#i fucking love leigh whannel

[hacksawboy]

fun fact, the way leigh whannel describes shit is absolutely insane! i say this because adam is described as a drowned rat from the tub in the official script and i think thats fucking hilarious

#saw #adam saw #adam stanheight #i fucking love leigh whannel #dude is so silly #first real post ive made in ages hoping this shit dont flop #also im in creative writing class rn and i didnt sleep all night PRAY FOR ME!!! #the saw fandom on tumblr probably knows this and im slow #yall are just as autistic as me #i can smell autism and gay people from a mile away #they all flock to saw (2004) it really is like fish bait #did yk fish are actually rlly smart #they have rlly good memory :) #sorry im rambling again #hashtag autism #sorry for being acoustic babes #stan leigh whannel!!! #why do my tags still have that komahina shit GET THAT SHIT OUTTA HERE #stan saw NOT danganronpa 2 fr

[hosseinis]

LEIGH WHANNELL as ADAM FAULKNER-STANHEIGHT ↳ "My name is very fucking confused! What's your name?"

#adam faulkner stanheight #leigh whannell #saw franchise #saw 2004 #sawedit #my edits #color grading a saw movie... my beloved/beloathed #anyway! here he is! i love him! #HAPPY SAW XI ANNOUNCEMENT EVERYONE! #my name is very fucking confused

[bathroomtrapped]

and before you ask, yes he conditions the wig hair

#i will do absolutely anything to avoid real shading #line art 🔛🔝 #i love when theyre just like fuck it guess were in a serial killer cult now #or lawrence is super into it and adams just kinda like welp. whatever makes u happy ig #LOL #saw 2004 #lawrence gordon #adam faulkner stanheight #chainshipping #cary elwes #leigh whannell #larry art tag

[tasteofyourblood]

i present to you, two guys who've been best friends for a really long time and it shows

#and theyre in love w each other (in a platonic gay way) #(leigh and james are the ones ik least about but from the saw commentary tracks. It Shows) #also feel free to add more i dont mind #okay time to tag everyone here... fuck #taika waititi #rhys darby #kyle mooney #beck bennett #john mulaney #nick kroll #leigh whannell #james wan #noel fielding #richard ayoade #ryan bergara #shane madej #(this is such a random post but i kept thinking about it. enjoy)

[loversmortis]

specs NATION. steven FUCKING fisher. the weirdest girl ever.. the worst bisexual in both our world and the next…… goodnight

#thinking about the way he TAPED mini flashlights to his glasses #also the serious attitude he gives josh consistently is so funny to me #yeah fuck you patrick wilson get his ass #at least once a month i sit down and rewatch insidious 1 and 2 just to see him and tucker and elise #quite honestly the best ghost hunting (kind of?) ensemble i will hear no criticism because i am RIGHT #i love adam. i love saw it is so near and dear to my heart. but specs outranks adam in my personal whannellverse #insidious #leigh whannell #whannelling #specs insidious #horror #and of course the man himself #james wan

[ivansimoncaryelwes]

it’s our boys (Angus and Leigh) as owls!!

#I’m having a time watching guardians of ga’hoole lol #I always wanted to watch this movie as a kid but never did for some reason so this is sating a couple different needs #anyway jatt and jutt are iconic I love them so fucking much #leigh whannell #angus sampson

[doomednarrative]

I need Leigh to put more of his music recomendations on twitter because I'm obsessed with the one song he recommended the other week and I need to know if the rest of his taste is this good

#its 'Thumb' by Kyuss btw for the song he rec'd #genuinely fucks i love it #but pls mr whannell give me more recs i need to know #me talking #leigh whannell

[goatcheesecak3]

Adam Stanheight Red Flag HCs

Adam stanheight x gn!reader

Warnings: jealousy, alcoholism, toxic relationship, vomit

DISCLAIMER: this isn't meant to romanticise any toxic behaviour or condone anything like that, I just want to add a bit more depth to his character and explore his flaws

A/n: I see far too much mischaracterisation with Adam, and it drives me CRAZY!! As much as I absolutely adore him, he's not as soft as he's made out to be in my opinion, so here are some of his red flags.

SUPER INSECURE to the point that he regularly accuses you of cheating, especially when he's drunk.

