Saw

The short that kicked off the whole Saw madness. It seems like a demo version of the “regular" Saw. A bit scruffy, but that is expected in a short and so the idea and the atmosphere are more important than technical aspects and acting performances. And this very same scene appeared almost unchanged in the feature-length version and there all aspects of it had been tidied up. Simply Jigsaw and his first survival game. (2007.07.18)

I considered Wan's feature film, which marked the beginning of a successful series about a genius sadist who plays with human victims, to be overly contrived and illogical, however solidly directed, atmospheric, and darkly horrific. The short film preceding it does not suffer from the flaws that I criticize Wan for in the full-length version. And certainly not from the numerous shortcomings of his followers. It is the essence of what made the series famous, and actually, it's good enough for me. If it were up to me, I wouldn't waste any more film material on future installments. Overall impression: 70%. (2019.02.03)