New Favorite Villain
"Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore."
So, I watched all three Saw movies in a marathon for the first time yesterday. Needless to say, I did not sleep, and stayed curled up to my boyfriend in the fetus position the entire night. No joke. The first two weren't that bad; it was the third that got to me.
But, okay, John/Jigsaw. The psychopath who tries to teach a lesson though bloodshed. He kidnaps, traps, pushes people beyond their limit because, in his own words, they were "missing something. A vital piece of the human puzzle. The survival instinct." SO FREAKING AWESOME I squeed despite myself. It's the same attraction I have to Hannibal Lector. Ridiculously smart crazies are just hot. We all know it.
"Where is he? That's a problem you're going to have to solve before it's too late. He has about, two hours, until the gas creeping into his nervous system begins to break down his body tissue, and he begins to bleed from every orifice he has. Oh yes, there will be blood."
The way he talks to his potential victims, how he insists he wants them to not only survive but live to me makes him more creepy than if he just wanted them to die. The fact that he turns out to be right in some cases is even more disturbing. He's the psycho, but the inner horrors he reveals in humans makes them look worse. That is the mark of a true successful villain: make them like you more than your victims despite themselves.
I also love how he plans for everything. This is not a villain that's taken off guard. No James Bond hijinks will trip him up. John knows his victims so well it makes me doubt free will.
John: Can you imagine what it feels like to have someone sit you down and tell you that you're dying? The gravity of that, hmm? Then the clock's ticking for you. In a split second your awe is cracked open. You look at things differently - smell things differently. You savor everything be it a glass of water or a walk in the park.
Unimportant Hero: The clock is ticking, John.
John: But most people have the luxury of not knowing when that clock's going to go off. And the irony of it is that that keeps them from really living their life. It keeps them drinking that glass of water but never really tasting it.
P.S. For everyone who hasn't seen the movies, the first one is not scary at all, really. There's a little blood, but you know it's coming. The second one is a little bloodier, a little scarier, but still not a lot of jump-out-from-behind-you crap like in other horror movies. The third one is a let down after the first two, though, and quite icky. IMHO.