Speaking of which, Adam drinks far too much, after the first few rounds he's fun and upbeat, but he doesn't know when to stop. He can be a mean drunk, so by the end of the night he always manages to start an argument.

His response to the "would you still love me of I was a worm?" Test is "stop asking me those stupid fucking questions"

He's absolutely a music snob. He hates basically anything that he didn't discover first. God forbid he catches you listening to slipknot or system of a down, they're far too mainstream for his liking and he won't hesitate to shit on you for listening to them.

One of THOSE filmbros. He loves taxi driver but he gets really insufferable about it.

100% asks you to name 3 songs if you wear a band shirt

Will ghost you for days at a time and call you dramatic for being upset about it.

Is friends with Scott Tibbs

Comes home wasted and throws up all over your sofa, will absolutely not clean it up

Punches holes in walls

A/n let me know if you want any more red flag hcs! For Adam or other leigh whannell or saw characters!!

#adam stanheight x reader #saw #leigh whannell #adam stanheight #saw 2004 #sawposting #adam faulkner stanheight #adam faulkner #adam saw #saw adam #saw headcanons #dating headcanons #headcanons #x gn reader #x gn y/n #red flags

[goofalicousgooberface]

had a dream where I was in saw 11 and it was mark getting out of the bathroom and making a trap similar to the nerve gas house. (The scene where he did all this was a fucking montage and took up like 10 minutes of the entire movie and then he fucks off never to be seen again). There were clues scribbled out on the sheets of this one bed and all the victims were like desperately tearing away at it to get all of the items and messages bundled within and at the end the final sheet had some fuck ass riddle that was like “lol this bed’s about to go kaboom” and this one stupid ass white lady WOULDNT GET AWAY FROM THE DAMN BED even after I told her it was about to explode. Her final words were “I know” in this bitchy voice then she blew up. And near the end of the game I was one of the four survivors left and we opened into this room and it was kinda just like a warehouse room in the way that it looked unfinished and fairly harmless. Then I swear to god Adam came into the room, bent down, and unbuckled a key. I called out to him and he looked so nervous he scampered on and left. (I screamed out “I love you!!!” While he ran away and all the other players looked at me like I was fucking insane). But the entire time the shots of his face were so realistic and 4K in ways Leigh whannel has never even been filmed like before. His outfit was completely different than anything I’ve ever seen Leigh in too. I literally woke up thinking that actually happened in the movie. The movie isn’t even fucking out. And it’s not even about Adam.

#Hopefully y’all care abt this #I was so touched by the dream I had to write it all out #adam stanheight #saw #mark hoffman #sawposting #sawtism #chainshipping #goober post

[joonary]

nine people i’d like to get to know better 💌

thank you mj @yoongiphoria for tagging me ily :) i hope you finish collecting all the sakura recipes in acnh soon

last song: into you - tamia ft. fabolous

favorite color: any shade of pink :)

spicy/sweet/savory: depends on my mood because i love all three but currently at this moment i want something salty/savory

currently watching: ozark (i’m halfway through season 4.. literally breaking bad for people who like dilfs)

relationship status: married to the grind 😞

current obsession: leigh whannell… i’ve seen plenty of his movies but recently i started watching his interviews and film commentaries as background noise while studying and he’s just so odd i’m obsessed with how his mind works.. also in the 2000s he was just so 🥴 boy-next-door vibes if the guy who lives next to you was really fucking strange

tagging: @amthystqrtz @s169r66a @kithtaehyung @milkcutea @jentwt @pantoneyoongi @jtrbluv @3005jin @prodagustd (but only if you want to!)

#i was gonna say i also really like watching uncensored surgery videos on youtube of random procedures i think of #but leigh whannell was a marginally more normal answer #i need him in ways that havent even been invented yet to be honest with you #tagged #cheating bc im ​tagging the same people i always tag but i dont care i want to get to know you guys even more >:) #i drank too much milk tea too late and now my entire body is shaking

[refractical]

Lakey's Smash or Pass: Leigh Whannell Edition

Axel from The Matrix Reloaded (2003) dir. Lily and Lana Wachowski

Being a Matrix franchise character, I've loved Axel long before I ever started giving a shit about Leigh Whannell as an actor/screenwriter. I love Axel so much, I would do everything and anything to save him. If I were a character in this universe and a resident of Zion, I would try to get him to stay home and never embark on the Vigilant. Do not doubt my commitment. I need him alive, I need to be his lover. I care about him.

