pumpktoberfest #24 - works on wood!

film: saw
beer: woodchuck pumpkin hard cider

other than a few exceptions here & there, over the last decade i've pretty much ignored new horror releases. in that time, one of the most successful horror franchises has been saw, the 2004 film that began as a short & six feature length films later has made almost $750 MILLION worldwide. if you've somehow avoided the films like i have, here's the premise: they all revolve around a "killer" named jigsaw who never actually kills anyone. basically, he puts people in situations where they have a certain amount of time to figure out traps & puzzles & junk. if they don't figure them out in time, they end up killing themselves. if they do figure them out, they endure a bunch of psychological & physical torture but supposedly come out with a greater appreciation for life...so he's a samaritan or something. the media LOVES to focus on the torture part though, consistently categorizing the films as "torture porn." i can say, after seeing the first one, that that categorization is way off.

the saw franchise was created by james wan, who directed the first film & leigh whannell, who stars in it as adam, a photographer. at the film's outset, he & co-star cary elwes (westley from the princess bride), who plays dr lawrence gordon, both awake to find that they're chained to opposite corners of a dark, nasty bathroom basement. between them is a man who appears to have shot himself in the head. a gun & tape recorder lay on the floor next to him. they both find tapes in their pockets & by listening to them discover that they each have a goal: adam must get out of the room & the doctor must kill adam before 6:00 or his wife & daughter will be killed & he'll be left to rot. OH NO! HOWEVER WILL THEY ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS WHILST CHAINED TO THE WALL?

if that was all that the film was about, it'd be kinda lame, but there are a bunch of other story threads going on. a good portion of the film focuses on the cops who are after jigsaw, played by danny glover & ken leung (mr "i can speak to dead people" from LOST). through them, we see jigsaw's past victims, including one girl who survived. there's also another great part of the story that focuses on an orderly at the doctor's hospital named zep, who's played by michael emerson (ben linus from LOST). throughout it all, there's the mystery of "who is jigsaw?" there was at least one point where i was genuinely anxious/scared, so that was cool. other than one or two parts, it wasn't even all that bloody, so "torture porn?" please. as far as being horrifying, i give it three pumpkins on a scale of four. that's enough pumpkins to make a lot of pie.

i remember halloween in 2004, when saw first came out. at the time, i was working for the late, crappy canal jean co. supervising a street team of brooklyn high school kids. one day, i was chatting with one kid when he asked me what kinds of movies i liked. i named a few of my faves, knowing he wouldn't know any of them. he was all "what are those?" i described a few & explained that as a root theme, they were all films that made me think. he replied "you mean stuff like saw? that movie made me think." i guess in some way it does make you think. that kid's in his early twenties now & wherever he is, i hope that he's there on the 29th when the final saw film, saw 3D, comes out, just in time for halloween. more importantly, i hope it really makes him think...in multiple dimensions & stuff.

while i watched saw & did some thinking of my own, i tried out woodchuck pumpkin hard cider, made by the middlebury, VT-based cidery that got its beginnings twenty years ago & has since become one of the largest names in the cider business. their pumpkin cider is the latest in a line of new releases they've made over the years as they've expanded from producing just their original amber cider. since 1990, they've added other fruit ciders & a line of seasonal ciders & according to their website, the pumpkin cider is the first of their "private reserve" ciders. it's also the FIRST PUMPKIN CIDER IN THE WORLD. badass. the label suggests pairing it with roasted duck, turkey, squash ravioli, crème brûlée & fresh cheesecake. i didn't have any of those, so i paired mine with some kettle corn...movie stylee.

so...um...i was really excited about the prospect of trying the world's first pumpkin cider, but after trying it i'm not all that excited. it promised me woodchuck's "signature taste with a refreshing pumpkin finish," but i didn't notice any difference between it & their normal cider. i don't know...maybe i'm a cider rookie or my taste buds are ruined by years of smoking or something. as far as ciders go it's still pretty good, but other than the bright orange label, it didn't make me think of pumpkin at all. regardless, it's definitely worth trying. woodchuck only made a small batch of them though, so i haven't found it in the coolers since i picked up a few bottles a few weeks back. it is "private" after all. maybe you'll get lucky & find it. if not, just get a bottle of one of their other ciders & enjoy that instead...& while you're at it, enjoy this woodchuck-related geico commercial: