MOVIE REVIEW: Saw 3D

I'm not a huge fan of the Saw franchise. I think the first one is okay, the second one is good, but the third one kind of sucks and made me lose interest in the subsequent sequels. ...Until a few months ago when Saw V and Saw VI were playing back to back on Super Channel and I decided to watch them, expecting nothing more than gore. And, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed them. Not as much as Saw II, but pretty close. They actually made me want to see the newest installment, Saw 3D. And when my favourite actress from Scream Queens Season 2, Gabby West, won a role in the film, I wanted to see it even more. So after finally convincing my horror movie hating boyfriend to go with me, I've seen it and think it was just okay.

The plot is the standard Saw fare: lots of gore and inventive traps, but with a few twists thrown in. I was surprised by the major plot twist in the movie, but it didn't make sense in context with the rest of the films in the series. In general, there wasn't much of a plot, just massive amounts of gore, which is what I expected and was looking forward to.

The 3D was unnecessary. It definitely wasn't worth the extra $2.50, since it was barely noticeable save for a few instances of blood and guts flying at my face.

But the biggest disappointment in Saw 3D was Gabby West's role. She had no lines - other than screaming, of course. Chester Bennington (from Linkin Park) even had more lines than her! If I had to endure catfights with bitchy actresses, John Homa's brutal acting class and just generally working my ass off to win a part in a film where I didn't have any lines and was only onscreen for 30 seconds, I would not be impressed.  Especially while the previous winner of Scream Queens, Tanedra Howard, had several lines in Saw VI, and in Saw 3D. Oh well, hopefully we'll see more of Gabby in other films.

I probably would have enjoyed Saw 3D if Gabby had a larger role, they had made more use out of the 3D and the big plot twist wasn't disappointing. But it's not a terrible choice if you're just looking for lots of gore.

Rating: 3/5