Verdict: SMASH

David from Saw (2003) dir. James Wan

There is absolutely nothing and no one that could keep me from pouring all of my energy and time and love and care into helping David defend himself legally after the events of the Saw proof-of-concept short film. I actually explained everything I would do if I were his defense attorney in this post. I don't really want to be his lawyer, though. I want to be his boyfriend. I want to be the one that posts his bail if possible... and, if not possible, I would come to visit him as often as I was legally and physically able to just to give him someone to talk to. I want to show up for his trial dates as moral support. I want to let him move in with me when he's finally acquitted and needs someone to lean on. I want to hold David. I want to hug him. I want to kiss him, kiss him softly. On the cheeks and neck and lips. I want to fuck this man. I will reset him, re-calibrate him, via prostate orgasm. I want to shatter his world and put it back together... who said that...

Verdict: SMASH

Adam from Saw (2004) dir. James Wan

I care very deeply about Adam. I would take care of this dude. I honestly just want to support him. I'm very aware of the fact that I have a service-oriented loyalty complex like some kind of human PTSD dog and I embrace that fact about myself. I love Adam like a really close roommate or a best friend or maybe an ex-boyfriend I'm on really good terms with and I still care a lot about platonically. I want to let Adam freeload. I want to let him move in with me and not pay rent because he needs the support and he's too depressed to care for himself lately. I want to wash his hair. I want to do his laundry with mine, I want to cook and share meals with him, I want to gently pressure him into calling his mom back because I want to see his situation and mood improve. I'd volunteer to go with him to appointments of any kind to be his advocate in any medical, business, social services or whatever setting. I'd know I'm not responsible for him but I'd want him to know he could lean on me when he needs it. But I don't really want to smash. It wouldn't be a non-option, but I'd much rather talk to him about politics and art over some dinner in our shared apartment.

Verdict: PASS

Spink from Death Sentence (2007) dir. James Wan

Anyone who actually, genuinely knows me knows that Michael Scofield from Prison Break was one of my first guycrushes... Not the actual first, but certainly one of them. Spink is the same kind of twink as Michael Scofield. Looks aside, he thinks he's tough and hard while compensating for shortcomings and vulnerabilities. I find that insanely attractive. I want to be the one who gets him off speed, I want to be the one who talks him into leaving the gang and fleeing to Canada or Alaska with me without police intervention so that he doesn't have to make deals he's uncomfortable with that will end up costing him his freedom and an actual chance at a fresh start. Where was I going with this? Doesn't matter. I'm smashing that twink.

Verdict: SMASH

Matt from Dying Breed (2008) dir. Jody Dwyer

I can't, in good conscience, say that I would smash Matt, at least not on his own. Conditional smash. I'd want to be Matt and Nina's third. I don't want to get in the way of what they have. I think they're both so adorable. And, yes, I think they're both attractive and sweet. They clearly care a lot about each other and respect each other and show each other affection in a boundary-sensitive way. Because I live in denial, I also live in a fantasy world of my own interiority's creation in which Nina and Matt escaped their captors and managed to survive and they make it back to Ireland and I would absolutely be ready and willing to be their support person. I want to be their third, also in a roommate-like way, or maybe as a domestic partner? But I absolutely care about them and I'd do anything for them. The old "it's rotten work / not to me, not if it's you" and all that. Trauma-informed bisexual polyamory. Love wins.

Verdict: SMASH

Specs from Insidious (2010) dir. James Wan, Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) dir. James Wan, Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) dir. Leigh Whannell, Insidious: The Last Key (2018) dir. Adam Robitel, and Insidious: The Red Door (2023) dir. Patrick Wilson

Jesus Christ, I am so fucking crazy about Steven "Specs" Fisher. I lose all composure when I see him. His dorkyass endearing nerd aura drives me insane with lust. I have never needed anything as badly as I need to flirt with him and make him feel special. Not to be NSFW but I will also note that I am a trans Specs truther and want it to be known that I can, would, and will eat this man out. I will handjob finger this man to several orgasms. As a stone butch service top, I'm a giver only so he doesn't have to worry about reciprocating, anyway, if that's a going concern. Sorry for how crude I sound, I just want to make this man cum.

