Saw II Review

On Friday night, it was time for Saw II. I had earlier been concerned that it would be a gorefest without the same level of menace as in the original. To some extent I was right, in that there was definitely blood, in good amounts, and the sequel was lacking a little of the menace. My wife's theory was that it was because Jigsaw did a lot of the narration, which necessarily took away from the mystery of the first one.

Overall, though, I was pleased. This was a very solid movie, if not one for the squeamish (I thought the part with the hypodermic needles was particularly intense). As I'm sure everyone has heard, there is a twist at the end. It's actually kind of a multi-pronged deal. I really liked one of the prongs, which I thought was sadistically ironic.

I don't have a lot else to say about this movie. If you're a horror buff and/or you enjoyed the first one, you should without a doubt check this one out. It's certainly a strong entry in the gross-out horror genre, and like the original shows how to do that kind of movie right. On the other hand, it's not a critical entry to the horror canon (I would argue that the first one might well be, but the jury is still out), and just not everyone's cup of tea.