The best horror saga after THE EXORCIST…? SAW…and you know it.

Hell no! 😛 SAW doesn’t even come close. If anything, it would be Romero’s Dead films.

I love Saw. I think it is the most original horror I have seen for ages. 2 wasnt too bad but not brill and hopefully seeing 3 this weekend with my daughter (the oldest one!).

Saw next to Exorcist? I have to totally disagree with you there, Mike (first time for everything 😉 of course). I hated the original film. If you want a film that has a jape (giant plot twist that becomes more important than the rest of the film) that is enough to destroy the credibility of the whole film, it’s Saw. I just didn’t see how a man could lie there the whole time pretending to be dead. There are a couple of things that are inevitable to happen while lying there long enough. Your stomach inevitably grumbles when you’ve haven’t eaten despite how much you may have eaten before fasting. The second thing is that if you lay still long enough without sleeping your body automatically starts to spasm its muscles to prevent from going numb. Considering a doctor was also in the room (and despite the fact how dead he looked, doctors would notice these things– like lack of riga mortis), makes it even less legitimate. Yes, films are supposed to suspend disbelief, but this was too unlikely. Cary Elwes was also his usual over-the-top self.

Torture pictures are just the next fad after the Slasher fad finally lost its steam. I would have thought it to be more likely that Exorcist fans would crave more psychological horror, and the Saw films are not really that at all– just pure gory showmanship without any real messages or subtext involved. I would be more inclined to agree more with Justin on Romero’s films although his last two don’t have anything as provocative to say as his original two films. Of course, I never saw Exorcist as a “saga.” And if a saga of good consistent installments doesn’t exist, then there is no best saga.

Sorry Jenny, my dear. I don’t buy it. I was in the hospital myself lying down for a very long time (12 hours) as well. Staying mostly awake at the time and trying to be still in an attempt to sleep, it was impossible because I was in a very uncomfortable gurney and my body started to spasm. I was fasting too and my stomach would gurgle loudly every now and then. People could hear even when there was a fair amount of noise because a gurgle is very distinctive next to talking and yelling. Of course, the person has to be near you and he was. Doctors always notice that because they’re trained to not care about themselves and only others in need. His cellmate was just in need as him and that’s why he was always paying attention to what was happening across the room. Therefore, movement and stomach gurgling would still be caught in the peripheral and by ear when they got tired screaming.

I agree with everything Greg has said. 🙂

The Exorcist saga the greatest of all time? Um with the first one aside did anyone see the mediocre sequels? The Exorcist II is not only one of the worst sequels of all time but would probably rank in the top 20 worst movies of all time. The Exorcist III had its redeeming quality but it’s not really a sequel than more of a spinoff. Both versions of the Exorcist IV were just eh. Schrader’s version was slightly better than Harlin’s version but still would not adequately round out the best horror saga of all time. So what we have is a near perfect original and a pretty decent spinoff. That’s hardly a saga. It’s too early to call Saw the greatest horror saga ever with yet another sequel due out next year but I must say I am impressed so far. My vote for right now would be The Evil Dead films.

Standing alone, I still consider the Exorcist to be the greatest work of horror of all time, but as a saga, everything after the original except for Legion did not impress me; Heretic was just plain funny, The Beginning was a bad-digital-effects-plot-hole-fest, and Dominion, while it was decent in plot and script was kind of boring for me.

As far as SAW is concerned: I think the first two (I haven’t seen III) are fabulous, but I don’t place them in the horror genre. To me, the SAW series falls into the vein of thrillers like Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, etc.; movies that, while they have scary elements (SAW’s traps, Se7en’s murders, Buffalo Bill’s naked-dance in Silence of the Lambs), they’re more murder-mystery mindfucks than anything else. It’s not really correct, in my opinion, to compare the two, as they fall into different categories entirely.
And I’d be too busy thinking about how hot Shawnee Smith (Amanda in SAW) is to really compare the two, anyway.

If you want to compare the Exorcist “saga”, compare it Romero’s “Dead” films, or Ginger Snaps, even Friday the 13th or Halloween, if you prefer. Or Myra Breckenridge (if anyone’s seen it, I’m sure they’ll agree it was terrifying); just make sure you’re comparing it to more closely-related films.

The worst nanosecond of “The Heretic” and “Beginning” was better than both “Saws” combined… (I hear there was a third one recently – I doubt it can be any better than its predecessors, but fortunately I managed to avoid it)