Verdict: SMASH

Donovan from The Debt Collector (2012) dir. Rich Ceraulo Ko

Goddamn. I need to spot him from across the room at a dive bar punk show, make my way over there, tell him he has beautiful hands, pretty eyes, and a cute face, offer to buy him a drink, ask him if he wants to come back to my place, and hook up with him.

Verdict: SMASH

David from Crush (2013) dir. Malik Bader

Truth be told, I've never seen Crush. He looks like a nice enough guy. I wouldn't not smash... but he's definitely not at the top of my list.

Verdict: SMASH

Clement from The Pardon (2013) dir. Tom Anton

Given the fact that Clement Moss was, in fact, a real man who actually existed and really did try and fail to defend an innocent woman from being sent to her death by electric chair in the 1940s, I must respectfully pass.

Verdict: PASS

Doug from Cooties (2014) dir. Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott

Come with me on a little journey of imagination, will you? Imagine, with me, a desolate world where a rapidly-spreading virus has taken possession of a significant percentage of children across the country, the catastrophe quickly spreading to the rest of the world. Trust me, human encampments are popping up to defend against the zombie scourge. Think of one of the many enclaves of surface-dwellers in Fallout. Think of a camp like that where survivors have situated themselves advantageously, they function communally, and welcome clean, virus-free outsiders regardless of whether they can pitch in to help or not. I like to imagine I'd be keeping myself safe in a fort or a settlement like that, and I like to imagine that Doug and the band of teachers traveling together would be taken in by such a place, sanctuary rule style. Doug? Doug is a hard pass for me, sexually and romantically, but he seems like he could really use someone to talk at. So imagine, one last time, a group of adults prepping nightly communal dinner from non-perishable foods (we are 100% making some meatless chili with canned beans, corn, and other veggies and seasoning it well so that everyone has some comfort food before bed)... and, while I'm working the gas stove, keeping a big ol' batch of the vegetarian chili hot to serve, I let Doug take my chair and sit down and ramble and infodump away while I dish out servings to our comrades. Doesn't that sound nice? And, yes, believe me, I'll be trying to reform some of his wayward misconceptions about everything. I can't outright discard him. It may have been for comic relief but we're TBI buddies, so I empathize. He seems like a well-meaning dude with some issues that can be smoothed out, autism-to-autism communication style. So, respectfully, I pass.

Verdict: PASS

Gavin from The Mule (2014) dir. Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson

Good fucking grief. Gavin Alastair Ellis. Gavin would absolutely hate me for it but I would not be afraid to scrap, punch, bite, and claw Ray in order to lay claim over Gavin… and, listen, we can make the polyamory thing work but only as a throuple composed of two people who hate each other but who both love the person who serves as the keystone member of the relationship. That's the only way this is going to work. Ray's a sweet dude but he is not my type, not for this. Realistically, we'd probably be on very friendly terms because I do think Ray's alright… but I need Gavin in such a deeply carnal way so bad it makes me look stupid. Oh my God. This slut made me cry.

Verdict: SMASH

Larry from The Bye Bye Man (2017) dir. Stacy Title

You couldn't get me to feel anything for this man even if you forced me to at gunpoint.

Verdict: PASS

Matt from Keep Watching (2017) dir. Sean Carter

I need to fuck him sloppy... by the way, if you even care.

Verdict: SMASH

Jatt from Legend of the Guardians (2010) dir. Zack Snyder

This is literally an animated owl from a piece of children's media. DISQUALIFIED.

Verdict: HARD PASS

#i hope lakey dies

[barkhoffman]

1, 23, 2, 4?

the character everyone gets wrong

honestly Adam, I think people forget his feminist vegan punk gf broke up with him for being "too angry" (which implies he is VERY angry due to the general stereotype of feminists, vegans, and punks all being angry types of people individually let alone when someone is all of those identities at once), like he's not a smol softe innocent bean he's a cunt LMAO

I also laugh every time I see that one post that says he's the one genuine person in Saw who doesn't lie when like. there's literally an entire scene with Gordon confronting him angrily for lying the entire movie KJFDLJFDL LIKE GUYS I KNOW YOU WANNA FUCK LEIGH WHANNELL BUT LET'S BE SERIOUS HERE

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

this is going to sound weird but. I didn't actually even think about hoffstrahm until I realized it was already one of the Big 3 ships here LMFDKLFDJGDF like I wouldn't say I disliked it I just. never considered it before?? I got into this fandom with hoffdon on the mind if you can believe it

of course now I'm so coffinpilled that it's a category 5 autism event but

I guess as far as ones that I didn't really like the idea of too much at first, there's chainshipping, just because it's a lot softer than my usual tastes (she says, writing 10k+ words of soft fluffy coffinshipping), but no yeah I can see the appeal now it's pretty cute

2. a compelling argument for why your fav would never top or bottom

let's pretend I don't write everyone as vers for a minute and live in a world where I care

Hoffman would NOT top he is a little NEEDY BROKEN WHINER BOY with daddy issues who would imprint on a houseplant if he thought it might say it was proud of him, he needs DICK up his ASS and he needs it NOW

god I can't do this I need him to raw me and/or Strahm until I/we cry

4. what was the last straw that finally made you block that annoying person?

ok so I haven't blocked anyone in this fandom YET but I admit I get close whenever I see C/stas M/ndylor's stupid little ugly-ass right-wing face in the HOFFMAN tag when he's NOT BEING HOFFMAN like first of all he's only hot when he's Hoffman, if I have to see him with a mustache one more time I might end it all, secondly can we stop simping for actors and every role they've ever been in because we like one (1) role, down the road of simpery lies nothing but pain and disappointment

idk maybe it's because I've seen too many people decide they're in love with the actor because they love the character only to realize that the actor is a shit person and have a total fucking meltdown, but I Don't Trust Like That and I have very strong actor-character separation mentality lmao

also also if you mistag your posts (like making a post about Adam but tagging it with every character in the franchise) I'm thinking about killing you in a Saw trap I hope you all know this

[choose violence ask game]

#ask game #Saw #Sawposting #ask tag #anonymous

[helloitsbees]

The posts and your bio are funny and everything, but how do you actually reckon with being attracted to a guy and identifying as a lesbian? /srs

to me its like a combination of the last dregs of comphet (i identified as bisexual for like 23 years before realizing im a lesbian) and also the specificity of it. like am i romantically attracted to Men, As A Concept? absolutely not. am i sexually attracted to Men, As A Concept? absolutely not. would i date a man? absolutely no. could i see myself falling in love with a man? absolutely no. and at the same time i feel like having aesthetic fondness to a singular, unattainable dude is “allowed” if you’ll excuse the reductive phrasing. i feel like im confident and comfortable enough in my sexuality to say “yeah i’d fuck adam from saw” and still be a lesbian. he’s not real and i don’t want to actually have actual sex with actual leigh whannell. he’s fun to look at! he’s very good at being covered in blood.

[thelilnan]

veeerrry curious to know more about your interaction with patrick wilson if ur willing to share

yeah for sure!

basically for a couple years I would pick up roles as a background extra in random movies. terrible pay but i always had a good time. I was in movies like Black Panther, Pitch Perfect 3, Love Simon, and The Conjuring 3 (as well as a couple random movies that no one watched). my scenes were cut every single time but you can see me in the background of one scene in Black Panther

and the scene I was MOST excited for in Conjuring 3, seen only in the trailer

That's me!! In the dead center of the crowd of ghosts!! Lorraine was supposed to then throw the curtains open and it's actually the paparazzi and we start taking photos of her and ed. I was DEAD CENTER. MY FACE. ON THE BIG SCREEN.

but whatever.

the scene goes on to the two of them running out of the motel and into their car and we chase them with cameras. because of that, when we were calling cut and hold, all of us were kind of standing around, Patrick and Vera included. I was a nervous wreck all day because I love Patrick anyway and my husband (then fiancé) and I had a joke that Patrick was going to sing at our wedding.

