HallowScream - The "Saw" Sequels (2005-2010) & Jigsaw (2017)

           Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back for possibly my biggest HallowScream undertaking yet: discussing the six Saw sequels, which ran from 2005 to 2010, and Jigsaw, which was released in 2017. We've got seven movies to talk about, so let's just get right to it. 

         So Saw Ii, released in 2005, sees Detective Eric Matthews brought onto the Jigsaw case after an informant of his, Michael, is found dead due to a device rigged by Jigsaw. After finding a clue on the device, which was a death mask designed to close around a person's head in a manner like a Venus Flytrap, Eric and Detective Allison Kerry lead a S.W.A.T. unit, led by Officer Daniel Riggs, to a warehouse that is housing John Kramer/Jigsaw. Eric, while looking at monitors of a Jigsaw game in progress, sees his son, Daniel, on the monitor among the other players. And here's where the movie splits into two plots. One, you have Eric and John just sitting and talking in the warehouse, with Eric slowly losing his grip. Two, is the events in a decrepit old house, which is being pumped with a deadly nerve gas. The occupants of the house, including Daniel and Amanda (a holdover from the first movie), all have to seek syringes of antidote before the gas kills them all. We see various traps, including the Revolver Peephole, which kills a man named Gus, the Furnace, which kills a man named Obi, the Needle Pit, which its intended victim, Xavier, tosses Amanda into, and the Razor Box, a trap made for Gus but used by a woman named Addison. Another pair of victims, Jonas and Laura, also die, with Laura dying from the nerve gas, and Jonas being killed by Xavier. Daniel and Amanda eventually make their way into the bathroom trap from the original film during a chase with Xavier, and it's there that they kill him. 

          We also learn that, aside from Daniel, all of the victims of the Nerve Gas house have one thing in common: Eric Matthews planted the evidence that led to their arrests and convictions, and HE was the arresting officer for all of them. Realizing the true danger his son is in, Eric finally forces John to take him to the Nerve Gas house, where we learn that the events were pre-recorded, and the signal broadcast from a identical looking, but different, location that S.W.A.T. finds. It's revealed that Daniel was in a safe in the room John and Eric were talking in, meaning that Eric's patience was key in getting his son back. Eric is caught, chained up in the bathroom, and we learn that Amanda was put in the game to keep an eye in things, and she has become John's apprentice and heir apparent, with Eric as her first test subject. 

        So, Darren Lynn Bousman did a really good job with this movie. Newcomers like Donnie Wahlberg, Lyriq Bent, and so on add to a terrific cast of returning players like Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, and Dina Meyer. The traps are neat, and the film is what gave the Saw franchise its signature look for the future sequels. Not a perfect movie, by far, but I give Saw II a rating of 4.5/5. 

            In 2006, Darren Lynn Bousman returned with Saw III. This movie picks up where Saw II ended, with Eric Matthews still trapped in the bathroom trap from the original movie. He uses the toilet tank lid to dislocate his ankle, and slides his foot out of the shackle and escapes. We then cut to a classroom being cut into by the S.W.A.T. unit, led by Rigg. Rigg, Kerry, and newcomer Detective Mark Hoffman investigate a murder made to look like a Jigsaw trap, but Kerry notes it doesn't fit the pattern. The reason being that the victim, Troy, had to tear himself from his various chains and walk out of the room before a bomb went off, which was impossible due to the door being welded shut. Hence, Troy had no way to escape. That night, Kerry finds herself in a massive device, which she tries to get out of, but is unable to and dies. 

