Speaking of Fulci's Zombie...

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I received the faded copy of Wizard Video's 1981 VHS of Zombie seen in the entry below last week and threw it in to spot check the tape's playback. Of course, I ended up watching the film in its entirety. The tape itself played amazingly well with not one video roll or dropout despite the box and tape looking all of its twenty-eight hard fought years. It was an unseen $5 Amazon Marketplace buy with just "Wizard Video tape" in its description. Sometimes you have bite the bullet, especially since Wizard's big box version is among the rarest horror tapes produced in North America.

I've already professed my love for the creepy simplicity of Zombie's conclusion, along with admitting I initially hated the flick, though my appreciation for Italy's answer to Dawn of the Dead grows each time it ends up on my television screen. Out of Fulci's zombie-themed output, Zombie is the most linear and least abstract, but makes up for this with tremendous gore crafted by Giannetto De Rossi. The special effect artist's work here might be his best under the demanding eye of the director. Concerning the direct nature of Zombie, looking at its placement in Fulci's filmography, it can be seen as a bridge and marriage in his career between Fulci's more solid storytelling skill beforehand and his burning desire for realistic gore that defined much of his work afterward. For better or worse...

Yes, Zombie was meant to capitalize on the international whirlwind that was George A. Romero's masterpiece by providing a prequel-like explaination of the American zombie outbreak, but Fulci delivers a perfectly agreeable answer. I can't think of another zombie movie that better melds the gimmicky perception of voodoo-controlled dead with the post-Romero flesheater. The shambolic, tattered, and weary living dead in Zombie are more akin to an ethereal force driven to exterminate mankind than the individualistic pie throwers in Dawn of the Dead. In this respect, they have more in common with the monochromatic gaggle in Night of the Living Dead...only with three complete bovine's worth of ghastly internal fluids and organs.

Also, when I think of Fulci's excuse for door-splinter-ocular-trauma, I've often wondered about this promotional picture to the right depicting a scene not in the film. The opening's "fat zombie" (played by Captain Haggerty) is shot by police and falls off the boat. We no longer see him, but in this still he's rising out of the water near some pier pylons. Maybe he survived the shooting, floated(?) ashore, and became the zombie that caused the unseen outbreak in New York as the drama was playing out on the island of Matul. Just a thought...

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Unfaded vs. Faded

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Oh how I loathe thee, ultraviolet saturated cardboard of untold video store shelf life...

Cryptic Glimpses into future BoGD viewings...

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Since I'm beat down from shoveling my way off Planet Hoth today (with 10-20" more coming!), here's four slivers of flicks in the pipeline, dare to guess at any?

Some quick thoughts on the Plaga zombie (1997) and Plaga zombie: Zona mutante (2001)

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Plaga zombie concerns med student Bill (Pablo Parés) finding his post-op flatmate's health quickly failing, well, rotting after some impromptu extraterrestrial surgery. Soon angry flesh-craving zombies begin converging on his home, with his flatmate also rising from the dead, but not before Bill gets two of his friends to come over. Joined by hulking ex-luchador John West (Sebastián Muñiz) and computer geek Max (Hernán Sáez), Bill and his friends must discover a way to kick ass and chew bubblegum against the rising onslaught while hold up in a house swarming with the walking, surprisingly smart dead.

Plaga zombie: Zona mutante picks up shortly after the events of the first feature with the zombie infection now spreading to the entire town. Mysterious authorities have quarantined the undead invaders by landlocking the district from the surrounding areas. Bill, John, and Max are then dumped back into the city as a deterrent against the dead. Using their fists, gas-powered hedge trimmers, and guts; the group has no choice but to melee their gory way through to freedom. The zombies on the other hand have bigger brains to fry...

Often credited as the first Argentinean gore film, Plaga zombie and its sequel Zona mutante are splashy odes to the outmoded styles of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson. Being bloody junk food for the horror soul, they're like a taking in a handful of Swedish Fish or Tostitos with salsa verde...only with copious amounts of unsavory body fluid. Both are obviously a labor of love for Pablo Parés, Sebastián Muñiz, and Hernán Sáez who not only star but are thoroughly entrenched in the creation of their Plaga zombie features. There's a firebrand pioneering quality to these films, something reminiscent of the Pakistani gore-breaking ceremony Hell's Ground (Zibahkhana) or their fellow equator straddler, Brazilian spookshow instigator Coffin Joe.

