Saw (2004)
Coming Out at 1 October 2004 in theaters.
Horror, Mystery
Saw is horror film directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell from a story by Wan and Whannell. It stars Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, and Tobin Bell. It is the first installment in the Saw film series. In it, Whannell and Elwes 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. The screenplay was written by Whannell, who co-created the story with Wan in their screenwriting debuts respectively.
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 of $1.2 million and was shot in 18 days.
Photographer Adam Stanheight awakens in a dilapidated bathtub, with his ankle chained to a pipe. Across the room is oncologist Lawrence Gordon with a corpse between them holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. Both men find a tape in their pockets, and Adam retrieves the recorder. Adam’s tape urges him to escape, while Lawrence’s tape tells him to kill Adam by six o’clock or his wife Alison and daughter Diana will be killed and he will be left to die. Adam finds a bag containing two hacksaws inside the toilet, which they try to use to cut through their chains, but Adam’s saw breaks. Lawrence realizes the saws are meant to be used on their feet, and identifies their captor as the Jigsaw Killer, whom Lawrence knows of because he was once a suspect.
Director: James Wan
Writers: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Stars: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Tobin Bell
Cast:
| Leigh Whannell | … | Adam Faulkner-Stanheight |
| Cary Elwes | … | Dr. Lawrence Gordon |
| Danny Glover | … | Detective David Tapp |
| Ken Leung | … | Detective Steven Sing |
| Dina Meyer | … | Kerry |
| Mike Butters | … | Paul |
| Paul Gutrecht | … | Mark |
| Michael Emerson | … | Zep Hindle |
| Benito Martinez | … | Brett |
| Shawnee Smith | … | Amanda |
| Makenzie Vega | … | Diana Gordon |
| Monica Potter | … | Alison Gordon |
| Ned Bellamy | … | Jeff |
| Alexandra Bokyun Chun | … | Carla |
| Avner Garbi | … | Father |
| Tobin Bell | … | Jigsaw |
| Oren Koules | … | Dead Cellmate |
| Hans Raith | … | Detective |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia