Saw II Year: 2005 Director: Darren Lynn Bousman Written by: Darren Lynn Bousman, Leigh Whannel Threat: Psychopath Weapon of Choice: Nail-studed Baseball Bat Based upon: none Color/B&W/3D: Colour Language: English Country of Origin: USA IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
Saw
Saw III

The tyranist's thoughts
I saw this at the tail end of a Christmas marathon that started with some Masters of Horror episodes and ended with the first and second Saw movies. I had expected to be very tired by the time we saw this one, but it was so good, I hardly noticed.
Jigsaw has killed again, and this time he's aimed his whole set up at one particular cop using the standard serial killer gesture of leaving a big message written in blood at the crime scene. The investigation begins and the big game commences.
The two set pieces in this one, were far more believable than the set piece in the first one. Or at least they were to me. The acting talent was superior, the script better, and as a whole the franchise made a giant leap forward with this one.
Jigsaw is back and this time we get to spend a lot more time with the enigmatic killer, gradually growing to understand much more about him and why he does what he does. I haven't felt this impressed by a serial killer since I started reading The Punisher years ago. His moral high ground is clear and his tests fair, but people fail them pretty consistently anyway.
As the first Saw drew to a close I started to wonder how they could keep the franchise going. I was well answered, of course, but I found myself asking the same question as I got closer to the end of this one as well. Again, I was well answered.
I find myself now completely drawn into the franchise and wishing I'd been drawn in much earlier. The puzzles are fascinating (even if a couple of them are left unanswered here), and the dilemma's clearly challenging. It is almost impossible not to side with the killer here.
This one is the must see of the series thus far, but you really should see the first entry before this one. But it is so worth it.
Posted: December 28, 2006

Total Skulls: 17

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears		Donnie Wahlberg
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?