These two features snap in perfectly with the gore explosions many horror buffs first tangoed with during their early rental viewing years. That's exactly the intent, directors Pablo Parés and Hernán Sáez borrow Raimi's quick-witted camera tactics while adopting the colorfully off-kilter sensibilities of Jackson with glimmering references to greats like Dawn of the Dead and The Terminator. The zombies are your average ultra low budget neon greasepaint and Corn Flake-smeared jobbers that totally disregard traditional rules for the sake of Stooges-flavored comedy. It's not a stretch to expect gooey decaps, limbs torn asunder, complete half skull removals, hilarious quips, or our heroes getting drenched in liquefied feces from the open air intestines of the walking dead. You know, all the usual staples of DIY gutmunchers regardless of nationality.

The dirty secret is that I'm describing Zona mutante more than the original. 1997's Plaga zombie is more a primer and almost not prerequisite viewing for its sequel. Zona mutante does what a good sequel should; take established characters and toss them into a greatly expanded world with a widened scope to boot. While the first feature takes place mostly in a house and its backyard; we're treated urban streets, sewers, rooftops, several homes, and even some weird zombie cult gathering during the second coming of this South American grue romp. The living characters also have more fun, especially Hernán Sáez's Max, who channels John Leguizamo from The Pest on crank as he goes shortbus crazy during the course of Zona mutante.

Both come highly recommended for the lovable little splatter carnivals they are. Yes, nothing new, but the manic gusto is infectious and hellishly endearing. Hopefully, the long-in-production Plaga Zombie: Toxic Revolution sees the comfort of a reel canister soon. The Fangoria International 2-Disc DVD is excellent; featuring both films, three commentaries (w/one in English), making-of, deleted scenes, photo gallery, Fangoria articles, and trailers.

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[REC] 2 Announced for Japanese Blu-ray/DVD

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Even though there are no English language options, this might give us an idea of what's to be expected out of domestic home video releases. I'm working with roughly translated Japanese with the following.

Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [Rec] 2 will be arriving April 23rd in a 2-Disc DVD and single disc Blu-ray in Japan from Happinet Pictures. Both releases feature Spanish and dubbed Japanese Dolby 5.1 tracks with the Blu-ray sporting lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks. Japanese subtitles are the only translation available for both audio tracks.

Both releases also share over three hours of extra features in standard definition including: Tour of Screenings from Around the World (Paris, Sitges, & Venice), Sitges Press Conference, Making-of, Behind the Scenes, On-Set Tour with Art Director Gemma Fauria, Deleted & Extended Sequences, and Teasers & Trailers.

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Some quick thoughts on House of the Devil (2009)

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I hate to say this, but House of the Devil is ultimately yawn-inducing. I get the gimmick of being thoroughly drenched in an early '80s look and feel. Director Ti West never betrays this aesthetic and it's not like the film isn't well-crafted. West shows great ability in both restraint and execution in his methodical delivery of this satanic slow burner. Everyone in front of the camera, especially the Jessica Harper-like Jocelin Donahue, get West's approach and provide characterizations seemingly sliced directly from the era.

The problem is that West is so slavish to keeping things so muted for so long that the sense of build-up is more akin to sucking one big drop. There's certainly little red herrings peppered throughout, but with HotD's luxuriously languid pace, it's not hard to see most of the subtle surprises coming from a mile away when given such lengthy periods of quiet to ponder everything. The inevitable "shit just got real" moment is both refreshing yet too heady. It's as if West flicks a switch and we get immediate full-on Rosemary's Baby/Beyond the Door maternal terror. There's a clear fracture between these two portions and this beguiles the long simmering build-up. While I can respect the obvious skill by all involved (Tom Noonan is such a genuinely underrated actor), House of the Devil is frustratingly par the course, too beholden to its influences to feel like anything but another aged, little horror number you'd only visit once in a great while being in the shadow of giants.

Speaking of influence, West mentions Polanski in the making-of, and it's hard to imagine House of the Devil existing without the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby or other greats like Repulsion or The Tenant. In fact, despite West film's being a mock product of the '80s, it owes more to sleepers of the mid-'70s like The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane or Let's Scare Jessica to Death. The thing is these films did it first, do it better, and don't go for a spastic, blood-soaked freakout as their pay-offs. House of the Devil proves this type of horror can still be fashioned, and that's to be praised for what it's worth, but the real trick is proving that while blazing new ground. In the shadow of giants indeed. Still love that VHS though.

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Talk on the phone. Finish your homework. Watch VHS. Die.

