Saw IV

Wow. Call me impressed. Here I was, prepared to hate Saw IV more than any previous installment, and instead, I really genuinely liked it. Fuck the critics; this flick was the best one since the first one. It probably helped that I had watched all three previous films over the last week, because this film absolutely ties up some ends left loose by movies two and three. The movie also served as a prequel of sorts, detailing Jigsaw's backstory beyond the basic "guy with cancer has a new and bizarre outlook on life" stuff we were fed at the end of the first Saw. The movie did, of course, have flaws. For one thing, the "final twist" that every Saw movie contains was especially predictable and weak this time around, and I called it no more than ten minutes into the film. It was also full of needless gore and torture, although not as much as Saw III was. So, yeah. I liked this movie a lot. I was way too premature in saying the franchise had jumped the shark. What's more, Saw V is supposed to be better than Saw IV was, and reviews on the recently released Saw VI call it the best in the series since the very first installment. Shit; it looks like I've got at least two more Saw movies to buy and add to the backlog. But for now, I'm all done with my horror movies. I'm closing in on twenty remaining DVDs, and these include ten TV seasons and a dozen films. Dare I call my DVD backlogging task doable by Christmas? No. Probably not. But anything is possible.