Saw
Dir: James Wan
2004
****
James Wan's original 2004 film Saw truly was an original horror/thriller with a new bad guy who's up there with Freddy and Jason but is actually much scarier. It had been some time since a great film like this had come along and shaken up the genre and it remained unbeaten for quite a few years after. The inventiveness of the story is at the core of its success. It's a puzzle, a 'who done it', a murder mystery, a suspenseful thriller and a gory horror. It also had some depth to it, there is never a good reason for murder but our villain wasn't your typical indiscriminate knife welding monster, he had a plan and people were chosen for a reason. This makes the story even more chilling and delectably entertaining.