenplay much better than the “Saw V” script, which Dunstan co-wrote with his writing partner Patrick Melton. The Collector is their latest screenplay and it’s better project that showcases their talents, as writers. One of the things that they did right here was to make the tone of the story, intense as possible. That was one of the things that were lacking in “Saw V” The reason for that is the characters were more likeable here. That was a big difference. The writers do a good job spending the first twenty minutes giving backstory to these characters. It really helped me get into the story, considering the start of the film was intense and could have gone another and disastrous direction. Instead, by giving background to these characters, it made me invested in everything that went on. It also adds a level of interest to the story. They also did a very good job in not making the villain of the film come off, as a Jigsaw clone. They did that, by not giving the villain any dialogue and making him very mysterious to the point that you want to know more about his character, if a sequel ever happens. The villain was truly terrifying, as he had that Michael Myers feel to him. That’s how a horror monster can be scary.

This film definitely Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton’s best screenplay to date. “The Collector” is defiantly a horror film that you should seek out, if you truly love an intense and horrifying film that will leave you scared.

Review Rating: Five Stars

DIRECTED BY
David Hackl

STARRING
Tobin Bell - John Kramer/Jigsaw
Costas Mandylor - Detective Mark Hoffman
Scott Patterson - Agent Peter Strahm
Betsy Russell - Jill Tuck
Julie Benz - Brit
Greg Bryk - Mallick
Meagan Good - Luba

Genre - Horror/"Torture Porn"

Running Time - 88 Minutes

Score - 2 Howls Outta 4


When SAW V was released this past weekend, I wasn't excited about it. Let's face the facts - the fifth installments of many big horror franchises usually disappoint and are just plain awful. Don't believe me? Check this out:

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING - Many fans consider this to be the worst entry in the long running franchise. Why? Because it should have never been made, especially when the entry before it was deemed FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Paramount Studios got everyone's hopes up thinking Jason Voorhees would return after getting butchered. But noooo...let's put a fake Jason doing the killing instead! That'll make the fans happy! Unfortunately it doesn't work, giving us a mystery that can be solved fifteen minutes into the film. Plus when you have the most annoying characters in the franchise's history, things are gonna go sour. If I ever see Violet [a.k.a. Robot Girl] again, I'm gonna pop and lock her ass into submission.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 5: THE DREAM CHILD - Here's a film that had a really interesting and mature theme that could have made this movie a highlight in the franchise. Instead, these mature ideas are tossed aside for horrible dream sequences [Super Freddy anyone?] and a Freddy Krueger that's no more than a shell of what he used to be in the previous installments. Plus other than "final girl" Alice, the characters weren't worth the paper they were idealized and written on.

HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS - Probably the biggest disappointment of them all. THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS ended with a great conclusion that could have led to very interesting installments. Instead, fans were given the shaft when they pussied out of that ending - instead giving us a horrible storyline where Michael Myers is psychically linked to his neice, Jamie Lloyd, while some Man In Black follows him around like a love sick puppy. And let's not forget that horrible looking mask, bad direction, and a character named Tina that deserves to burn in the pits of Hell for all eternity.

There are so many other fifth installments I could mention here, but you get my drift. So coming into seeing SAW V, I went in with low expectations. And the funny thing is that those expectations were pretty much met. SAW V is as pointless as SAW IV, but I can say at least that it could have been a lot worse.

PLOT
Continuing from SAW III and SAW IV, we watch Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) struggle with escaping the location where Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) died as Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who was revealed in SAW IV to be Jigsaw's secret apprentice, has him trapped there. Strahm has to survive a supposedly unescapable trap if he wants to escape. Being crafty, Strahm manages to outsmart the trap and barely escapes with his life intact.

As Strahm deals with his own trauma, Hoffman is congratulated and promoted for tracking down Jigsaw and solving the case. But once he's able to finally relax, Hoffman receives a note that says "I know who you are". Now rattled this cover may be blown, Hoffman must figure out who knows his true identity. Is it Strahm? Is it Jigsaw's ex-wife, Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), who recently received a box from Jigsaw telling her what to do with the contents inside? Or is it someone else entirely?

Meanwhile, five people wake up to find that they're all chained together as some sort of Jigsaw trap. Apparently they've all been privileged and pretty much used it to ruin others, now having to suffer through "rehabilitation" in order to find their way to survive.

Yeah, this film is as interesting as it sounds.

REVIEW
While I was expecting worse, SAW V still fails on many levels. Like I've said countless times before, it's not needed and it makes me wonder how much longer can Lionsgate extend a franchise that was perfectly fine as a trilogy. Nothing in this film really adds all that much to the narrative and has proven that the SAW franchise lost all the unpredictability and originality that made it so powerful and effective to begin with. Yet, I was never bored nor did I hate the film to give it a lower score. It was just a mediocre SAW film, which is something a SAW film should never be.