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Some quick thoughts on Halloween 5 (1989)

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This is what you'd get if you literally stuck a gun in Andrzej Żuławski's face and demanded it's the choice between either directing a Halloween sequel or his life. But, before I explain that, last night was the first time I have ever watched either Halloween 4 or 5. I've long heard that '88's Part 4 is generally well-received and I'd have to agree. After a seven year absence, IV is a solid, competently directed return to the Myers mythos with satisfying intrigue and not terribly-well-concealed echoes of Carpenter's original. Though Part 5, unleashed a year later, is much more interesting for all the wrong reasons.

Much like '89's Jason Takes Manhattan and '91's Freddy's Dead, The Revenge of Michael Myers is a real black mark on the franchise. Director Dominique Othenin-Girard is the prevailing issue who, either from lack of interest or talent (both?), constructs a sequel that provokes you to keep watching with jaw agape. Unlike the former entry's helmer Dwlight H. Little, Swiss-born Othenin-Girard introduces a rather European feel to Halloween 5. This would be great, if only the clumsy direction was markedly better. There's times where it's almost as if the director instructed the actors to ignore their marks and loosely inhabit the frame as they deliver their performances. The result is often times a lack of care in the composition of the frame, something dripping all over Carpenter's masterpiece, and too close close-ups that usually look blurry. Little's eye with Halloween 4 is no-frills, but at least there's a confident workmanlike sensibility to his sequel. Othenin-Girard just appears to be barely accomplishing the basics, badly pulling off some mildly interesting camera angles, and utilizing mostly first takes.

It doesn't help matters that scenes tend to go on for too long; whether we're getting real bored with the night's plans of soon-to-be Myers slaughter cattle, the elongated barn sex/kitten/farm tool killing, the bumbling keystone kops bull, or Michael driving around town. That's right, Michael tools about in a hot shit muscle car at length here. The Shape did drive in the original to get to Haddonfield, but you ask yourself "what the hell?" upon seeing him chase down Danielle Harris's Jamie through the woods while the Halloween theme plays. It's just like seeing The Fonz jump the shark--years before Rob Zombie was propositioned. Otherwise, Don Shanks's portrayal of Michael is good; however, it's ridiculous to believe Loomis could actually knock him unconscious with a few 2x4 blows. How in the world could the frail, weary doctor lug around and set up an undoubtedly extremely heavy chain net into the Myer's home anyway? Not to mention Ellie Cornell's Rachel, a character so central in Little's sequel, only to be offed early and seemingly forgotten about even by Jaime.

The one constant of quality in both Parts 4 and 5 is Danielle Harris. She does a great job as the young Jamie Lloyd. Judging by her performance, it was stupid of Zombie to not just have Harris fill the character of Laurie in his films. Donald Pleasence was spirited in Halloween 4 and despite having better burn make-up in this sequel, it's sad to see him so haggard here, presumably bothered he's in yet another mediocre Halloween sequel. The psychic connection mumbo jumbo between Jaime and Michael had more potential than Othenin-Girard's sloppy touch provides. Instead, what really cheapens Michael Myers is the tall and dark cowboy that points to the unstoppable force being tied to some cult or something. Ugh, a real unfortunate mess this one.

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Happy Birthday, Mr. Romero!

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Some quick thoughts on Zombieland (2009)

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Originally envisioned as a television series that never made it beyond paper, Zombieland is the resulting feature re-working and Ruben Fleischer's directorial film debut as his homage to Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's already iconic Shaun of the Dead. I stayed completely away from details concerning the plot all this time, but I did hear some wishy-washy sentiments regarding what has become the highest grossing zombie flick of all time. So was my first trip to Zombieland last night worth it?

Thinking back, they had me at For Whom the Bell Tolls. Like Shaun, Fleischer's infected-raving-maniac-as-zombie film, something explicitly stated in the making-of, is certainly a ballsy proposal. Perhaps a bit too much so for some, as it's a film that needs to grab a certain response out of the viewers in order to jibe with what it's trying to convey. What is that message? Well, it's nothing like what your average moviegoer expects from a modern popcorn flesh ripper. We seem to have missed the hardcore action of the initial zombie apocalypse. Survivors are scarce and those still truly alive aren't looking for cures, other uninfected, or particularly strong, errr...strongholds. No, instead Zombieland is purely indulgent undead wish fulfillment that recklessly rocks out with gleeful abandon and little concern.