          It's here where we shift focus on two individuals, a doctor named Lynn Denlon and a vengeful father named Jeff, whose eight-year-old son was killed in a tragic car accident years ago. Lynn is taken to John to help alleviate his headaches and keep him alive, and is rigged with a device called a shotgun collar, and she has until Jeff's test is complete to do so. Jeff's test is one of forgiveness, as he faces three individuals involved with the case surrounding his son's death: Danica Scott, the sole witness who Jeff fails to save before she is frozen to death, Judge Halden, who Jeff saves from a vat being filled with pig guts, and Timothy Young, the driver that ran over Jeff's son and is in a device called The Rack. Halden takes a shotgun blast to the face when Jeff gets the key to save Timothy, but too late, as he does. Lynn, meanwhile, successfully saves John, but Amanda refuses to set her free, and it's revealed that she was also being tested. John actually kept one key factor out of the game to test Amanda, as it's revealed that Jeff and Lynn are husband and wife, and the death of their son tore their marriage apart, leaving him full of revenge, her full of resentment, and their daughter, Corbett, being neglected as a result. Amanda is killed for shooting Lynn, John offers to help get Lynn to a doctor, but only if Jeff can forgive John. Jeff tells John he forgives him, and slits his throat with a circular saw, killing him. The shotgun collar goes off, killing Lynn, and a tape John recorded reveals to Jeff that the reason Jeff couldn't kill John was because John was the only one that knew where Jeff's daughter was being held, ending the movie on a cliffhanger. 

         Darren Lynn Bousman, once again, delivers a pretty solid movie with Saw III. Bahar Soomekh and Angus MacFayden were both pretty good as Lynn and Jeff Denlon. Costas Mandylor had a pretty good introduction into the series as Detective Hoffman. And honestly, Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith were both fantastic as John and Amanda. Probably among my favorites, especially because one of the traps is based around ice, I'm giving Saw III a rating of 4.85/5. 

           Darren Lynn Bousman, once more, returns with 2007's Saw IV, which is set at the same time as the events of Saw III. This time around, it's Rigg who is being tested, as his overeagerness to save everyone is becoming a problem. However, we actually open with two men in a mausoleum, chained by the neck into a machine in the middle of the room. One of the men, Art Blank, has his mouth stitched shut, while the other man has his eyes stitched shut. Art kills the blinded man and gets the key to free himself from his chain. Later, after finding the machine with the dead remains of Kerry hanging from it, Rigg and Hoffman are approached by FBI Agents Perez and Strahm, who were contacts of Detective Kerry. Perez and Strahm have one goal in mind: identifying a mysterious accomplice of John Kramer and Amanda Young. 

         Rigg is then set to his test: Eric is alive, and is being held captive along with Hoffman. Rigg's instinct would tell him to hurry to save Eric and Hoffman, but Jigsaw encourages the opposite. Rigg then sets out with a series of tests, first is of a woman whose hair is being tugged by a machine. Rigg frees her, but kills her in self defense when she tries to kill him to avoid being arrested because of the pictures of her misdeeds that are all around the room. Rigg then goes to a decrepit motel, where the owner is revealed to be, well, a s*x pest, and Rigg, using a pig mask, rigs the guy into a trap that tears his limbs off. Rigg then finds a classroom where two individuals were staked to each other. The woman survived, whereas the man did not based on the placement of the spikes. 

        Meanwhile, Strahm and Perez investigate Jill Tuck, ex-wife of John Kramer, who reveals what led to John becoming Jigsaw. Apparently, Jill worked in a drug addiction clinic, and one of the addicts she was helping, Cecil, caused her to have a miscarriage, and John made Cecil his first victim. We also learn that Jill is a client of Art Blank, who also represented the three victims of Rigg's test. This points to Art being the missing Jigsaw accomplice, as he and John were previously business partners. Rigg gets to Eric, Hoffman, and Art just before the time is set to go off, thus killing Eric and, presumably, Hoffman. Art is killed as well, as is Rigg, who is told that he failed. Strahm, meanwhile, struggles to deal with the death of Perez and goes to the warehouse, where he finds John Kramer dead, killed by Jeff, who is shot by Strahm. Hoffman, who is revealed to be alive, locks Strahm up and is confirmed to be the accomplice that Strahm was looking for, ending the movie. 

        Not as good as the first three movies, but I was still entertained by what Darren Lynn Bousman did with this movie. Unfortunately, I found the traps in this movie inferior to the ones in the first three Saw movies. Ultimately, I'm only giving Saw IV a rating of 3.65/5. 