I will give credit to Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, who wrote the horror film FEAST. While the script was as predictable as they come, at least the film was easier to follow than the mess that was SAW IV. While there are multiple sub-plots, at least they all made sense in their own segments. The strongest one, of course, was the Jigsaw-Hoffman flashbacks, which detailed how the two encountered each other and led to Hoffman's recruitment. That's mainly because it's hard to screw with a character like John Kramer and since we're already invested in him, any scenes he's in take priority. I don't feel these flashbacks are necessary really, but at least they were written well.

Even the sub-plot with the five trapped characters is interesting, mainly because that's the only time where the film actually feels like a SAW flick. It actually reminded me of SAW II, where the victims had a common link to each other and through surviving traps was when it would all be revealed. While it's not as involved or as exciting as the narrative in II, at least it was kept simple and to the point so you can be invested in it somehow.

The script does have its problems though. My biggest beef is that the film focused on two characters that have no right carrying any horror film, let alone any film. Having SAW V focus on the most boring conflict of good vs. evil [Strahm vs. Hoffman] pretty much ruins any enjoyment one should have with this film. These two people are dull and not worth investing time into. I still don't understand why these two are the main characters in this "new SAW trilogy". How do you go from interesting characters like Jigsaw, Amanda, Detective Matthews, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, Detective Kerry, etc., to underwritten characters like the ones we have now? And to have these two men carry this storyline is a terrible injustice for any SAW fan. It's bizarre to me.

I also found that the sub-plots didn't work together as well as they should have. They just didn't have a cohesive feel and I was wondering if SAW V was really three different movies in one. It kind of all came together at the end, but not enough for it to really be effective.

And the ending that "you won't believe how it ends" was kind of disappointing. It just shows how badly written certain characters are when one of them ends up being the biggest dumbass in a span of 3 minutes. I couldn't believe how much viewers had to be forced to invest in such a stupid fuck of a character for two films. And as for a twist, the only twist I got was that I was ripped off 12 bucks to watch this and that there will be another sequel. Sigh...

The traps in SAW V are probably the tamest of all the traps in this franchise. They were really old school and traps I would expect to see a magician in Las Vegas use to wow the crowd. They sort of came across as unoriginal, but I still kind of liked them nonetheless. The pendulum bit was kind of cool, as well as the water box trap, the trap that involved pints of blood to release the survivors, and the final trap right at the end [as much as I disliked the actual ending, at least the visuals for it were pretty cool]. Gore hounds probably won't be into this one as they are in the other installments, but I didn't mind it all that much.

The direction by David Hackl wasn't all that bad. Taking over for Darren Lynn Bousman, Hackl is pretty much a point and shoot type of guy. The crazy cuts and shaky cam are done at a minimum, which is a plus. He's very subtle and keeps the visuals very grounded. It doesn't totally feel like a SAW film but it's a nice looking film that works well enough on the eyes. Not a bad debut for Hackl. It's just a shame he couldn't work with better and stronger material.

The acting, on the other hand, was pretty flawed. Tobin Bell was still great as John Kramer/Jigsaw. His scenes were the strongest in the film and it amazes me how these producers continue to use a dead character to extend a story that doesn't deserve to be as long and detailed as it is. I also enjoyed Betsy Russell as well as the ex-wife. I think her performance here was just as good here as it was in SAW IV. I also liked the acting of the five victims, especially Julie Benz, who's best known for her work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and especially on Dexter. Her character sucked but I like Benz in anything she does. Too bad she had to wear a horrible wig too. What was up with that?

However, Scott Patterson and Costas Mandylor were pretty bland as the main characters of the film. Patterson doesn't really have enough charisma to turn Strahm from a stereotypical detective to a three-dimensional character. Plus he had to talk with a raspy voice due to something that happens to him at the beginning of the film, which came in-and-out everytime he spoke. He doesn't make a convincing good guy and I didn't care about him at all. As for Mandylor, if there was an award for "Best Mafia Boss Wannabe", this guy would take it by a landslide. He never comes across as a menacing villain. He actually comes across as a bored actor desperately trying hard to be a genius badass. I don't buy this dude at all and I can't see any one who would. It's like a joke and he's the only one in on it. They made two SAW films and are making another one for this Mandylor dude? Who is this guy sleeping with and where is the evidence he's holding over the producers heads that prove this? I really don't get it.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE WISHING THIS FRANCHISE ENDED TWO MOVIES AGO

- Don't ever fall behind when going after the key to your survival. You'll fall heads over heels at the consequences to your snail-like behavior.

- Jigsaw blackmailed Hoffman into working for him. Apparently he also blackmailed someone at Lionsgate studios for continuing this franchise. I smell nude pix and a sex tape!

