Roger Ebert Review of Saw

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041028/REVIEWS/40923005/1023

Roger Ebert gave Saw 2 out of 4 stars while users gave it 2.5. While Roger Ebert admits the film is "well made and acted," he deems it not "worth the ordeal it puts you through" (Ebert 2004).

Roger Ebert Review of Paranormal Activity

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091007/REVIEWS/910089996

Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars while users only gave it 2.5. Ebert raves that Paranormal Activity is an "ingenious little horror film so well made it's scary" (Ebert 2009). According to Ebert, the films pretense of being found after the fact and recorded with no special effects is flawless except for a few minor camera shots.

Box Office and Awards of Saw

Box office:

Domestic:$55,185,045

Foreign markets: $47,911,300

Total: $103,096,345

Awards

San Sebastian International Film Festival winner for Audience Award- Best Feature

Gerardmer Film Festival winner for Youth Jury Grand Prize and Special Jury Prize

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film winner for Pegasus Audience Award

Box Office and Awards of Paranormal Activity

Box Office

Domestic: $107,918,810

Foreign markets: $85,379,199 in foreign markets

Total: $193,298,009

Awards

Nominated for "best first feature" in Independent Spirit Awards 2009

Saw (2004) marketing

This is a poster for giving blood to tie in with the release of the first Saw in 2004, starting a series of blood drives that have coincided with the release of subsequent Saw films. This marketing ploy for selling the movie was reported by the New York Post's Sara Stewart before the film's release on Halloween. She writes that this was a nationwide blood drive and that they were stopping in New York outside at the AMC Loews Kips Bay to conduct a drive from 11am-6pm, in which the first 50 doners get free tickets to a sneak preview of the film (Stewart 2004). This poster illustrates well the appeal of torture horror movies as the loss of blood through a blood drive adminstered by a nurse is likened to a sexual release, suggesting that watching Saw and such-like movies is a way of releasing sadistic pleasures by seeing someone tortured. The tagline for the poster "How much blood will you SHED for her?" and the attractive nurse covered in blood suggests the loss of blood is pleasurable in this context because a Nurse is helping you lose blood. Perhaps this marketing poster may explain the popularity of the film and the torture genre.

How do you feel when you see this poster? Are you disgusted or attarcted by the prospect of losing blood?

Reference

Stewart, Sara. 2004. FED-EECHS-Horror flick "Saw" goes Postal to generate Buzz. The New York Post, October. 24, 2004, 93. Retrieved from nypost.com.

Eli Roth interview with Fox News in 2006

In this interview Eli Roth, the director of Hostel explains the popularity of torture horror films, showing that they have an intelligence to them and that they are not just about mindless, inappropriate violence. He relates these horror films to people's fears of terrorism and the politics of the Iraq war as well as the Bush Administration's policies and argues that they are part of a cycle of films that represent the fears and politics of the time. He argues that horror films continue to be an outlet for where people can confront these fears in a controlled setting.

Do you agree with Eli Roth that horror movies are most popular in a time of great danger in the world? Are Horror films a way for people to deal with their fears? Are Torture movies part of continuing trend in horror movies of representing politics? What do you make of Fox News Interviewer's reactions and framing of his questions?

Reference

Eli Roth Interview Fox News [Video]. 2007. Retreived April 12 2011, from YouTube.com.

What is Horror to You?

Why do you think that horror films have remained so popular and what emotions do they draw out in you?

Responses from various Horror aficionados: Read-ON