Saw

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “May be the best independent horror film to have come out since "The Blair Witch Project." It's certainly better than "Blair Witch", and more fun, more gruesome, and more macabre. In a very delightful way.”

  Heidi Martinuzzi, Film Threat · 90

• “The filmmakers piece it together with almost clockwork perfection and deliver it with masterful misdirection, creating the most ingenious, eccentric and brazenly jaundiced psycho-thriller to come along in years.”

  Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer · 83

• “As good an all-out, non-camp horror movie as we’ve had lately.”

  Kim Newman, Empire · 80

• “Saw is for hard-gore horror aficionados only.”

  James Berardinelli, ReelViews · 75

• “The slasher scenes, though relatively few, are amazingly evocative for such a low-budget movie.”

  Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle · 75