DON’TSEESAW

I need to get something off my chest this October: have never seen Saw. I can hardly believe it myself, but it’s true. I love horror in every medium. I have also thoroughly enjoyed every movie I have ever seen by James Wan! In addition to Saw, he directed my all-time favorite horror movie, The Conjuring. It was HBO MAX that first suggested that I see Saw and all at once I felt a torrential downpour of ambivalence.

As a fan of horror, I am thinking, I should see Saw.  It is the iconic early work of my favorite horror director, afterall. Though I don’t really want to watch all 10 films in the series, I did kinda want to see that one prequel movie, Spiral, w/ Chris Rock that came out a few years back. That might be another reason to see Saw. I have also been told that if you are going to see Saw, you should probably see Saw 2, so I might have 3 films to watch. I should probably see Saw.

So what’s my catch? Within the genre of horror, I have zero interest in the “torture porn” sub-genre. This subset of scary movies earned its moniker through the unrelenting, brutal victimization of its helpless characters. Many point to Saw as the flagship film that birth this sub-genre in the early 2000s. This has been the big thing holding me back from seeing Saw. The more I think about it, the more it feels like I probably shouldn’t see Saw.

Do you see why I’m torn? Do you see why right now, even as I type this, I see-saw? Should I see Saw? Maybe I shouldn’t see Saw…

…or maybe I shouldn’t see-saw. 

Maybe I should decide to see Saw or not to see Saw. That’s the real question. Whatever choice I make, I am giving myself to the end of the month to decide. Come October 31st, I will no longer see-saw over whether or not I will see Saw. You will have to tune back in to see how this goes…

In any case, I’ll catch you next month on the 3rd!*

-JT⚡

*Some of you will notice that I no longer write a monthly article. I do, however, send out a monthly email newsletter. If you want to catch me every month on the 3rd, subscribe to Gutter Zine on my home page & stay connected!