Looking over at the IMDB's trivia page, the film was meant to be entitled "Another Day in Zombieland" and in hindsight this would have made the perfect title. As you're watching, there's a distinct sense that this is indeed just another wild day living in a world infested with insane, bloodthirsty ebola/syphilis/fucked up shit maniacs. With even less reason to exist than Shaun, Zombieland basically acts as an excuse to set up hilarious hijinks at the expense of the end times. It's wafer thin, but everything tearing across the screen points to an acknowledgment of that, so one would have to be a dick to pile hate on such harmless fun. You also gotta love the extremely sly references to zombiedom peppered through. The funniest example being the fat, zombified patrons of the grocery store that hearken back to Dawn of the Dead's "This was an important place in their lives" line.

To its more serious credit, the story does prance on familiar serious zombie scenario topics such as the loss of loved ones, the new concept of love in a dead world, and the advantages of plundering celebrity homes. The cast is uniformly excellent for the otherwise lightweight material and act as the glue holding the roaming narrative together. One can imagine writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had these characters quite formed being first created for the more expansive television market. Woody Harrelson is the fucking man so it's easy to accept him as a more hillbilly Mickey Knox without the media-slicked evil. The star cameo, which is probably known to everyone by now, borders on a joyous experience. It's so refreshing to see this particular actor ham it up after years of awards in higher art.

What's perhaps even more impressive is this film is an unabashed horror comedy and found success at the box office. Zombieland's positive reception both critically and financially proves the usually poisonous "horromedy" is still viable in the mainstream. A little redemption for all those splattery laughs that failed to spark outside of our obsessive community. Though, in a short time, like all genre offerings Zombieland will be carried off by us and have real potential for continual discovery by the just initiated and horror fan vets alike. Bring on the sequel, this one could go anywhere from here.

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Halloween (1978) - 1982 MEDIA Betamax

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As a follow-up to a few days ago, here's a scan of Media Home Entertainment's Betamax edition of Halloween. This release, along with the VHS edition, was the film's second home video bow stateside in 1982 (and re-released until Media's final 1987 Television Edit VHS). Unfortunately, the Beta-sized slipcover was all scissored up by some dumbass, but the cassette is like new--maybe never even played. Have $52.99 to spare? I need some Michael "Meyers"!

Well, they told me it was a midget force...

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These arrived today, three (already unpacked) Dawn of the Dead action figures hailing from Japan produced by a company called Reds, Inc. The first is dubbed "MOTORCYCLE RIDER", or Tom Savini's Blades. The second is "HATCHET HEAD", or Leonard Lies's head cleaved zombie. The third is "BALD HEAD", or the Monroeville Airport doorway zombie. All three are complete with the only figure having an accessory being Blades. The only figure I'm missing is "STEPHEN", which is of course is David Emege's character. I don't know their exact release year, but I remember seeing these over ten years ago on the 'net and desperately wanting a set. Each usually go for $40 packaged, but I grabbed these three loose for much less. Cheesy looking, especially compared to NECA's figures, but they're impressively detailed for cheap Japanese toys in person.

The "Lost" Halloween Tapes

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Out of the three teen gullet opener megapowers of the '80s (Macho and Hogan being the unofficial fourth), Freddy and Jason seem to have dominated everyone's favorite analog home video format in the era of Reaganomics. It's not hard to walk down a swap met aisle without one of their films on VHS resting in a box somewhere within a constant six-foot radius of your person. Just look down in that one stained cardboard box by your left foot. Or you could bebop right now over to Amazon or eBay and drop $3 on any number of vintage Freddy's Revenges. Jason has especially captured (ripped out?) the hearts of our VCRs as it's a cakewalk to assemble the original eight cassette run of Paramount's series output--in great condition no less. And yes, I'm not referring those crappy EP-speed Paramount/Gateway tapes.

But what about Michael? Haddonfield's preeminent son that continually proves you can go home so long as you kill a fuckton of citizenry manages to be the most elusive on the ol' Video Home System. Excluding Curse through Resurrection, it's quite a task to dig up first run copies of Carpenter's Halloween to Revenge of Michael Myers. I'm talking about the real deals here, not the multitude of cheap tapes that flooded the market from Blockbuster Video, Goodtimes, Video Treasures, and finally Anchor Bay. Once Universal and 20th Century loosened their hold on these first five Halloween flicks; small VHS studios snapped up the licenses and rode the '90s wave of cheap tapes selling to sky high VCR ownership saturation before DVD exclaimed STFU at the dawning of the new millennium.

