SAW III newspaper article

From The West Australian,4/11/06

Faintings and walkouts greet new horror film

A new horror film featuring gruesome torture scenes has sparked walkouts from cinemas across WA and has left others fainting in the aisles.
Saw III, about a serial killer devoted to inventing grisly torture techniques, features a human skull being opened and probed and a naked woman being frozen to death.
Janelle McBain, regional marketing manager for Hoyts, said staff had been comforting a raft of people who had passed out after watching the disturbing scenes.
Two people fainted with fright at Garden City, a schoolboy collapsed at Southlands and several people walked out at Rockingham.
No ambulances were called and the people who fainted were left in the care of friends and family, she said.
The spate of faintings in WA comes after emergency service were called three times in one night in Britain after patrons passed out on the film's opening night.
Teenagers as young as 15 are permitted to watch the film, which features extreme violence and was described by critics as "nauseating" and a "stomach-churning gore-a-thon".
But Ms McBain said that despite sending some people over the edge, Saw III had attracted record audiences.
"I've been at Hoyts for two years and I've never had such a strong incidence of people passing out or leaving. Yet Hoyts had its biggest opening day result to date," she said.
Chris Sauekracker, 17, who saw the film yesterday at Greater Union, Innaloo, said: "I nearly passed out during the skull bit."
Fellow horror fan Lindsey Glaridge, 17, said the film should have a rating restricted to adults.
"It was definitely gorier than the others," he said. "I think this one should have been rated R."
Daniel Kurby, 19, said it was not for the faint hearted.
"It was really gross and on the borderline of insanity," he said.
The slasher movie, which is in its third instalment and has developed a cult following, tops the Australian box office takings. It raked in $526,000 on its opening day on Wednesday Australia-wide and $61,000 in WA.