If it’s Halloween, why must it be Saw?

Has there ever been a more inappropriate pairing of franchise and holiday than Saw and Halloween? And yet here we are, ten years later, seeing the original Saw back in theatres for a one-week run that started October 31. There is no good reason for this juxtaposition other than that the original 2004 release was timed to the holiday – not that the film had anything to do with Halloween, but hey, that’s when horror films should come out, right?

It should be needless to say that Saw‘s grand guignol torture porn has little to do with a season inspired by myths and legends of ghosts and spirits wandering from their graves, but the film was a hit, launching numerous sequels, each of which was released in October like clockwork, until eventually it became an unfortunate truism – immortalized in the advertising campaign for Saw IV – that,  “If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.”

None of this should detract from the film itself, which has its virtues. Let’s just say there are better ways to celebrate Halloween.

Pictured at top: Shawnee Smith seems vexed by the question of what her predicament has to do with Halloween.