this was my chance, I thought, for some damn reason

so, down time between shooting. I tried as hard as I could to be cool and casually start talking to Patrick Wilson. Obviously he's super wary of some rando extra talking to him out of nowhere, especially when I looked like this

but I mentioned I knew Leigh (Whannell) and he was like oh?? how? and I said we've been talking on twitter for a bit (he then was like -_- Oh.) and I mentioned how Leigh was involved in my engagement story (true). Patrick laughed, congratulated me, and asked when the date was. I panicked and said January 2020. (Humongous lie)

I then did the stupidest thing possible and tried to explain the Sing At My Wedding idea/joke. you've never seen an adult man get so uncomfortable so fast. I tried to cover my ass and say it was Leigh's idea (when will the lies end). Patrick did not believe me.

and then we had to go back to filming like this was a normal day.

the shoot ended a couple hours later and as Vera and Patrick left set, he waved at me and said good luck with the wedding! what a guy! thank you for being so gracious!

"I'll see you there!" I called back, like a fucking idiot.

Patrick mumbled some uncomfortable "Uh huh..."

and then I rolled underneath a semi truck and died the end.

#queerstions #patrick wilson #fuck it this goes in the tag #long post

[hangarsliquides]

saw ranking i binged them all again

one > six > two > four > five > three > spiral > jigsaw > 3d

saw 1 at the top. the forerunner. the patient zero, james wan played god and saw was his Light. i had to pay my respects to it and also Adam Stanheight is in it, one of the best characters period. living breathing memorable quote machine. the most cohesive one, one of the better law enforcement plots, the ending... i don't have to talk about it, we all know how iconic it is. i'll just say leigh whannell's scream still sends chills up my spine.

saw 6 had the best spectacle, best traps, great cinematography, also amanda's in it. the last bang for the franchise before the next three movies after it didn't reach anywhere near its caliber, let alone like... saw 5's caliber. the ending is iconic. i'm disappointed that william didn't survive and it would have been interesting for him to be the only main game subject to live ( i'm indirectly declaring saw 3d non-canon). but rodrick heffley did kill a man so atleast i can walk away with this tidbit of information to share to unknowing fools who never saw this franchise. the scene with THE HOFFMANATOR and the voice descrambler was the most fucking stressed i felt during a movie since i saw rob zombie's halloween 2 i was fucking Sick. even though I knew what was going to happen. bravo greutert

saw 2 was a better follow-up than some ppl give it credit for even though it's also the one where the participants get a little stupider. addison's trap was such a perfect example of this, but can i be mad at it? no. because the first time i saw it i guffawed so loudly. im pretty sure my friends are scared of my sick sense of humor. anyways this is the only film where we get to see john kramer in action where he's not in a flashback or immobilized state, and he's a glorious cunt to watch. my deeply self-delusional serial killer blorbo. donnie wahlberg is so fun to watch. he's so angry. all the nerve gas house participants are also pretty fun to watch even though they're all blank slates with one max personality trait i love them. obi tate i will never forget you and your 5 minutes of screentime... love you honey...

saw 4 is funnier than people give it credit for. a lot of this series is, actually. legendary transitions. eric matthews befriends a little rat friend. introduces THE HOFFMANATOR properly. rigg's addiction to going through doors. every bizarre twist in the last fifteen minutes. an entire potential arc from the last movie getting cut short abruptly by strahm shooting one of the worst characters in the franchise to death. i would pick this for a movie night with the boys

saw 5 has also plenty of funny moments. the fatal five's game becomes a really mean comedy with how they simply refuse to work together as a team. even though it was glaringly obvious from the tapes that they were supposed to. mallick's actor overplays his part and its magnificent. more THE HOFFMANATOR action. strahm performs a tracheotomy on himself to escape a trap and he sounds funny for the rest of the film.

saw 3 was carried by bahar soomekh and especially shawnee smith Period. jeff completely drags it down. otherwise it'll be higher. justice for amanda young and allison kerry. i think i would have connected with saw 4 more in a genuine way if kerry was being tested.

spiral, similarly to saw 3, has chris rock dragging down everything. he feels like a pretty stiff actor. luckily he's more bearable to watch than jeff or bobby. that said, having the bousmaniac back at the helm brought back some of the extremely bizarre editing choices that fuel this series' trademark humor. the shaking camera shot that looks like it was made by a rookie in sony vegas pro... chef's kiss mwah.

