My Weak in Horror.

Finally broke down and saw "Saw V," which is the first of the Saw franchise I did not see in the theatre. And I am telling you, you really don't "lose" anything by seeing it on the small screen. In fact, at home I could cover my face during the gory parts without the shame of strangers seeing me be such a wimp. I am sorry, seeing people crushed to death by metal walls gives me the "yucks." "Saw V" is not "scary." None of the Saw films really are. The first one, which remains a favorite of mine, was innovative and different, with a great twist at the end.
They have repeated the formula 4 more times with varying levels of success. This entry is no different. The "traps" have been toned down a bit. They are still gory, but not as imaginative as previous ones (a personal favorite "trap" is the one where the cop has metal rods attached to her ribcage which will tear them apart unless she gets the key to unlock the trap, which is of course at the bottom of a vat of acid. She has one minute to do all of this. Needless to say, there is gore involved.) I watched this film with a friend who had never seen the other Saw films, and I had to explain quite a bit of backstory, which I felt pretty silly doing.

The other horror film I watched this week was "Repo: The Genetic Opera." The director of this film is responsible for 3 of the Saw films, so I guess you would consider this his "art" flick. I found myself getting bored and drifting off into la-la land during the middle of this movie, which you wouldn't think would happen during a futuristic, gory rock-opera about organ harvesting starring Paris Hilton. But I did. Kudo's to the director and creators of "Repo" though. It is really something different. I can't say I really "liked" it (la-la land) but I appreciate the newness of it all. I have never seen an entire horror film done in sing-song.