          2008 saw the release of Saw V, directed by David Hackl, and in it we learn what brought Detective Mark Hoffman into the fold as a Jigsaw apprentice. Evidently, Hoffman lost his sister, who was killed by her asshole boyfriend Seth Baxter, and he set Seth up in a pendulum trap, rigged it to look like Jigsaw killed him, thus ending the life of his sister's killer without being blamed. John learned of this, and blackmailed him into working for him. Picking up from the end of Saw IV, Strahm finds his head in a cube that is rigged to fill with water, but some quick thinking and a pen to the throat saves Strahm's life. Hoffman walks out as the sole survivor, carrying a frightened Corbett Denlon in his arms, and being praised as the hero that brought an end to the Jigsaw case. Strahm, however, is also revealed to be alive, and becomes obsessed with bringing Hoffman down. 

        Jill, meanwhile, has been getting hounded for interviews by reporter Pamela Jenkins, who is herself investigating the Jigsaw case. A new game has started, and five people are out to the test, having to rely on teamwork to save themselves. Unfortunately, being the self-centered assholes they are, all but two of them end up dead. Strahm keeps chasing the truth that connects Hoffman to Jigsaw, down to revisiting old trap locations, and it's in flashbacks that we learn how John learned of Detective Tapp's involvement in the investigation against Jigsaw, with John revealing how he plans to throw Tapp off of his scent, using Dr. Lawrence Gordon's pen light to set him up as a Jigsaw suspect. Strahm, looking at a glass coffin, has a struggle with Hoffman and tosses him into the coffin, only to reveal that the real trap was the room itself. The glass coffin protected Hoffman, while Strahm was crushed to death, ending the movie. 

        Okay, so aside from good performances by the likes of Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Scott Patterson, Carlo Rota, and Julie Benz, this movie was easily my least favorite of the franchise. Aside from the cube trap and the pendulum trap, the traps are pretty forgettable, and this movie only serves to give some backstory into how Hoffman was involved with John Kramer and his various means of testing people. Honestly, I can only give Saw V a low rating of 1.85/5. 

         Saw VI, released in 2009, was directed by Kevin Greutert, and was a slight improvement over Saw V. With Strahm dead, it's revealed that Perez survived the events of Saw IV, and is now working with a senior FBI agent, Dan Erickson, to try and connect Strahm with Jigsaw. Among the traps we see in this movie, we actually open with two loan sharks, Simone and Eddie, who are tasked with offering up pounds of flesh to keep their brains from being drilled into by a pair of deadly headpieces they're wearing in their game. Simone chops her arm off, this outweighing Eddie's flesh, which is being cut for his massive belly. 

       The main game of this movie, however, centers around health insurance executive William Easton. Evidently, this game is part of John's last will and testament, and was given to Jill, with one piece kept for her and not shared with Hoffman. Easton, whose insurance policy is crap, has to try to help his staff based on either following his policy, or by choosing the right thing. If he completes his test, he'll see his family, whose being held captive at the ending spot of the game, again. His first test is a breathing test, where he successfully holds his breath longer than his chain-smoking janitor Hank. His next test offers him a choice between saving his healthy and young file clerk Allen, who is a loner, and his secretary Addy, who is diabetic but would be missed by her family. He ultimately chooses to save Addy's life over Allen's. His next test is in saving his attorney, Debbie, but it doesn't succeed, as the key to her freedom is inside of William's side. The next trap, the Carousel, has six associates William calls the "dog pit," and he can only save two of the six. The two that he chooses to save are Emily, who needs to live to care for her two children, and Shelby, who convinces him that another associate, Josh, would stab him in the back. Josh, Aaron, Dave, and Gena are all killed by shotgun blasts. 

       Finally, Easton reaches the end, and sees the family that he was working to save, his sister Pamela Jenkins. However, it's not just the two of them, as Tara and Brent Abbott, the wife and son of a deceased former client of William's named Harold Abbott, are also their and are given a choice between sparing William or killing him. Tara considers killing him, but can't bring herself to doing so. Brent, however,has a heart full of vengeance, and kills William without hesitation. William is pumped with hydrofluoric acid and dies, much to the horror of Pamela. 

        Hoffman, meanwhile, has been found out as Erickson and Perez learn of his nature as Jigsaw's accomplice, and how he set Strahm up to take the fall for him, and both Erickson and Perez are killed. Jill, having the last piece of John's will, rigs Hoffman into an upgraded version of the reverse bear trap device. Hoffman is just able to survive, and the movie ends. 