- Don't ever try and steal someone's key that leads to a bomb shelter. The bashing to your head that created that terrible headache is just the beginning of an explosive night.

- Don't mess with Julie Benz when her life is at stake. She's been dating a serial killer for three seasons, plus she used to be a vampire longer than that. The ways you can be murdered increase tenfold whenever she's around, so don't be shocked by the results of your actions.

- Don't put your enemy in a trap that was meant for you. You'll look like nothing but a dumbass. You may need no education but you'll still just be another brick in the wall.

THE FINAL HOWL
SAW V is a hit and miss for me. I did enjoy some elements of the film, but the rest of it was too flawed for me to ignore. For those who haven't seen SAW V, make sure to watch the others. This film is basically for SAW fans only since it never explains much of anything from previous films and pretty much just continues where the last one left off. It could have been a lot worse though and I'm surprised this fifth installment still managed to entertain on some level. I'm not looking forward to SAW VI next year, but I'll be there because Jigsaw blackmailed me into watching it. I knew I should have never taken those compromising photos with that Jigsaw doll...

Welcome to the first edition of “She Screams, He Screams." This is a new horror column devoted to the horror genre, which FilmArcaders Anthony T and Kelsey take on the latest that the horror genre has to offer. Without any more explanation, here’s our take on “Saw V”.

Saw V
Year: 2008
Director: David Heckl
Studio: Lionsgate/Twisted Pictures
Stars: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 89 Mins




Film Synopsis

“Saw V” is a continuation of the four previous films in the series. In this installment, the only person left to carry on Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) legacy is Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who was revealed as Jigsaw’s accomplice in the last film. This time, Hoffman has a problem, as Agent Strahn (Scott Patterson) is finding evidence that points to his direction. While he’s looking for a way to elude the agent, there is another game going on in the warehouse. This game involves five new people who each are connected to an arson. The game involves a real estate agent (Julie Benz), a drug addict (Greg Berg), a reporter (Carlos Rota), a building permits clerk (Megan Good) and a fire inspector (Laura Gordon). They must work together in order to find the reason to why they are there together and find a way out of Jigsaw’s trap.

Kelsey’s Review

Saw V isn’t quite as graphic and extreme in many ways, which might make it seem watered down to most. Yet I would prefer it this way, than the film just focusing on trying to outdo the buckets of blood that was in the previous film. The torture and elaborate traps are still there. The unthinkable and horrifying tasks are there as well, which really keeps the intensity in the film. Many are not quite as gruesome as previous deaths have been. However, watching these 5 people desperately scramble to do whatever they can to stay alive through not just one but several traps was the most enjoyable part of the film. The situations are extreme, but it is really how the victims deal and react with what they are given. The shock and not wanting to accept the horrible task they have in front of them isn’t quite the same as it is in most Saw films.

The Jigsaw murders have been going on long enough for people to know the trap they are in. This really speaks to how big of an impact Jigsaw has had on mankind, which was his intention from the beginning after all. The victims try to think out of the box, like they expect Jigsaw might. They try to think things through before they shut the door, setting the timer off. Once the time starts rolling, they don’t waste any time. They act on their impulses and really show their strength through survival of the fittest. Their numbers do drop, but as they are on their last task it finally hits them what they are there for. They were brought in as a group for a reason, a reason none of them realized for many of the games. Most of the victims throughout all the films just think Jigsaw is an insane murderer. At least towards the end of the film, some of the victims actually grasp the concept that Jigsaw set up for them. Although, they might be about to face their death any second, they still understand Jigsaw in that instant. Through this aspect, they actually seem like the savages while Jigsaw is the insightful teacher. Establishing this extreme reversal of good and evil and making it seem like Jigsaw has a point in his warped thinking is a major accomplishment; the type of reversal in roles that actually helps the film push the original ideals further.

The explanation of how Jigsaw’s games are still continuing upon his death seemed more realistic than other explanations of accomplices have before. With the dirt John has on Special Agent Strahm, working for Jigsaw seems more understandable than Amanda’s case of actually being subjected to the torture they bring on others. It is simple: he didn’t want to go to jail, lose his job, or his reputation. However, there could have been a bit more moral struggle with Strahm as he brought people to their death shown. The agents in general, but especially Strahm were given some very laughable dialogue. There were a lot of moments when one of them was alone in a room, trying to figure something out, and what they would say seemed extremely unnatural and cheesy. This actually serves as comic relief, although I assume it was unintentional. Between this and a heavy focus on the investigating and crime aspects, the film does deviate from the typical brutality one might expect from a Saw film.

