• Wide Release
• Director: David Hackl
• Written by: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
• Running Time: 92 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: R - Restricted
• Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Julie Benz, Meagan Good, Joris Jarsky, Greg Bryk, Carlo Rota, Laura Gordon, Sheila Shah, Mike Butters, Al Sapienza, Jeff Pustil, Mike Realba, Lyriq Bent, Justin Louis, Donnie Wahlberg, Athena Karkanis, Angus Macfadyen, Shawnee Smith, Danny Glover, Lisa Berry, Samantha Lemole, Bahar Soomekh, Bill Vibert, Dana Sorman, Tim Burd, Tony Nappo, Niamh Wilson, Brandon McGibbon, Cory Lee, Natalie Brown, Quancetia Hamilton, Sarah Power, David Gale, Lorraine Foreman, Wayne Curnew, Catherine Rix, Jennifer Donison, Stephen Sparks, Michael Miranda

Just as surely as there will be a new “Saw” movie each year, there will also surely be a slew of usual suspect film cynics... er... critics who’ll be around to puff out their chest and show how ‘critical’ they are. Yes, guys, we get it. The “Saw” franchise is beneath you. The genre-drivel torture porn you are being forced (by a paycheck) to sit on your fat lazy asses to watch is not worthy of your time. Sadly, for them, the fans aren’t being forced (or paid) to watch the "Saw" films and they’ll keep turning out to watch each new incarnation every year because, unlike film critics, they actually enjoy them for what they are – a gross-as-fuck, fun-as-fuck Halloween-season good time. And like the unconventional sleazeball characters forced to play Jigsaw’s games in each “Saw”, the critics have to suffer. Fuck them!

Thankfully, I’m no film critic, and I can honestly say that I actually derive a great joy in knowing that a “Saw” movie will be awaiting me each and every year right around the time it starts to get crispy out there. Tobin Bell’s monotone voice as well as the incessant parade of twists and turns that come part and parcel with each new rendering, I anticipate all of it like piggish Rush Limbaugh anticipates his trips to the buffet table. The gore set pieces, and unforgiving tetness shot craving medieval-sombre production design, it’s all so much of nothing less than giddy horror fan awesomeness. I know that I’m not supposed to enjoy the “Saw” movies as much as I do but, hey, I do! Sue me, or don’t read this, or whatever. I don’t give a shit either way. For me, there’s something nifty about the way the various plots weave into (or around) each other, allowing for each elaborate but plausible situation to flow off of the other as just another piece in a much larger and more important design. Jigaw’s genius show’s no bounds, not even in death, and this film picks up just as the previous instalment ramped up to its closing moments with the revelation that Det. Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is intricately involved – carrying out Daniel-son like Jigsaw’s post-mortem legacy. And even though old Jiggy is dead, he comes alive in a bunch of foggy flashback scenes.

In keeping with the formula, there’s an effective and especially gruesome opening teaser kill, this time it involves a heavily-tattooed guy who looks like a reject from the aryan nation, Seth (Joris Jarsky), who must weigh crushing his hands against being cleaved into two halves at the middle. And even though he complies, and his hands get smushed all to hell, for whatever reason, the acquiescence doesn’t result in his salvation. Instead, the giant pendulum blades work their gory magic and our mean looking contestant, we quickly discover, will only be leaving that ugly dank cellar in a pair of matching body bags -- intestines are extra. Right away, from this first scene, we (or those who’ve screened previous instalments) know that something is up. And that something is so very rotten in Denmark. Strange as this might sound, we know that our crazy Jigsaw maniac simply doesn’t operate this way. We know that if you play by his rules, then you live. That's the deal. That you (the survivor) get that proverbial second kick at the can of life, one that promises very little chance of relapse. So, that’s how the film starts, and it operates to confuse – leaving audiences wondering if the filmmakers were taking a languid approach to this later entry. Nope, as with everything else in the series, the contraption malfunctioned by design. It was meant to. The scumbag, as it turns out, was supposed to die on that table and the whole hand crushing thing was just a bonus. Ah yes, that's why I love these films. And that's just the first five minutes, which, to Roger Ebert, might be enough to write a whole review for but for me I'm gonna keep going.

