The Saw films, often derided by critics as "torture porn" and an excuse to show blood and gore, are the highest-grossing horror series in cinema history. In view of their hold on audiences and their controversial content, they deserve study. This first collection of fresh essays by academic authors from Europe, America and Australia addresses the cultural, religious and philosophical facets of the films, investigating how the franchise reflects a post-9/11 shift in U.S. popular culture towards increasing pessimism and how it may be read as a metaphor for the "war on terror"; dissecting how the series explores such issues as freewill and determinism; assessing the films' representations of the body; and applying a Deleuzian perspective to the franchise.

Table of Contents


Introduction (James Aston and John Walliss)

"I've never murdered anyone in my life. The decisions are up to them": Ethical Guidance and the Turn Toward Cultural Pessimism (James Aston and John Walliss)

Body Horror (Ben McCann)

The Spectacle of Correction: Video Games, Movies and Control (Evangelos Tziallas)

From Jigsaw to Phibes: God, Free Will and Foreknowledge in Con¿ict (Fernando G. Pagnoni Berns and Amy M. Davis)

A Voice and Something More: Jigsaw as Acousmêtre and Existential Guru (Brian H. Collins)

Twisted Pictures: Morality, Nihilism and Symbolic Suicide (Steve Jones)

The Jigsaw Assemblage (Jacob Huntley)

Work Is Hell: Life in the Mannequin Factory (Dean Lockwood)

Monstrous Bodies and Gendered Abjection (Madeleine Smith)

Hearing the Game: Sound Design (Jeffrey Bullins)

About the Contributors

Index

James Aston is program leader for screen at the University of Hull film studies undergraduate program. He lives in Willerby, United Kingdom. John Walliss is senior lecturer in criminology in the faculty of sciences and social sciences, Liverpool Hope University, UK.