How Long Must This Last?

I am talking about the SAW film franchise.

I'll admit, I saw the firs one in the theatre; not because I was super excited (I wasn't, actually, even interested or hyper-aware of the film), but because our friend Ellen was over and we always like a good horror movie together.

Well, we got, um, a horror movie out of it. Good? I wasn't convinced, even back then (and, no, I was not surprised by the "twist" ending -- c'mon, people, SAW is no SIXTH SENSE).

I saw SAW 2 at home on DVD with my brother, who seemed to giggle at the murder sequences (my brother is built like a linebacker, so the image is awesome) while I will say I enjoyed the idea of the story more than the first. Still, a very good movie it wasn't.

Then there is SAW 3 which, for the life of me, I don't even know if I ever watched it; it doesn't sound familiar, but then again,...it does (not a good sign for a franchise. At least Freddy and Jason, while doing the same thing, tried to give us a different story each time around that made "sense").

Then there was SAW 4 (seriously, guys, come on...it's not over yet?). I did see this in the theatre with the uber-talented music video director, Roman. It was in Tennessee and if there was a shotgun to my head the moment the lights came up after the movie, and the trigger-puller told me my life depended on telling him, in ANY way shape or form what the movie was about, well...I wouldn't be writing about it now. It was a convoluted, utterly not scary, silly, travesty of a menacing mess. I say they should have been marched to movie jail.

And now, SAW 5. What are these movies about? How long can they go one, for real? SAW 6 is already in the works...for who!? HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 beat out SAW on the weekend before Halloween...what does that tell us:

1) Tweens have a lot of money from babysitting to spend on Zac and Vanessa

2) Late teens and above might not be flocking to the SAW films anymore because they don't make sense and are really about how much harder, faster, stronger, gorier can we crush a human skull.

Last time I checked, that wasn't a good movie premise. Might have been at one point, but maybe not so much now.

I have to say that the writers of the last two or three or gosh knows how many SAW movies also wrote the Project Greenlight winner FEAST. Sigh.

And Catherine and I are clawing our way to stay in the game and the guys who wrote FEAST are winning it? Lordy Be.

But, hey, I did get to met John Gulager at the premiere of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN.

Jealous!?