When the film opens, literally seconds after "Saw 4", Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) is locked in a room with a bunch of corpses and made to play a game; one that ends with him defying our cerebral maniac and then, outsmarting him thanks to a pen and a soft throat. With a young girl in his arms, Hoffman arises from Jigsaw’s lair like a phoenix from the ashes. Hoffman is reborn, the new Jigsaw as it were. That serves nicely to propel one of the threads of the story, as a mending Strahm, subsequently pulled from the case by a now promoted Hoffman, elects to go it lone wolf style, unravelling the mysterious links between Hoffman and Jigsaw. Of course, the various puzzle pieces of the case are filled in a series of vaporous flashback sequences. This proves to be the most revealing (not to mention, most fun) aspect of the film, as excerpts from the prior films are worked into re-enactments -- bringing back some earlier players who reprise their roles, including the barbed wired guy from the very first film. As you guessed it, different “revealing” perspectives piggy-back each of the reworkings, making for plenty of fun moments. Not to mention, there’s lots of Tobin Bell waxing intellectual in lots and lots of riddle-filled monologues.

At the same time, there’s another story going on, one that harkens back to “Saw 2” and it involves five people including and most importantly the beautiful Julie Benz, in a sexy raven colour wig, being locked in a room together and forced to work as a unit to get themselves out alive. Jars of exploding nails follow them out each new door, and into yet another dark dungeon-like room, and each time, it seems, their numbers shrink by one. Less “Gilligan’s Island” and more “Lord of the Flies”, these dysfunctional cats don’t play well together and succeed in getting themselves blown up, decapitated or electrified. As contestants in Jigsaw’s twisted closed-circuited game show, it’s pretty clear that each one of them have done something bad in the past. Arriving at what they did, however, comes in spits and spurts in between severed limbs and exploding shit; something to do with a land deal gone bad and lots of poor people being roasted alive. It’s pretty clear that these five have plenty to atone for. Sadly, this thread of the story could have used a few re-writes as it feels slightly unfinished, like something decided upon at the last minute to give the film certain bloody “oomph” or something. This is best evidenced in the devices used to test the various folks; exclusively adapted to each offender in the previous films, seem less innovative here and more like excuses to get to the gore of the matter. Even the ending, awash in at least a pint of blood, feels mostly incomplete.

The parallel cat and mouse game going on between Strahm and Hoffman (including the flashbacks permeated by a brilliant and menacing Bell) keeps the film moving and I'm appreciative of it. A lot of folks are saying that Mandylor and Patterson were sleepwalking their way through the film, but I actually enjoyed this segment of the film, more so than the actual 'stick your hand into a whirring table saw' torture stuff with the five. I couldn’t wait to get to another flashback because, for me, that’s when the film became a living-breathing thing. Okay, the resolution of this part of the story, involving a less twisty ending that one might expect, and one ugly broken arm, definitely won’t send audiences out on a happy note. The dark tone of this resolution seems only to advance the notion that yes, kids, there will be another “Saw” movie this time next year.

The appearance of the breathtakingly gorgeous Betsy Russell in a very minor role, seems to only work to reinforce the idea of yet another and, in my case, much desired, sequel. Strangely enough, a friend of mine who had seen the film seemed most bothered by the sudden amendment to Russell’s character here. In the previous instalment, she was the voice of reason, appalled by what her husband had become and opposed to his sense of justice. I think audiences identified with her more than any other character in the series. However, there was a sense in this film, with the mischievous way she played a certain FBI agent, that she might in on the game. If that’s the direction the series is headed, then my enthusiasm for the series has just waned a bit. Not to say Betsy isn’t a terrific actress but I’m not sure if I want to see her as the killer (however, her psycho-sexy killer turn in “Cheerleader Camp” alongside my girl Rebecca “WildCat” Ferratti, was exceptional). I guess we’ll see.

As I said, fuck the critics. If you like the “Saw” movies then you’ll probably love this one too. I know that I did!