jigsaw is legitimately bad. weak cast of characters which these movies always have but this cast is weaker than usual. i don't remember anything about halloran and logan except corrupt cop and ex military jiggy apprentice respectively. i dont remember what kind of personality eleanor has. i don't tgink i was paying attention to this half the time except for the barn game which also wasn't super good

saw 3d... the opening trap (misogynistic implications aside), the horsepower trap and THE HOFFMANATOR were the only Really good moments. the new gibson guy is one of the best actors which i mean that he's one of the worst actors. bizarre lines, even more bizarre delivery. the bobby plotline is the worst main game bar none and the only one in the series i would genuinely call torture porn. i can take away some element of humor from jeff being slow ass motherfucker but not this. the traps aren't intriguing enough. the trap involving a woman having to not make a peep at all is so Subtle. and joyce did NOT deserve that. i still don't know how to feel about gordon being an accomplice... i don't know how to make it make sense for his character and his development...

#saw 2004 #saw franchise #saw movies

[webbywatcheshorror]

Cube (1997)

Another old fave, Cube is a movie about a group of people who wake up in a strange facility full of traps. No, not Saw 2, I said Cube. This one predates Saw, actually, which makes me wonder if it played any part in the inspiration for my other favorite trapped room related movie. If I somehow ever meet James Wan or Leigh Whannell then I’ll ask. Right after I pick my jaw off the floor.

Anywho, beasties and ghouls, let’s get to it- Review (and SPOILERS) under the cut!

I have no idea how old I was when I first saw this one, but I’m reasonably sure it was sometime in my last year as a teen or in my early twenties, so right around the time I was finally able to start dipping my toes into the world of horror. I have no doubt that if I’d seen this any younger it would have been on that list of movies that altered my brain chemistry.

This one’s a lot more psychological than Saw, in my opinion, as it’s less about seeing people mutilate themselves and more about seeing people break down to their most fundamental selves in the face of terror and paranoia. It’s the kind that sticks with me for a long time afterwards, making me wonder at who I’d become if I were stuck in The Cube.

The First Kill, played by the delightful Julian Richings, in this one is super effective at showing us what the cast will be dealing with, and as others before me have noticed, there are similar scenes in later movies (the first Resident Evil, for example) that seem to be inspired by it. If the strangeness of the opening room hadn’t already hooked me, this kill would have. Dude fell apart so fast. (ha ha because he got chopped into pieces by some kind of insanely sharp wires ha ha I’m funny)

The setting is simple: you’ve got a group of strangers in a square shaped room with six doors, one on each side, and each door leads to another room that only differs in color. And if you go in the wrong one, you die. How can you tell which one’s the wrong one? Well, probably because you’re about to die, because there’s no obvious tell.

Our cast starts out with five people- Quenten, a cop who skeeves me out in like the first few minutes of his introduction; Holloway, a doctor who is also a conspiracy nut; Leaven, a college? girl who understands numbers in a way I could never dream of; Worth, a self-described ‘just some guy’; and Rennes, a French escape artist who is taken from us far too soon. Later we get Kazan, a man with an unspecified mental illness that makes him difficult to communicate with and prone to unpredictable behavior, but has the superhuman abilities that media loves to give mentally disabled people, in the form of being even better at numbers than Leaven. (Astronomical!)

Rennes is my favorite but he has the least amount of screentime, since he gets to be The Example. He’s escaped multiple prisons, and knows what to look for. He gives the crew hope that they can beat this thing, and figure a way out, tells them to stop overthinking it and just keep moving, makes a joke about being ‘Harry fuckin’ Houdini’, then he fucking DIES. Acid to the face by a sensor he couldn’t detect. Oops! Morale obliterated.

Leaven is my next favorite, because I love when girl geniuses. She starts out delighting in the attention she gets from Quenten for figuring out a way to find out which rooms are trapped, based on numbers assigned to each room; she is, however, still a kid, so I can’t really fault her for trusting him to start with. I don’t understand math well enough to know if her reasoning is sound, but honestly, I don’t care if it is. She deserved to make it out.