With Halloween, we're talking about three '80s VHS releases from Media Home Entertainment. The very first edition was a debut title for the studio in 1980, then known as MEDA, and is exceedingly rare and valuable when copies float on eBay. With Halloween II and Season of the Witch, MCA/Universal issued both in the '80s before Goodtimes Entertainment dumped them into EP-speed hell. Return and Revenge of Mickey Shatner Myers were both dropped by CBS/FOX Video before Anchor Bay went apeshit with releasing these two and Carpenter's original three dozen times. Actually, I'm fairly certain Anchor Bay have gained absolute control over the licenses of these three.

It may not seem too difficult to find these tapes, but trust me, it is surprisingly so. I have two copies of Media's second issue 1982 Halloween and a copy of CBS/FOX's Halloween 4 (the only other copy I've seen was mangled). I've never seen the "MEDA" Halloween or CBS/FOX's Halloween 5 and the few copies of MCA/Universal's Halloween II and Season of the Witch I've spotted have been heavily damaged. So be on the outlook, all of these are so oddly difficult to locate, it's almost as if you're saving a little something from the scrapheap of horror history if you hold on to them.

Unfortunately, my two copies of Media's Halloween are sealed away, but here's the CBS/FOX Halloween 4 which I found just yesterday.

Some quick thoughts on Angel Heart (1987) and The Annoyances of Blu-ray

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A nuclear family-period private dick (Mickey Rourke) with a greasy Manhattan accent is hired to track down an elusive musician in Bayou country. As a trail of death begins running red, the disquieting man (Robert De Niro) paying for the job seems unaffected while the detective's psyche and memory starts collapsing around the mysticism of the deep south and horrifying forces beyond his control.

So I popped in the Blu-ray of Alan Parker's Angel Heart late last nigh...morning and it seems wrong that I still don't love the film. There is some bottlenecking with the story's fairly-not-hard-to-guess revelations in the final half, but otherwise it's an extremely well-made, voodoo-fueled creeper with a genre blended pedigree that's unusual for its time.

Mickey Rourke's performance, just a few short years from his near total career derailment, proves the man has born at the wrong time and is trading in the wrong profession. The stubble-faced, then only slightly facially scarred actor just exudes his character from every one of his loose pores. Lisa Bonet outgrows her Cosby Show training wheels along with ultra pissing off Cosby himself over her lecherous, blood-soaked sex scene with Rourke. De Niro was still firmly giving a damn back then in a devilishly minor but important role sandwiched between fanastic turns in The Mission and The Untouchables. It's simply good stuff, acting as an "in-spirit" sister film to Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder, but still Angel Heart doesn't resonant with me that well and each re-visit is almost like watching the film for the first time. That sounds bad, but shouldn't dissuade anyone from checking this one out pronto for themselves.

As for Lionsgate's Blu-ray, the 1080p transfer is only good, but not nearly as great as it could look. It's the kind of picture that doesn't seem that much better than the DVD, until you pop in the DVD with this Blu-ray's quality fresh in mind. It's clearly more detailed, solid, and richly colorful than the standard definition image. Still, it's a lazy job with a slightly processed appearance and clumpy grain structure. The almost perfect 5.1 lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track is better than the picture quality.

Here's the annoyance. This Blu-ray edition actually lacks some of the supplements found on the prior Special Edition DVD. Both share a director commentary, introduction, selected scene Rourke commentary, and interviews with Parker and Rourke. What's missing is an hour-long documentary on Voodoo, the 1987 behind the scenes featurette, and additional interviews with Parker and Bonet. It would have been no problem to fit this additional stuff onto this 25GB Blu-ray. Though strangely, Angel Heart's original theatrical trailer is on this Blu-ray despite not being on the DVD(?!?). I'm personally not the biggest extra feature watcher, but it just seems "right" to have all the material ported over when the DVD isn't that old and both are released by the same studio. At least there aren't twelve trailers and commercials at the beginning like many new release Blu-rays (i.e. - Saw VI) tend to have nowadays, argh.

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Can't explain why...

...but this might be my favorite shot in all of Dawn of the Dead.

The Gates of Hell Announced for Blu-ray!

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Yes! My favorite Fulci classic is finally getting the royal treatment! Just PLEASE don't digitally noise reduce the existing gloriously grainy transfer, BU!

Via DVD Active: "Blue Underground has announced DVD ($19.95) and Blu-ray ($34.95) releases of City of the Living Dead for May 25th, 2010. The only extra material on the DVD will be a Making of City of the Living Dead featurette, the English trailer, the Italian trailer, radio spots, and still gallery. The Blu-ray release will include all that, along with additional featurettes: "Acting Among the Living Dead – Interview with Star Catriona MacColl", "Entering the Gates of Hell – Interview with Star Giovanni Lombardo Radice", "Memories of the Maestro", and a poster and still gallery."

