Name: Anonymous 2010-12-21 11:01
Its hardly the only film of the genre, its just one of the more successful. "The Eli Roth film Hostel (2005), was the first to be called torture porn by critic David Edelstein in January 2006, but the classification has since been applied to Saw (2004) and its sequels (though its creators disagree with the classification".
I wouldn't consider saw in the same genre at all, because saw attempts to put a "serious" plot to the films (however thin that plot may be) whereas eli roth has always said he has a bit of fun with his films, and he wants them to be as horrific as possible. In the directors commentary of hostel 2, he talks about how he got a letter from a soldier about how much he loved the film, because it feels acceptable to be scared watching a film, but not his job.
I wouldn't consider saw in the same genre at all, because saw attempts to put a "serious" plot to the films (however thin that plot may be) whereas eli roth has always said he has a bit of fun with his films, and he wants them to be as horrific as possible. In the directors commentary of hostel 2, he talks about how he got a letter from a soldier about how much he loved the film, because it feels acceptable to be scared watching a film, but not his job.