Throughout the story line of Strahm and some of his workers who become more and more suspicious of him, the flashbacks are very heavy. In fact, nearly all the story outside of the 5 people trying to escape the traps is told in flashbacks. This begins with the suspicions about Strahm as we are shown how he became involved with Jigsaw and his work. This worked to a degree, but it also seems like a short cut. Someone wonders, “How did he get involved with Jigsaw” and automatically we see the whole story right before our eyes. Suspense and gradual discovery would have been more effective. I loved how they went in to the mind of Jigsaw in Saw IV when he was just John and how they showed how he lost his faith that humans were deserving of the lives they were given. Now it is getting to the point where the flashbacks seem somewhat overdone. Jigsaw is the core of this series, but he is dead now. That doesn’t mean his ideas, motives, and twisted ideas of morality have to be too. The Saw series has been trying to bring this man back from the dead through his mindset, but feel compelled to show him physically rather than just the themes he implemented. The only new element that was shown through the flashbacks was that someone else was involved that we didn’t know about before. This did leave some room to expose the corruption that was going on in the F.B.I., which questioned whether staying loyal to this organization was really worth Strahm’s life. Still, if the Saw series doesn’t move on they will be no more than a flashback, a rehashing in to the brilliant and horrifying mind of Jigsaw. Although, there are interesting moral implications through this, it keeps us stuck in the past rather than giving the series the room to move forward.

Although Saw V ends on a pessimistic note, it has the potential to satisfy Saw fans. It exerts the thought that everything is a trap and you are never done proving yourself. Even Jigsaw himself died, perhaps by karma for what he was doing. If the mastermind of this seemingly everlasting set of traps can be defeated than is there really much hope for anyone else no matter how secure their position or how tough they think they are? This is a terrifying thought, but given the grimness that Saw embodies, it also makes the film thrilling because we know that no one is safe. The only question is when and what trap will be the one to kill them. None of the films have come close to the original, but that is just the nature of sequels. Saw V is flawed and has more strength in one side of its’ story, it still keeps the elaborate traps, the twists, and the twisted mindset that has been the groundwork of the series since the first film.

Anthony’s Review

This film was very disappointing, as a critic and fan of the series. Going into this, I was surprised that both the third installment and fourth installments were decently good, but after watching this one, I thought “Saw V “didn’t have the suspense or the characters that made me hooked and invested in the previous films. I left the theater with many questions, which I hope will be answered in, yes, “Saw VI”.

David Heckl’s direction felt off at times. The reason for this was every time the action picked up, the film became boring with the needless flashbacks scenes, which I’ll talk about in a bit. It also doesn’t help that he didn’t make this film intense, as the previous films in the series did. The acting was not great at all. Besides Mandylor, Bell, Rota and Patterson performances, Heckl’s direction of everyone else was either dull or flat out annoying, as I wasn’t interested in any of those characters. That includes Julie Benz and Betsy Russell, as they seemed lifeless in the way they portrayed their characters. The performances really slowed down the film for me, to the point that I wanted Jigsaw to somehow rise from the ashes and go after the filmmakers. It shows the inexperience Heckl has when it comes to directing a feature film, because you need the performances to be intense and engaging, for a horror film like this.

Even though David Heckl’s direction wasn’t that great, it’s the screenplay that makes this film a major disappointment. I’ll give Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan credit, as the film had a very good opening fifteen minutes and an ending that in some ways makes you interested, in the inevitable “Saw VI”. That’s all the credit that I’m giving the duo; as if they are going to write the next installment, let’s hope the middle part of the film is a lot better than this film. This is the reason why “Saw V” was a disappointing movie, as it hurts this film a lot. The middle part felt like “Saw IV” all over again with all the flashbacks. It felt like the film’s sole purpose at times was to get Jigsaw into this film, which makes this entry drag on. What also makes this film different from the previous films was the fact that the people that are playing the game weren’t interesting, as I really didn’t care for the people, like I did in the previous Saw films. The reason for that was that the screenwriting duo spent way too much time with flashbacks, as it’s the second film in a row that flashbacks mostly dominated the film. The reason it worked, in the last film was the fact that they tied it into Rigg’s character and gave a backstory on Jigsaw and what triggered his madness. I was also familiar with the characters in the last film, unlike in this film, which had many new characters. With the exception of how Hoffman meets Jigsaw for the first time, the flashbacks weren’t needed, as it took away from developing any of the new characters. They don’t spend enough time developing them, which hurts the film’s story, as I really didn’t care from that point until the last ten minutes. Also, they wasted the Agent Strahm character, as he’s just there going over what previous happened in the other films of the series, which triggers all the needless flashbacks that this film had, which slowed down the action that’s taking place, with the new characters in the series.

As much as I’m a fan of the Saw series, I find it hard to say this, but I can’t recommend this film for the reasons above. It’s not one of the worst horror films of the year, but if Melton and Dunstan are going to write “Saw VI”. They need to get this series back on track, by developing the characters and putting them in intense situations, like in previous films, which makes the “Saw” series shocking and intense.