When it comes to Halloween, most parents are usually excited about the first time they get to dress up their kids for some trick or treating. The same holds true for the next several years, with new costumes being greeted with glee by both the kids and their parents.
After a while, however, some of the excitement and sheen starts to wear off. Not as much attention to detail is applied to the getup, especially when the parental units cede some or all of the creation to their increasingly older kids. After a while, some of them start to think they automatically deserve the goodies despite not putting much effort into their presentation, with a few even going as the same thing year after year.
The same can often be said about Hollywood, particularly concerning sequels. Sure, some of the bigger titles have huge budgets and A-list stars for their subsequent offerings. Yet, other films -- notably of the horror genre -- go the other direction. In effect, they try to grab as much viewer candy as possible with the least amount of effort and expenditure.
All of which brings us to "Saw III," the latest entry in the horror series that's apparently now going to be a perennial Halloween event (the first two opened on the weekend before trick or treating in both 2004 and 2005, while Part IV is already reportedly scheduled for the same time in 2007).
Of course, and looking at it from a pure financial perspective, who can blame them? Considering the first two films cost only a few million combined, yet have collectively grossed more than $140 domestically, there's obviously cinematic gold in them thar sadistic hills (Editor's Note: A point reinforced by Part III opening to $34 million).
All of which means the film follows in the same bloody, twisted, and demented footsteps as its predecessors. But just like those worn and familiar Halloween costumes, such material -- where the sadistic killers set elaborate traps where their victims must show a strong will to live and/or deal with various moral dilemmas -- is getting a bit old. Sure, there are some new twists (figurative and literal) on the setup, but they lack the gruesome imagination and pizzazz that made the first entries at least partially interesting to watch (in that sort of don't look at the car wreck fashion).
The plot basically boils down to two separate but related threads. One follows a bitter father -- Angus Macfadyn -- who's still reeling over his young son's death at the hands and wheels of a drunk driver. As in the previous films, he must confront his personal demons while working his way through various elaborately staged traps and such devised by the killers, all of which contain people directly and indirectly involved with the past tragedy. The results are predictably gruesome and deadly, but the "been there, seen that (or at least something similar)" feeling lessens some of the macabre shock value that existed in the previous entries.
The other storyline concerns an emergency room surgeon -- Bahar Soomekh -- who's abducted by our returning and still ailing killer (Tobin Bell continuing to do the intense God complex character) and his whacked protégé (Shawnee Smith doing the wide-eyed "I'm going to burst" bit). They've done so to keep the mentor kicking (if the doc doesn't, the explosive collar around her neck will detonate when his heart rate monitor hits the big zero).
That's obviously some good incentive, and that results in the film's most unnerving scene -- open-skull brain surgery conducted in the killer's lair without proper surgical implements. If you thought the sound of a dental drill in or out of the movies gave you the willies, you ain't seen, or heard, anything yet, especially when the power drill gets going here.
Yet, you can pretty much see the same on some surgery show on cable or satellite TV, albeit with the proper tools and with better, educational narration, meaning there's no good reason to spend your money on this. Of course, the same holds true for the earlier entries, but at least "back then" the blades were a bit sharper and not as rusty from overuse. "Saw III" rates as a 3 out of 10.
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