        Okay, so while not as good as the original three movies, Saw VI is definitely a step up from Saw V, but it's still not quite as good as the first three. Kevin Greutert is definitely a better director than David Hackl, and he definitely knows how to frame this movie. Peter Outerbridge is definitely enjoyable as William Easton, and it was neat to see some really creative traps, like the carousel trap. I'm giving Saw VI a rating of 2.95/5. 

          2010 saw the release of Saw 3D, the seventh film in the Saw franchise and the only one produced in the RealD 3D format. This movie was marketed as the final chapter. Big name stars such as Sean Patrick Flanery and Chester Bennington were featured in this movie, which was directed once again by Kevin Greutert. 

         So, we open with a flashback to the aftermath of the ending of the first Saw, where we see Lawrence Gordon cauterize the wound where his severed foot once was. We then flash forward to a storefront window housing the Lover's triangle trap, where two men named Brad and Ryan wake up on opposite ends of a workbench, with circular saws pointed at each of them. Above them is a this saw, aimed at a woman named Dina, who dated both men, and manipulated them into breaking the law. Jigsaw gives them a choice: kill each other and save her, or realize how toxic she is and let her die. After some back and forth, with Dina pushing both men into killing each other, they both realize she's a liar and isn't worth dying for, this letting her die. Jeez, talk about a permanent break-up. 

          Jill, meanwhile, is fearing for her life, as Hoffman is bent on killing her in retaliation for the attempt on his life that she made at the end of Saw VI. It's here that she turns to Detective Matt Gibson of Internal Affairs, offering information that connects Hoffman to Jigsaw in exchange for protection. Another trap, located in a junkyard, sees Evan and his crew of racist skinheads killed in a chain of events that kicked off when Evan failed to pull himself from the seat of the car he was glued to and pull a lever to save everyone. 

        This movie also introduces us to Bobby Dagen, who became a celebrity after coming forward with a story of how he survived a Jigsaw trap, and also is involved in a support group of Jigsaw survivors, including Simone, Tara, and several others from previous movies, including Dr. Gordon. However, upon being captured, it's revealed that Bobby's story was false, and he never was in a Jigsaw trap. Now, however, he will be tested, with the goal being to save the life of his wife, Joyce. Bobby is given three tests, all based of the famous concept of "See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil." First, he's tasked with saving his publicist Nina, whose killed when four spikes penetrate her neck. Second is his attorney Suzanne, who is impaled by three spikes in her eyes and mouth. Third is his best friend and co-conspirator Cale, who is blinded with a noose around his neck. Unfortunately, he drops the key and falls off the beam he's standing on, and he dies. Finally, after getting the combination from his teeth, reaches Joyce, but must now save her in a way most poetic, by driving two meat hooks in nto his pectorals and hoist himself up to an extension cord above him to shut off an electric fence and save her from the Furnace 2.0, which is a massive brazen bull that cooks her alive when it seals and the flames engulf the machine. 

        Hoffman manages to eliminate Gibson and his team, gets to Jill in the police station, and kills her using the original reverse bear trap device. Hoffman then destroys all the Jigsaw evidence in a warehouse, only to be attacked by three men in pig masks, one of whom is Dr. Gordon. We then get a flashback to Dr. Gordon watching a VHS tape from John, where we learn that John nursed him back to health after the events of the first movie, and Gordon had been helping John ever since, with examples including placing the key to Michael's device from Saw II just below his eye, recommending Lynn Denlon to help John in Saw III, and so on. John has one more task for Gordon: watch over Jill, and act on his behalf if anything should happen to her. Gordon then shackles Hoffman by the ankle in the bathroom from the first movie, picking up the hacksaw before Hoffman can use it, and remarking "I don't think so" before tossing it into the hall. Turning out the lights, Gordon ends the movie with Hoffman trapped and left to die and Gordon remarking "Game over." 

        Okay, so this is almost as good as the first three, but not quite. Definitely had a lot to enjoy, with fantastic and unique trap designs. Honestly, I think that the movie was a result of franchise fatigue, as we had seen seven Saw movies each October for seven consecutive years. As much as I enjoy it, I do admit that most audiences were tired by the series by the time this movie rolled around. However, with a great cast consisting of returning players like Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, and Cary Elwes, along with newcomers like Sean Patrick Flanery, Gina Holden, Dean Armstrong, Naomi Snieckus, and Chester Bennington, as well as creative new traps like the Lover's triangle and the Junkyard Trap, Kevin Greutert did really good and I give Saw 3D a rating of 4.05/5. 

