SAW III

The Jigsaw is dying due to a tumor growing in his brain, and so he has his assistant Amanda kidnap Dr. Lynn Denlon to keep him alive long enough to complete his final and sadistic game. This time, the protagonists of the madman's plan are Jeff and Lynn herself. The former is a man afflicted by grief over losing his son and seeking revenge against the one who took him away, forced to face a series of trials in which he must decide whether or not to save people he knows; Lynn has been fitted with an explosive collar connected to her tormentor's heartbeat: if the doctor does not manage to keep Jigsaw alive until the end of Jeff's journey, Lynn's head will explode! We have reached a crucial point in the history of horror cinema; the second half of the first decade of the twenty-first century will be remembered as the era of sadistic cinema dedicated to extreme gore, there are no doubts! If the 1970s were characterized by a bloody verve that showed the ills of society through a cinema made of metaphorical butcheries and symbolic dismemberments (often only suggested to the viewer), the new path that horror is taking in recent years has returned to plunge into the same pits of bloody sadism, only this time does not leave much to the offscreen, to stun the viewer with roaring chainsaws and soil his face with copious splashes of warm blood. The fashion for splatter and extreme gore had already been revived with niche European products such as “High Tension” and “Dog Soldiers”, but they achieved consecration with the “Saw” saga, “Hostel” and the prequel to “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, arriving at the mere spectacularization of the inflicted and suffered pain. Leatherface had already gone hard in the film that tells his genesis, but Jigsaw is not joking either, so we are faced with almost two hours of physical suffering, psychological and injuries on display. And it is precisely in the most morbid voyeuristic instincts of the viewer that “Saw 3” finds its masterstroke, since James Wan and Leight Whannel, screenwriters of this third episode and creators of the saga, architect instruments of torture of a fantasy and cruelty unique! Between chains that lacerate the flesh, traps that literally open the thoracic cage, death by freezing, drowning in the entrails of putrefied pigs and torture machines capable of stretching muscles and turning bones, there is enough to justify the news of fainting spells that affected some Anglo-Saxon viewers during the viewing of the film. So far it appears clear that the film goes hard on gratuitous violence and is obviously not a product suitable for weak stomachs, but it must be said that “Saw 3”, while representing the third chapter of a saga that is trying to be exploited to the maximum in a very short time (one chapter per year and a fourth already in pre-production), does not seem to have shown any signs of weakening, since we come to this third episode without running out of breath and with a series of excellent narrative twists that qualitatively raise this product compared to the average of sequels. The rhythms become, surprisingly, slower compared to the equally good second chapter and thus try to deepen the characters (this was the great limitation of “Saw 2”!) and the relationships that exist between them: John, Jigsaw, and Amanda are loaded with values that had not emerged until now. Jigsaw appears more cynical than usual, although his lucid madness always follows an impeccable calculating logic; Amanda, on the other hand, appears as the embodiment of passion, impulsiveness, but also unleashes her latent nature as a psychopath, giving life to a character with a thousand facets certainly very fascinating. The film, like the previous chapters, is centered on a final twist that appears a bit less “genius” than the films that preceded it, but on its side it has a series of flashbacks that serve to clarify many points left unresolved in the two previous films, thus giving a gratifying sense of completeness to the entire work. A special mention, in addition to the two good negative protagonists Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) and Shawnee Smith (Amanda), also goes to the sure and dry direction of Darren Lynn Bousman, already the author of “Saw 2” and soon at work with “Saw 4”. Viewing of “Saw 3” is not recommended for those who have not already seen the two previous films, as it would be quite difficult to follow the story and, above all, risk ruining the plot twists on which the first two episodes are based. The vote has been rounded down.