[IT the Traveler]

The second entry came from ZERO.

Horror remains remarkably popular. In spite of short lulls in which unimaginative retreads of popular films dominate the genre (the endless sequels, remakes, rip-offs), it seems that every few years a new vision of horror emerges to reinvigorate interest in the genre.

While several important films have debuted in the past twelve years, I choose James Wan’s 2004 film Saw as my nominee for a classic. In supporting this choice, I will begin by defining what I think makes a film a “classic,” and then suggest the ways Saw meets this definition.

To begin, there are literally thousands of horror films that have been produced. While we all have our particular tastes and favorites within the genre, I think for a film to be regarded as a classic, it must demonstrate substantial cultural and cinematic influence. Thought of in this way, “classic” films are those which reach out beyond the hard-core horror fans and impact the wider culture. The horror fan-base may know that Bob Clark’s Black Christmas predated John Carpenter’s Halloween but for the wider population, it is Carpenter’s film that perfected the slasher genre. In part because of this wider popularity, “classic” films have a substantial influence on the genre itself. Take, for example, the great-grandfather of the genre, Dracula (1931). While a bit of an improbable hit – the film is, after all, a bit stagy and at times even awkward – if it were not for the phenomenal success of Dracula, there would not have been Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) or, likely, any of the other films of that first golden age of the “Universal monsters.” The same could be said about Romero’s Night of the Living Dead which, while not the first ‘gore-fest’ film (predated, for example, by Herschell Gordon Lewis), clearly introduced a new era of horror films that opened the door for the films of the 1970s like Last House on the Left, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and It’s Alive.

So, to make my argument, I need to demonstrate that Saw had both cultural and cinematic influence.

The argument for Saw’s cultural impact can begin by observing the amazing box office success. The film was made for about $1.2 million and in its initial release grossed $55million in the US and a worldwide total of more than $102 million. Box office alone, of course, does not prove cultural influence but it does suggest that a wider audience (not just horror fans) were being lured into the theater because somehow Saw was offering something different.

It is worth speculating about why Saw felt meaningful to audiences in 2004. In his recent book Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film, Charles Derry calls Saw “the first genuinely post-9/11 horror film.” (311) This seems right to me. Released just three years after the cultural trauma of 9/11, Saw seems to deal with issues that connected to the wider post-9/11 world. Things were perceived as grittier, the world more dangerous, the option to remain noble less viable. Post-9/11, Americans were faced with a seemingly more violent and brutal world and with the simple question – “How far will you go to survive?” Would we wage war in foreign countries, detain prisoners without trials, would we torture others, kill innocents? This was not, of course, the first time Americans (and by proxy the world) was faced with such a choice but the spectacle of 9/11 made the confrontation more direct and unavoidable.

In its own way, Saw poses the viewer with the same question – how far would we go to survive? Reversing the typical ‘stalk-and-slash’ horror formula that had remained popular since the 1970s, Saw begins with our hero trapped. The struggle is not to avoid the killer but to survive the terror that has already arrived – another way in which the film connected to 9/11. Now, to be clear, I am not suggesting that James Wan said, “hey, I’ll make a 9/11 film” or that audiences sat in the theater and said, “hey, that’s just like American in a post-9/11 world!” But, just as audiences in the midst of Vietnam and the Civil Rights era saw something in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead that seemed somehow ‘real’ and ‘meaningful,’ so too did audiences viewing Saw. And in this way, Saw rose above just being a horror film (even a popular horror film) to becoming an important cultural moment for its generation.

The other way to measure its importance is to consider the impact Saw had on the genre. While Saw clearly borrows from earlier films – notably the inclusion of several giallo elements – its success gave rise to “torture porn” in the early 2000s. Saw spawned its own set of sequels (the quality of which should not diminish the importance of the first film) but also numerous American films (Hostel, Turistas, Captivity) and opened the door for increasingly violent, gore-filled foreign films like Wolf Creek, Martyrs, and The Human Centipede.

At this point, the torture-porn era seems to have waned and the haunted house has returned as the focal point of contemporary horror (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, etc.) but there can be little doubt that much of the horror released in the first several years of the 21st Century was deeply influenced by James Wan’s Saw. For this reason, I will argue that it will long be understood as a classic of our era.

Judge #1's verdict -

Though I personally don't care for the film, this entrant made a convincing case for considering it a modern classic. Both cultural significance and effect on the genre are well stated. Took off a single point for ignoring the popularity of silent horror films such as Phantom of the Opera or Hunchback of Notre Dame as early icons of horror.

49 points.

Large reward.

Judge #2's verdict -

I see the Challenge as having two parts:
Select a movie from the 2000's that is a "Modern Classic"
This movie must be in the vein of the mighty horror classics from the late 60s, 70s & early 80s

So, in grading this challenge, I looked at both of those elements in my assessment and gave them 25 points a piece.

I completely agree with his definition of the word "Classic;" that the movie must "demonstrate substantial cultural and cinematic influence" (not to mention have staying power) and I believe that he argued well that Saw had substantial cultural and cinematic impact. I also thought that the comparison between Halloween and Black Christmas in this vein was very astute (demonstrating that Halloween is the "Classic" in that it bridges the gap between the horror fan and the general audience. I thought that the connection to 9/11 was poignant and interesting.

---25 Points

He loses some points as I think that, while he hits "Modern Classic" on the head, he misses the latter half of the challenge which is "in the veins of the mighty horror classics from the late 60s, 70s & early 80s." I think that an argument could be made that Saw does fit into this vein in that one could argue that it created a new exploitation sub-genre (though "torture porn" was coined for Hostel in particular, I agree with the candidate that Saw was its earlier and just as popular predecessor), but the contestant doesn't get there directly. There are astude allusions to influencial films within that time period (Halloween, Night of the Living Dead), so he gets some points for that. I also like the parallel between the cultural significance of NOTLD and Saw.

---15 Points


Total = 40 Points

Big Reward

Zero, in accordance with the Judge's verdicts and their scores, you have received 49 + 40 = 89 points.

Both Judges have recommended huge rewards for you, so you are hereby asked to choose FOUR doors out of FIVE which are in front of you, marked 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

Please send your PM accordingly.