The point of torture in Saw films is not to appease the audience, because the "torture" comes via the story. They are far less exploitative than hundreds of other horror films, like even Friday the 13th as a kind of obvious example. The point of the term "torture porn" is to suggest a movie that glories in and glorifies torture. I don't think the Saw films are exploitative in that manner, but as I said before perhaps it's just because that's not why I go see them. There is a "torture porn audience", sure, but by labeling the film as such it condemns the whole audience. I think Captivity is made for the gorehounds, and Saw is not.
Additionally I think Saw IV was considerably less gross than Saw III, which is a big contribution here. I think in an attempt to shuck the torture moniker they tried to make the traps more clever than disgusting, unlike, say, The Rack, or the pig-grinder from Saw III. Despite being graphic, the traps were not only more logic-based, but, regardless of the MPAA's involvement, both the "scalping" chair and the fat guy's trap were also insistently short traps, thus removing a level of grandstanding or reveling in the bloodshed. It's still there, but I think Saw IV made attempts to lessen it. And it's worth noting here that the key word is "torture" -- the film may still revel in gore, as in the extended, pointless autopsy scene at the beginning, but one would be hard-pressed to call an autopsy "torture".
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-11-01 09:25 pm (UTC)Additionally I think Saw IV was considerably less gross than Saw III, which is a big contribution here. I think in an attempt to shuck the torture moniker they tried to make the traps more clever than disgusting, unlike, say, The Rack, or the pig-grinder from Saw III. Despite being graphic, the traps were not only more logic-based, but, regardless of the MPAA's involvement, both the "scalping" chair and the fat guy's trap were also insistently short traps, thus removing a level of grandstanding or reveling in the bloodshed. It's still there, but I think Saw IV made attempts to lessen it. And it's worth noting here that the key word is "torture" -- the film may still revel in gore, as in the extended, pointless autopsy scene at the beginning, but one would be hard-pressed to call an autopsy "torture".