Saw (DVD)

If you are looking for a special feature driven DVD than I am afraid you are going to be disappointed, but if you are interested in checking out one of the better horror films to come along in quite some time Saw is definitely a title worth your while.

First time filmmakers Leigh Whannell and James Wan set out to make a low-budgeted horror flick centered around two guys stranded in a dank and dirty cellar and what they came up with was one hell of an imaginative and creative tour down a psychotic highway that impresses just as much as it did the first time.

Saw is the story of a sadistic psychopath that refrains from literally killing his victims thanks to his twisted way of offering them a choice for their lives. Determined to teach his subjects the value of life he places individuals in a setting where they are offered the simple choice of living or dying, but to live you must suffer an insurmountable amount of emotional and physical pain, and even still, your life is never guaranteed.

The Saw DVD is expectedly light on special features considering this is a film that was shot on a fairly small budget and over the course of only 18 days. The one major bonus is a feature length commentary with director James Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell as you get a chance to listen to the two Aussies reminisce about their first picture together.

Their commentary is informative and extremely lively as the two are just as willing to offer up praise as they are to offer up tiny jabs at areas of the film they deem short of perfection.

Aside from the commentary there is a two-and-a-half minute making-of featurette, a horrible music video, which features a bit of heart eating agony on the unrated version, a making-of featurette on the unrated music video, which actually lasts longer than the making-of featurette for the film, five trailers and a guided poster gallery.

With an 18-day shoot there is far too little time to put together a decent making-of featurette and I am sure there was no way Wan and Whannell expected Saw to become the hit it did. Nevertheless, the number one bonus to this edition is the fact that it comes with a killer DTS track and that the film is extremely fun to watch. Saw is certainly a must-add to all horror lover's DVD collections, who cares if Cary Elwes can't act to save his life, this film still kicks ass.

Oh yeah, and the packaging is just as cool as it looks above.