by Sergio Estavia

Created on: August 29, 2010   Last Updated: August 30, 2010

I have been a fan of the horror genre since I had the fortune of catching the first Hellraiser with my father long time ago. In my opinion I consider myself a horror movie buff, watching the best of the best-like the Exorcist, to the worst of the worst-the Unborn. As for the question at hand, my first answer was no. Is there any horror movie I have ever seen with any morality in it? But then I began to think harder and look deeper into each movie I saw. Now, I would like to say that horror movies back then did have a sense of morality in them, but as for today's flicks, it's not really the case. The only films that I can think of that have a slice of morality in them are the SAW series. Yes I said it, SAW. The movie where all you see are people getting dismembered and psychologically tortured by a puppet on a tricycle.

Now before you slam me and my decision, think of the fodder that has come out recently. The remakes of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, the Unborn, the Uninvited, Prom Night and so on. Not only do these movies suck, but they have no purpose, there is no moral tale to them. I mean, what do we have? Teenagers left alone, a masked killer with some motive and about an hour and a half of monotonous crap. There's no moral message, if there was one, it is don't let your kid go camping with other kids or don't set fire to a suspected child molester.

Now, let's get back to SAW. Yes it's nasty, yes they come back every year like a disease but at least in its own twisted way, there is a message in there. Jigsaw is not killing for no reason, he picks his people, picks his torture and he wants them to make the right choice, proving to him that life is worth living, even though you may be missing an eye in the end. When one watches a movie, either it be horror, comedy or romance, you have to pay attention to the real message behind it. In SAW, there is a message of morality. Jigsaw picked people that were morally corrupt.

Now is it his place to do so? In the movie world it is, but not in real life. But we are not talking about real life here. We are talking about movies that present us with buckets of blood, guts, plot twists and a guaranteed sequel every year.  Look at SAW six, the main person getting "punished" was greedy and cared about nobody but himself, that's how he got himself into the predicament. So look closely at SAW, there is a tad of morality in it. It may be twisted but it's there.

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