Holloway is an older woman, age not provided, but she’s equal parts likeable and irritating to me personally. She’s a doctor at a free clinic and the first and only one to treat Kazan with any decency. She’s also a mega conspiracy theorist and enjoys blaming Big Government for running and ruining the world. She holds the group together for quite a while, maybe because she’s not afraid to call Quenten and Worth out on their bullshit. I respect that.

Kazan is, if you don’t consider the sequel movies, the saddest character. Why in the hell would you put someone like him in a death maze. What kind of evil do you have to possess to think ‘yeah I’ll put a mentally handicapped person in a confusing trap filled prison with strangers, at least one of which is violent when pressured’. What the fuck. This is a movie from the 90s so I’m not gonna say it’s like, good rep or anything; what is accurate is how he gets treated by everyone but Holloway. He’s an obstacle, he’s a liability, he’s not even considered a person. I’m so glad they didn’t kill him. (If you do consider the sequels, however, the way you view his character is completely different, since it’s implied that his brain has been surgically altered to make him this way. it’s a whole thing.)

Worth is also one of my favorites, but doesn’t start out that way. He’s unhelpful, snarky, and seems about ready to just give up at any given moment. When he confesses that he had a hand in making this Minecraftian nightmare, it’s understandable why. Trapped in the very thing you helped create, even if you didn’t realize what it is you were actually making. Makes a good punching bag, apparently. When push comes to shove, though, he steps up and that’s when he becomes the version of himself I like. And then of course he dies, because every character I like dies.

Which just leaves Quenten. He’s... a cop. He starts out obnoxious and overly aggressive, but that could be attributed to waking up in a weird dangerous place with unknown people; when Leaven’s number system fails and he gets hurt, his attitude changes real fast, and he’s outright hostile to everyone from that point on rather than just pushy and bossy. He treats everyone like shit unless he deems them useful, and at his core is violent and controlling. He kills Holloway for daring to accuse him of hitting his kids (guess she hit a nerve), then kills Leaven and Worth just as they reached the exit. There was no reason for this other than the fact that he clearly lost it. Also, attempted to seduce Leaven, an established minor. Absolute garbage person. (I’m not really qualified to dissect it, but it rubs me the wrong way that the one black character is an aggressive, violent psycho...)

Cube touches on one of my fears: the unpredictability of other people. There is no provable way to tell what someone really feels or what they’ll do. Everyone is different, and what indicates something like, say, rising anger in one person, could only be a sign of mild irritation in another. Being in a situation where your survival is reliant on strangers, especially when the environment is designed to stress you out and break you down, is absolutely terrifying to me.

Something I really like about Cube (again, only if you don’t consider the sequels) is that it doesn’t explain SHIT. Why was this place built? Why were these people chosen? What was the point of any of it? Cube says it’s not important. In a way this movie feels a bit like watching an ant farm, observing the way people change when they’re pushed to their mental limits. Why they’re there in the first place isn’t the point.

The end is both triumphant and depressing- While our last living protags are (for some reason???) staring out the door to their freedom, which is only available for a short time, Quenten catches back up to them and murders two of them, with only Kazan escaping. The cop at least gets what he deserves- the red smear on the inside of the Cube’s shell is a nice touch. As is his leg just sticking into frame as the camera shows Worth and Leaven, being shuttled back down into the maze.

There’s two moments that are similar to one another that I enjoy- when they realize they’re back in the room where Rennes died, and it breaks them. Worth is hysterically giggling, Leaven is in despair, and Quenten slips further into his breakdown. The second is when Leaven figures out that she’d been right the whole time- they should have stayed in the first room they gathered in, as it would have eventually been the room that led to the exit.

All that pain and death and anguish, only to wind up back at square one. I wonder if they wrote it that way for the pun, or if it’s just one of those coincidences? Speaking of puns, I give this one three squared outta ten ghosts (that is in fact nine. I had to make sure before i committed to the bit. I’m serious when I say I’m terrible at numbers.) It’s not a perfect movie, as one of my pet peeves is when characters decide to celebrate before actually confirming victory. Had Leaven, Worth, and Kazan simply left the cube the minute they knew it was the exit, they would have all survived.

Though it likely would have deprived me of that satisfying blood streak. Unacceptable.

#cube #cube movie #cube 1997 #horror movies #movie review #webbywatcheshorror #webbyreviewshorror #david hewlett