Tagline: Live or die. Make your choice.
How far would you go to save your own life? Prepare yourself for a gut-wrenching trip into the heart of terror with SAW, Lions Gate Films’ gripping psychological thriller starring Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter and Leigh Whannell. Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life, a deranged, sadistic serial killer is abducting morally wayward people and forcing them to play horrific games for their own survival. Faced with impossible choices, each victim must struggle to win back his/her life, or else die trying…
A young man named Adam (Leigh Whannell) wakes to find himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a decrepit subterranean chamber. Chained to the opposite side of the room is another bewildered captive, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). Between them is a dead man lying in a pool of blood, holding a .38 in his hand. Neither man knows why he has been abducted; but instructions left on a microcassette, order Dr. Gordon to kill Adam within eight hours. If he fails to do so, then both men will die, and Dr. Gordon’s wife, Alison (Monica Potter), and his daughter will be killed.
Recalling a recent murder investigation by a police detective named Tapp (Danny Glover), Dr. Gordon realizes he and Adam are the next victims of a psychopathic genius known only as “Jigsaw.” With only a few hours left to spare, they must unravel the elaborate puzzle of their fate in the midst of mounting terror. The killer has provided them with only a few clues and two handsaws – too weak to break their steel shackles, but strong enough to cut through flesh and bone…
Gritty and terrifying, SAW is a taut, squirm-inducing thriller packed with moments of indelible horror. Director James Wan expertly spins this intricate tale, creating a chilling landscape of dread where nothing is quite as it seems. An edge-of-your-seat ride bristling with emotional intensity, SAW will keep you guessing until the very end. Keep the lights on; you won’t sleep easily tonight.
Saw is a 2004 American horror film directed by James Wan. It is Wan’s feature film directorial debut. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Tobin Bell and Leigh Whannell. In the film, Elwes and Whannell portray two men who awake to find themselves chained in a large dilapidated bathroom, with one being ordered to kill the other or his family will die. It is the first installment in the Saw franchise.
The debut of Wan and Whannell, the screenplay was written in 2001, but after failed attempts to get the script produced in Wan and Whannell’s home country of Australia, they were urged to travel to Los Angeles. In order to help attract producers they shot a low-budget short film of the same name from a scene out of the script. This proved successful in 2003 as producers from Evolution Entertainment were immediately attached and also formed a horror genre production label Twisted Pictures. The film was given a small budget and shot for 18 days.
Saw was first screened on January 19, 2004. Lionsgate picked up the rights and released the film in the United States and Canada on October 29, 2004. Critical responses were generally mixed and divided, but the film gained a cult following. Compared to its low budget, Saw performed very well at the box office, grossing more than $100 million worldwide and becoming, at the time, one of the most profitable horror films since 1996’s Scream. The success of the film prompted a green-light of a sequel soon after Saw’s opening weekend, which was released the following October.
Saw opened at #3 on Halloween weekend 2004 in 2,315 theaters and grossed $18.2 million, behind Ray ($20 million) and The Grudge ($21.8 million). According to Lionsgate’s exit poll, 60% of the mostly male audience was under 25 years of age. Saw had also become Lionsgate’s second best opening, after Fahrenheit 9/11’s $23.9 million (2004). On its second weekend, an additional 152 theaters were added, bringing the theater count to 2,467. It dropped to number four, making $11 million, a 39% drop from the opening weekend.
Saw opened in the United Kingdom to $2.2 million in 301 theaters, grossing a $12.3 million total in seven weeks. In Australia, it opened in 161 theaters with $1.2 million and totaled out to $3.1 million in six weeks.[48] In Italy, the film opened on January 14, 2005 in 267 theaters to $1.7 million and grossed $6.4 million in six weeks. Saw opened to $1.5 million 187 theaters in France on March 16, 2005 and made $3.1 million by the end of its four-week run. Saw came to gross $55.1 million in the United States and Canada and $47.9 million in other markets for a worldwide total of $103 million. It is the second lowest-grossing film in the series after Saw VI. At the time, it became the most profitable horror film after Scream (1996).
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Saw (2004)
Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Leigh Whannell, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith, Makenzie Vega, Paul Gutrecht, Alexandra Bokyun Chun
Screenplay by: Leigh Whannell
Production Design by: Julie Berghoff
Cinematography by: David A. Armstrong
Film Editing by: Kevin Greutert
Costume Design by: Jennifer L. Soulages
Art Direction by: Nanet Harty
Music by: Charlie Clouser
MPAA Rating: R for strong grisly violence and language.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: October 29, 2004
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