This scene from Saw II is where Addison finds
an antidote for the poison air she is inhaling. To retrieve the medicine she
must put just one hand in to get it and then use the other to keep the blades
open. She stupidly puts both in and then becomes trapped.
Addison is allegedly put into this trap by Jigsaw
because she is a prostitute. This follows the conventions of a stereotypical
victim, as they are usually female and are known for being involved in a lot of
‘taboo’ activities, often having sex shortly before they are killed. This is seen in other horror films such as Halloween,
where every teenager that was sexually experienced was killed.
The director of this film (Darren Lynn Bousman) is
known for directing horror films. He was working on a script for a film called The
Desperate when Gregg Hoffman (the director for Saw II) read it and
shared it with his partners: Mark Burg and Oren Koules. They decided it would
be the perfect opportunity to turn The Desperate into Saw II.
The Saw franchise became part of a new era of
extreme body horror, which was called ‘torture porn’. This is the combination
of graphic violence and sexually suggestive imagery. This is clearly used in
this scene through the blood dripping down Addison's arms, from the cuts in her
wrists and the symbol of a female in distress creating the sexual repression of
males. Torture porn is also used in
Hostel 2, where I a woman showers in another woman’s blood. This
includes the graphic violence through the blood of the victim, and the sexual
imagery as the women showering is naked.
Saw II can also be seen in terms of being
a “splatter” film. This term ‘splatter cinema’ was invented by George A. Romero
to describe his film Dawn of the Dead. Splatter cinema (according to film
critic Michael Arnzen) “self-consciously revel in the special effect of gore as
an artform.”. Whereas typical horror films portray fears like the unknown,
supernatural occurrences and the dark. The main fears in a splatter film come
from physical destruction of the body and the pain that brings. I believe that Saw
II uses these fears and it excels in body horror and special effects.
