I thought it worked well, got you looking in the total opposite direction instead of at Jed and Tracy. Imagine the film without this subplot; you'd be wondering: "Okay, which of the three is the killer?"not good.
It pushed Andy to become tougherand he did catch the guy.
Either way, you got one of the best fight scenes ever. Instead of the usual one punch-and-they're-out, he nails the guy in the groin, the gut, then on the head at least twice with a giant fire extinguisher, with one last toss onto him for good measure. THAT is how you win fights, not by letting the guy get back up!
I also love Bebe Neuwirth's speech to Andy, after this, about how beep just happens to youyou're like Job!" (his comeback, "You have lots of luck talking people off ledges?" is great). But it starts Andy down the road of dealing with some of the ways he's being pushed around.
She deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die.

I hated the subplot too. Too me it seemed like a way to fill the 90 or whatever minutes. It was a perfect movie without it.

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.

That is called a "red herring"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

I like the subplot concept. I mean all the time, it got me thinking that either Alec Baldwin or Bill Pullman were the murderers. It also created links between Bill Pullman and the police officer. It was a red herring, but it was OK. Real life can be mixed, confused and with plenty of coincidences as well.

I actually had the same problem with wait for it Psycho.
"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

It is a true Red Herring made to deliberately confuse the audience about what was really going on. It also provided the tie-in for the discovery of Mr Sapiens sterility.

This message has been deleted.

Also, watch how the actor who plays the killer (Tobin Bell) 'bumps into' the college student (Gwyneth Paltrow) when she is leaving Andy's office (I think Bell is carrying a file cabinet).
And she ends up being the next victim
Wait a minute who am I here?

I think looking back its awesome that the rapist happened to be an actor who surpassed that role and went on to be somebody we all "Saw". I am pretty sure it was none other than the actor who playedJigsaw! Awesome looking back.

To "TheManInOil"
is your name a reference to The Circle of Iron/The Silent Flute by any chance?
http://www.imdb.com/board/10078975/
By the way I agree with your assessment of the subplot serial killer janitor in the basement guy. It played some meaningful and relevant purposes in connecting Andy to the lady cop and the Andy-is-sterile plot twist plus the question mark about either of the main guys being the campus killer. Great suspenseful/intriguing movie with a nice early 90's feel.

Totally agree. Unexpected and unique - up until we find out who the killer actually is, we suspect the leads at times. Pretty sharp.
Wait a minute who am I here?

It doesn't 'disappear'. The killer was aprehended - what more is there to tell?
It also shows Andy's character to be surprisingly more determined and capable than one might suspect upon first meeting him, which is important later on. And it establishes his friendship with a cop, for when he needs to set Tracy up.
"Lens cap."

Lol why does any serial killer do what they do? Do you always get a why answer from insane maniacs? I love how some of you people act like something like this with the serial killer couldn't be going on at the same time as the main plot. Come on, we had to get Jigsaw before he was Jigsaw didn't we?

I don't thinkt the killer subplot was brilliant cause we still had no idea why he did or what was going on there, or who he was. Misdirection subplots are only good if you provide reasons for who the characters in those subplots are and why they behave how they do.

I thought it was great too. It was pure misdirection, leading you to believe early on that it was the main focus of the movie.
"Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"

I thought the rapist/killer sub-plot was brilliant. It sent the audience periodically off in a different direction, wondering how it would all pan out. It was even posible to wonder if Andy or Jed was the killer.

They also played it up in the ads for the film like Alec Baldwin was the killer, so that added a new 'twist' to everything too, for me anyway.
Wait a minute who am I here?