Acting/Characters: What have I told you guys!?!? NEVER PUT A CHILD ACTOR IN A HORROR FILM. THEY JUST SIT THERE AND WHIMPER AND SCREAM AND ARE INCAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING TO HELP THEMSELVES!!! Would a director put an invalid in a horror film (well, Franklin from TCM counts I suppose) you might as well be putting a young kid in a horror film like this. Newt from Aliens was the exception. she survived an entire Alien hoard for months. she was a smart girl. Why must directors put kids in these movies that just sit there and don't do anything. GRANTED, this one was tied up but the director still found ways to make her stupid and annoying. GRRR. Anyway, that aside, I found the acting of the rest of the cast to be decent at best. I liked Cary Elwes' performance. Danny Glover was good too. The rest of the cast wasn't amazing but not utterly horrible. 5/10
Plot: actually, this part was original which I liked. What I didn't like was how they turned it into 6 more movies but that is after this. It didn't rely too heavily on the gore factor but it certainly had gore in there. It relied more on psychological terror as opposed to the "lets see how many ways we can rip apart someone this Halloween" mentality. 6/10
Screenplay: I'm running out of adjectives for bad screenplays. They come up so often. The screenplay for this film was no different. It was rubbish. Absolute rubbish. I don't know who wrote this one, but he sucked at it. 2/10
Likableness: The plot makes this one kinda likable. It is always nice for me to see a fresh idea with a horror film. It is also always predictable for me for a fresh idea to be turned into half a dozen sequels. oh well. I was entertained throughout the film. That's always good. It was easy for me to notice the glaring errors with the film but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. 7/10
Final Score: 20/40 50% (M)
TRIVIA TIME: 1. The MPAA originally rated the film NC-17, due to the film's tone; director James Wan had to remove some content to secure an R rating.
2. According to an interview with Leigh Whannell, Adam and Lawrence were originally going to be trapped in an elevator.
3. Originally intended for a straight-to-video release. After positive screenings, it was given the nod to become a premier movie.
4. Director James Wan took a gamble and took no "up front" salary for the movie and opted for a percentage instead.
5. Contains many references to the films of Italian horror/giallo director Dario Argento. The creepy painted puppet is a reference to Argento's Deep Red, while the unseen killer's black gloves are one of Argento's trademarks and can be seen in almost all of his films.
6. According to the DVD commentary director James Wan points out that many of the scare scenes in the film were nightmares he and Leigh Whannell had as kids.
7. Jigsaw's puppet was completely made from scratch by the films creators (it was not bought at a store or a puppet that was altered).
8. All of the bathroom scenes were shot in chronological order in order to make the actors feel more what the characters were going through.
9. To help sell his concept for the film, Leigh Whannell shot a scene in which he appears to be ensnared in a bear trap. There were no special effects involved, he actually had to place the teeth of the rusty bear trap in his mouth to make it seem real.
10. Casting director Amy Lippens chose her ex-husband in the role of Mark, the man who burns himself alive.
11. James Wan reveals he cast Shawnee Smith because he had a crush on her growing up.
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