Gabe Reviews Horror

October 2026 Horror Reviews #6 - Saw VI (2009) We're back with another entry in the increasingly-serialized horror franchise, Saw! In this entry, we pick up right where the last one ended off with Detective Hoffman having emerged victorious, and he spends the rest of the movie trying to cast suspicion on the missing Agent Strahm. Meanwhile, the insurance adjuster who denied John Kramer coverage has been thrown into a Saw Deathtrap where he has to experience the pain and suffering he's inflicted on other people. Will he have a change of heart by the end? If so, will it save him? I complained last time that I don't like how these movies have become so serialized, and this one falls under that as well. (I honestly don't know how or why someone who has never seen a Saw movie would have ANY clue what was going on in this movie. I know that the typical moviegoer has probably seen at least one other entry in a series before buying a ticket to #6, but still, movies that release...

October 2026 Horror Reviews #5 - Saw V (2008) Saw V follows immediately after the events of Saw IV, and the main plot revolves around Detective Hoffman (whom we now know to be one of Jigsaw's apprentices) and FBI Agent Strahm (who was investigating the Jigsaw murders in the previous movie). Much of the film is a cat-and-mouse game between Hoffman and Strahm, with Strahm beginning to suspect Hoffman's involvement and Hoffman trying to throw suspicion anywhere he can. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, I do like the drama and suspense of the main plot, and I really like Strahm as a character. In the first few minutes of the movie he establishes himself as a strong protagonist (is he even the protagonist though? More on that in a moment) and he's one of the few people who unquestionably beats one of Jigsaw's famous deathtraps, in a moment that is quite possibly my favorite moment in the whole series. Additionally, I really like the sideplot of th...

October 2026 Horror Reviews #4 - Saw IV (2007) Hot off the heels of Saw III, Saw IV begins a mini-series of entries that solidifies the plot into a snarl of timeline jumps and continuity that will leave your head spinning. In this movie, the primary plot follows Rigg, the SWAT leader for the police force in whatever town these movies take place. After the disappearance of Detective Matthews in Saw II and Kerry in Saw III, Rigg is spiraling into depression as he feels responsible for the loss of his co-workers and his inability to find closure. But then he gets caught in one of Jigsaw's famous games- will he sit tight and let things play out, or will he charge headfirst into danger if it means stopping this twisted game once and for all? I mentioned in my last review that I felt the filmmakers of this series really sat down and had a long think about where the series was going to go; while I could see they spent the third movie seeding a lot of the material that would eventually tak...

October 2026 Horror Reviews #3 - Saw III (2006) Saw III was greenlit during the opening weekend of Saw II, thus cementing this series as an instant and runaway success. This entry, much like the previous two, mostly follows two concurrent storylines: a surgeon named Lynn is kidnapped and brought to Jigsaw's underground makeshift hospital, and forced to operate on him to keep him alive. Meanwhile, a grieving father named Jeff wakes up elsewhere in the same facility and is put face-to-face with three people involved in the wrongful death of his son, and he has to choose whether to let them each die or put himself in harm's way to save them. At the end these two storylines cross in a, shall we say, explosive manner? Just a fair warning: I'm going to spoil a lot of what happens in this one, because I have some issues with specific elements and I'm not sure how else to talk about it. If you haven't seen the movie and don't want it to be spoiled, I'll give my rati...

October 2026 Horror Reviews #2 - Saw II (2005) Hot on the heels of the breakout success of Saw the previous year, Saw II follows a detective (Eric Matthews, not to be confused with the character from the hit family sitcom Boy Meets World) whose son seemingly has been kidnapped by the notorious serial killer, Jigsaw. The police track down Jigsaw easily, and the diabolical killer (who is near death suffering from terminal cancer) gives Detective Matthews an offer: sit here and talk with me, and your son will be returned to you, safe and sound. But according to the nearby surveillance camera feeds, his son is currently stuck in one of Jigsaw's death traps with an entire group of convicted criminals, all breathing in a slow-acting poison- unless they can solve deadly puzzles and get the antidote. As we flash back and forth between the two conflicts, will Detective Matthews play Jigsaw's little game or is he going to take the law into his own hands? It's going to be hard not to ...

October 2026 Horror Reviews #1 - Saw (2004) Saw is a film where two men wake up in a grungy bathroom, chained to the wall by their ankles, with no memory of how they got there. There's a dead body in the center of the room with a gun and a tape recorder. After some escape-room-style investigation, they discover a pair of hacksaws- not strong enough to cut through the chains, but strong enough to cut through their feet. They realize that their predicament must be the work of "the Jigsaw killer"- an enigmatic villain who kidnaps people and sets them in elaborate traps where they must overcome their own flaws, or die. Will they be able to follow the clues and figure out how to escape? Or will they need to saw off their feet for a chance at survival? I first heard about this movie around the time the second one came out, right after I graduated high school. And to be perfectly honest, just the premise terrified  me. (I was still pretty new to horror at the time, and the idea ...