Isaac Reeder

SAW II

Saw II is a horror film released on October 28th 2005. It is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman,

Produced by Gregg Hoffman, Mark Burg and Oren Koules and the screenplay is done by

Darren Lynn Bousman and Leigh Whannell. It stars Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Glenn

Plummer, Beverly Mitchell, Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Erik Knudsen, Shawnee Smith

and Tobin Bell. The film shows Jigsaw finally being tracked down by the police after his

antics performed in the first SAW, but manages to turn it around by unveiling a game

involving 8 people, including the officer’s son. Showing you their actions through a TV

monitor and from the perspective of the 8 people trying to escape.

The narrative structure of SAW II doesn’t fit TsvetanTodorov’s theory in my opinion. But

being a slasher/thriller horror film I also don’t think that it is expected to. Rather than

following the Equilibrium that is usually shown in the start of films this one starts with

Michael awaking to find two halves of a spike-filled mask locked around his neck, with the

key to unlock it lodged in his eye, without the key the two sides will crush his face, breaking

the equilibrium barrier straight away and separating itself from the usual horror films. We

then find out that 8 victims are being kept hostage in a house by Jigsaw, being told the

combination to get out is "at the back of their minds" and can be determined by "following

the rainbow” which leads to the characters having a number on their neck leading to the

combination of the lock to escape, the house is also rigged with a dangerous gas which will

kill. Throughout the film the gas picks off people one by one, making it harder for the others

to get out, also turning each other on each other. The ending of the film has some

equilibrium as the police officers son is safely stored away as it was a trap to lure the officer

into trouble, with a person from the first SAW leading the boy out of trouble as she knew

what to do, however it leaves the officer locked in the room which SAW I was made in, and

left behind, breaking all equilibrium of a happy ending as the main character is left behind to

slowly die.

SAW II’s genre title is a gore horror film. Compared to the last SAW made that this carries on

from, it is a lot more psychological than the last one and is all about teamwork in order to

survive. Of course they fail and turn on each other in order to come out alive, in an attempt

for ‘survival of the fittest’. But there still is a lot of blood along the way, including a baseball

bat covered in nails that is lodged into the back of someone’s head, and coughing up blood

too. Although it has some gory moments throughout the film I wouldn’t class this as a ‘Gore’

film, I think it has this title mainly from the impact of the blood-fest the last SAW left us

with. It is more to see if the officer can rescue his son in time rather than watching the

innocent bodies being decapitated.

The characters in SAW II the usual normal everyday people, who are turned onto each other

by the same villain that was the main source of the killings in the first SAW. There is a main

cast of 10 people in the film. Including Jigsaw, The police officer, his son, a girl from the last

SAW film and the rest of the people trapped in the house trying to escape. They all seem

Isaac Reeder

like normal people when first met, but when the environment sinks in they adapt to their

surrounding’s they turn crazy with the desire to escape and save their own lives. One by one

they’re picked off, whether it is through the gas being leaked in or by each other, leaving the

police officers son and the girl from the last SAW to escape, only to find out she was there

to help the son escape in the first place, which was a big set up to lure the officer into

danger.

Overall, I think that SAW II doesn’t follow a narrative structure to what other horror films

do, however it most definitely fits within a horror bracket of a film and is covered with gore

images too. The SAW franchise has clearly worked as they managed to squeeze out 7 other

films too, it is certainly worth a watch.