Oh The Horror! The Horror!

Saw 4 opened to 32.1 million. I consider myself a fan of the horror genre and have no desire to see it. I have missed the boat on the series. You can label me as out of touch as all those crotchety semi senile overweight film critic has beens, as after this weekend it seems to be “the” defining horror franchise of the decade. Much in the same way that Freddie and Jason defined the 80’s, Scream the 90’s, we now have Jigsaw entering the cannon of iconic horror villains for the 00’s. The 4th entry in four years [!], the last 3 have all opened north of 30 million.
It seems the series has become relevant by accident with its theme of torture. [abu gharib, the debate over torture/interrogation techniques, etc] I’m sure years from now academics will write extensively on the link between the proliferation of onscreen violence and the war that never seems to end. Its possible that it has touched a nerve or its just appealing to bored 16 year olds who have a steady diet of CSI and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit looking for a stronger fix.
It belongs to what is known as “torture porn” or the nicer “torture horror.” The genre was supposedly on its way out given the high profile summer flops, Hostel 2 and Captivity. The cultural mood had chilled rather quickly to the genre; however, the Saw series seems to say otherwise. Perhaps because the series injects a tone of ironic morality [I can’t write that without rolling my eyes] by having the killer “Jigsaw” picking people who have committed horrible acts or are not so nice people themselves, the violence Is mitigated for the audience, making it slightly easier or justified? I end that in a question mark, as I have no idea why this series is so popular and durable. I’m grasping for straws here. MY GOD, this is the 4th in the series and the marketing and advertising promised no new twists or plot revelations, the tagline was the dumb, “If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.” So people showed up in droves for more of the same.
Now I’ve seen my fair share of flicks from this genre. I’ve sat through Hostel, the remakes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes, Wolf Creek, High Tension, Passion of the Christ and House of 1000 corpses. What strikes me is the cold hard cynical eye that has developed in the filmmaking process. I know these aren’t all technically torture porn but they’re part of the new wave of horror and are often lumped into the same category when media pundits talk about the disturbing violence found in modern horror.
In regards to the remakes, the originals that they were based on were extremely low budget and independently produced and financed. This gave them a power that perhaps they didn’t deserve or intend. The tone was a sort of punk DIY aesthetic that came across destructive, tasteless, and ripping at the fabric of society in a provocative and FUN way. The updated versions lack any of this humor and given the studio backing it loses all the aforementioned qualities and feels like corporate nilhism at its tackiest. Classy production values set to gruesome dismemberment. Truly anything will be green lit in the hopes of profit.
You’ll notice I put Passion of the Christ in there and for good reason. With 370 million in grosses in the US it stands as the most profitable torture porn pic of all time. Studio chiefs took note and saw that audiences had an incredible appetite and tolerance for onscreen violence and thus torture porn pics were given the go ahead making Passion also the grandfather of the movement. It predates all the films I’ve mentioned save House of 1000 corpses, having been released in February of 04. The first Saw was released the following October and perhaps in January 06 the genre reached its Apex with the success of Hostel. So yes, you can thank Jesus, in a way, for Saw 4.
My final plea is that you can justify anything if you have enough style and talent. I am not particularly squeamish and hate the standard cliché that so many people say, “I always think it’s scarier when they don’t show any violence.” Okay first of all those people are lying. They are the ones who rent Premonition and The Grudge 2 and drive 5 miles under the speed limit. I think you can argue that a key element to a horror film is a visceral reaction. You must be physically horrified or repulsed. Part of the appeal of the genre is shocking you out of your banal sedentary existence.
What would it take to shock an audience now? I think we’d have to go in the opposite direction to truly unsettle and upset. Perhaps characters getting naked and having sex on screen? A female character who after deliberation decides to have an abortion and continues on with her existence and she’s not a monster or destroyed from the experience? Characters flushing money down a toilet? Oh who am I kidding, we would NEVER see that.