Connect with us

Editorials

Happy 10th Anniversary to ‘Saw II!’

Published

on

Saw II

The Saw franchise has lately become the punching bag of the horror community. It isn’t bashed as much as Eli Roth, but it’s still up there. Credited with giving birth to the torture porn sub-genre (Hostel would come out less than a year later), Saw and the franchise it spawned is mostly viewed with contempt and scorn nowadays (seriously, just read some of the comments on this post). I would like to take you back to a time, ten years ago, when Saw was the most talked about horror movie that everyone had seen, before it was infected with sequelitis and before audiences knew to expect a new film every Halloween. It was was the soon-to-be-released sequel, Saw II.

***SPOILERS for a 10-year-old film to follow***

Saw II would end up becoming the highest grossing film in the Saw series, earning $87 million on a $4 million budget. It showed the franchise at the peak of its popularity. You couldn’t talk to a horror fan without talking about how much you were looking forward to the film. Hell, even non-horror fans were talking about Saw II. While it would all go downhill from there box office-wise (and some would say quality-wise as well), Saw II still represents an enormous triumph for Lionsgate Films and the horror community.

Something I didn’t know about Saw II (thanks Wikipedia) is that its original script was for a completely original film that Darren Lynn Bousman wrote called The Desperate. The producers read the script and, since James Wan or Leigh Whannell were busy filming Dead Silence, decided that they could tweak Bousman’s script and turn it into Saw II (Whannell was eventually made available to do script rewrites, with Wan supervising). Saw II was Bousman’s first major directing gig, and he knocks it out of the park. On a completely unrelated note: Bousman made the film when he was 26, the same age I am now. I feel quite unaccomplished knowing that fact, but that’s a discussion for me and my therapist.

The acting in the film isn’t spectacular, but everyone does what is required of them. The casting is a bit bizarre (remember when Lucy from 7th Heaven was in Saw II? Yeah, that was a thing), but Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith and even Donnie Wahlberg turn in great performances. Let’s take a moment to talk about Shawnee Smith though. She is just great. Relegated to an extended cameo in Saw, she completely owns Saw II and steals the film from Tobin Bell. Bousman’s script is kind to her, allowing her to play weak and vulnerable in the first act, only to do a complete 180 in the climax and show off Amanda’s devious nature.

Saw II does what every sequel should: it takes what made the original so effective (intricate traps, complex villain, a twist ending) and makes them bigger and better. It even removes Cary Elwes from the equation, which helps immensely. The sequel retains (for the most part) the one-location setting style of the first film, but rather than have the entire film be set in one room, it is set in a large house, making room for plenty of deadly traps.

Speaking of the traps, they are the real stars of the film. While Saw II does feature the single worst trap in the entire franchise, all of the other ones are stellar. The infamous needle pit is known for being a high point in the franchise, but the venus flytrap in the opening sequence is nothing to scoff at.

One thing that sets Saw II apart from Saw is that it shows all of the violence up close and in graphic detail. While it may be hard to believe, Saw is possibly the least gory film in the franchise. This of course means that we have Saw II to thank for the increase in gratuitous violence in the series (and other horror films of the decade), so that factoid may impress or disappoint you. That being said, Saw II really isn’t that gory, especially when compared to the five sequels that followed it.

While Saw II is tied with Saw VI (a supremely underrated sequel) for having the second-best Rotten Tomatoes score out of all the Saw films (the best would be the original), I would argue that Saw II is the best film in the franchise. I know, I know, that’s blasphemous, but hear me out.

Saw II benefits greatly from the lack of Cary Elwes and his overacting, as we mentioned in our review ten years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of The Princess Bride and I think he’s great in it, but he is absolutely awful in Saw and the main reason why the sequel is the better film.

The twist ending is also particularly clever. The film faced a dilemma in having to top the twist from the first film. While Amanda being Jigsaw’s partner doesn’t pack the same punch as Jigsaw being in the room the whole time, it’s still made more effective by the additional (and admittedly The Silence of the Lambs-y) twist that the police are sent to the wrong house to rescue the trapped characters. This blatant imitation is made slightly less offensive by another twist: that all of the footage taken of the people has already happened. The police were watching a recording  and Donnie Wahlberg’s son was locked in a safe in the same room he was in the entire time.

Saw II is a great film and a fantastic sequel that’s reputation has unfortunately been marred by the numerous copycats (and sequels) it spawned. The film has its flaws (Beverley Mitchell’s death by nerve gas is still incredibly underwhelming, as is the fact that we never find out why half of the people were put in the house), but taken on its own it’s a solid horror effort. If the film has one glaring weakness, it’s the aforementioned bullshit glass box trap. It’s terrible, just terrible.

Saw II 10th Anniversary

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

Published

on

leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

Continue Reading