Blue Underground's listing also states the inclusion of 7.1 DTS-HD, 5.1 Dolby Digital EX, and Original Mono audio tracks. You're the one who got me out in the armpit of the world chasing your...galloping cadavers.

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Some quick thoughts on Saw VI (2009)

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I have no shame in saying that I've fully embraced the Saw series despite what was originally a low budget wonder being corporately ballooned into an annual Halloween cash register for Lionsgate. Well, or at least that's what the studio thought before this installment's rather dramatic drop in box office performance compared to previous trips to the flesh-rippin' well. An even more cheaply made indie (by a vast margin), Paranormal Activity, laid ol' rickety Jigsaw out for the '09 spooky movie season's dollar. Not to mention this sequel's absolutely piss poor trailers that might as well just said "fuck it" and then flashed the title and release date. That's a shame really, because Saw VI is the best sequel in the franchise since the underrated once-trilogy-ender Saw III. Though it's perhaps even more shameful that it took the series two limp-dick sequels to climb upon the more solid ground witnessed here.

You gotta wonder what got into the water of writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton this time around after also scribing the purely wheel-spinnin' fourth and fifth sequels. It's akin to getting to a section of an otherwise boring novel that seems to immediately spark up as if the author was just filling pages while looking forward to writing that exciting portion. You get the feeling Dunstan and Melton wrote their three sequels with getting to IV in mind all along. At the same time, IV has the most connective tissue in flashback to III as we see Jigsaw, Amanda, and the then "heavy-lifter" Hoffman setting up some of the particulars behind Jeff's game. Hoffman has a bit of blackmailing on his mind involving Amanda and John's main squeeze.

One constant complaint from Saw haters is the disposability of characters that inhabit its grimy, insular, and logistically impossible world. Before you know it, characters both minor and seemingly major get gorily knocked off left-and-right. That doesn't change much with Saw the Sixth, but we do finally get some meat on Costas Mandylor's Hoffman. I never cared for Mandylor as the man continuing Jigsaw's legacy. Though the character is shored up with the added pressure of his fellow investigators getting closer to his true identity as they run into inconsistencies with the dead Agent Strahm being pegged as the new killer. Betsy Russell is back as Jill Tuck and comes into conflict with Hoffman over the contents of the mysterious box left for her by John. This is Mandylor's best performance so far in the four Saws to his credit and that empty feeling left by Tobin Bell's Jigsaw is the least lingering in this latest entry.

It also helps that we get more Bell here than in the prior two sequels. The veteran character actor's cameos in IV and V usually felt trite; however, Bell's scenes in VI provide him with what he's fantastic at--monologue. When Bell as either John or Jigsaw clicks, he easily stands with other greats of the genre, and his character's "forced" absence after III (but what could ya do?) is one of the worst moves in the past decade's worth of mainstream horror. Shawnee Smith reprises Amanda in snippets taking place mostly from III as we see additional motivation behind her ultimate choice at that sequel's climax. Watch for an after end credits tidbit involving Amanda that might speak to something we'll see explored in this year's upcoming sequel. The presence of Bell and Amanda only further solidifies their place as the best thing the series had going and it would have probably been best to let Saw conclude as a trilogy.

This time around, the thrust behind the game is the dickish health insurance agency that denied John pursuit of an experimental gene therapy that might have saved his life. You guessed it, the head of the company (television vet Peter Outerbridge) ends up in a rusty trap run having to decide between the very lives of his employees. This provides some underlying commentary, albeit hackneyed (this is a Saw flick after all), on the timely American healthcare scheme. At the same time, this direct connection to the "living" John adds greater weight to the purpose behind the traps (think Dr. Gordon a la the first Saw) instead of random strangers facing the true measure of their animalistic desire for life.

This is definitely an improvement over the last two years and a few steps in the right direction for everyone's favorite torture porn soap. With adjustments, this should have been the fourth film. I can remember some saying they were disappointed that VI didn't actually "end" the story, it does, the arc that began in 2004 is cleverly closed here. No spoilers, but the survivors will be going rogue in VII and this could potentially breathe entirely fresh life into the franchise. The next film could be radically different from Saw norms if its creators wished...that is if the gimmicky 3D thing doesn't get in the way.

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