        Seven years later, and Lionsgate Films returned with a brand new Saw movie titled Jigsaw. Directed by The Spierig Brothers, this movie stars Callum Keith Rennie, Laura Vandervoort, Matt Passmore, Hannah Emily Anderson, Cle Bennett, Brittany Allen, and a host of others.

         Okay, so it's officially been ten years since the death of John Kramer aka Jigsaw, and on this day, a criminal named Edgar Munsen grabs a device whilst on the run from police. Once surrounded, he demands to speak with Detective Halloran, whom Edgar was an informant for. Halloran arrives, and Edgar activates the controller, starting a new game. Edgar is shot and killed, much to the frustration of Halloran. It's here where we see the Barn Game, where five individuals are tasked with completing several tests, and confessing to their misdeeds. The first test is an offering of blood, wherein they must cut themselves on a wall of circular saws to move forward. Only four succeed, as the fifth slept through the instructions and died. The second involves one of the remaining four having been injected with a poison, and the antidote is in one of three syringes, the other two holding an acid and a saline solution. The only clue is "What is a life worth to you?", and Carly, who was once a purse snatcher, realizes what that meant, as she allowed a woman she stole from to die of an asthma attack in exchange for grabbing pocket money, with the amount she took being the correct syringe. Ryan, another victim in the game, stabs her with all three syringes, killing her and freeing himself and the other two, Anna and Mitch. Another test sees Ryan have to sever his leg to free Anna and Mitch from dying in a grain silo. 

        As the movie goes on, several bodies are found, with Halloran leading an investigation to find the culprit. It's here that Halloran and his partner, Detective Hunt, team up with pathologists Logan Nelson and Eleanor Bonneville, the latter of whom is a Jigsaw fan girl. Not only does Eleanor have a a collection of classic Jigsaw memorabilia, but she even has a recreation of a Jigsaw trap that was from a game that predates the others, and evidently no bodies were ever found in regards to this particular game. Back at the barn, we see Mitch tested with the device that Eleanor had a version of in her apartment, and Jigsaw reveals Mitch's wrongdoing: selling John's nephew a faulty motorcycle and leading the lad to his death. Mitch is unable to reach the brake handle at the bottom of the machine, and thus is killed. 

        Back with the investigation, Munsen had disappeared from the hospital, but is found in John Kramer's casket. Halloran and Hunt are pretty much asking themselves whether or not this new Jigsaw game is being carried out by a copycat or a ghost, as John Kramer is supposed to be dead. Four pieces of skin cut like puzzle pieces are found in Halloran's refrigerator, and a bullet with the same caliber as the munitions Halloran uses is found in Edgar Munsen's body. So, Logan and Eleanor go to investigate the barn, which was apparently owned by the family of Jill Tuck, and Halloran follows closely behind them. Back at the barn, Anna and Ryan see John, alive once more, hinting that the game we've been seeing was in the past, well before his death. The truth of Anna and Ryan's misdeeds are revealed, as Anna placed her crying baby in bed with her husband, who rolled over accidentally and smothered the child, and he died in jail. Ryan, meanwhile, had a reckless streak as a youngeran, and one of his more reckless actions got all of his friends killed. So, John gives them one more test by loading a shell, which is the key to their freedom, into a shotgun, and walking out. Anna takes the gun and pulls the trigger, but it backfires and she does instead. The keys to the locks ultimately were in the shell, and now the keys are destroyed. 

       Back in the present, Logan and Halloran are caught and held by laser collars. Each must confess to their misdeeds to be free. Halloran pushes Logan's button, forcing him to go first, and Logan confesses to a screw up, where he mixed up labels on an x-ray, which has that not happened, John's brain tumor could have been spotted sooner, and could have been safely removed. Logan apparently gets cut by the lasers and dies. Halloran then has his turn, and he confesses to letting criminals walk and costing many innocent lives in the process, this outing himself as a dirty cop. The collar shuts off, and Logan awakens, revealing that the lasers on his collar were harmless, unlike the more concentrated lasers on Halloran's collar. Logan reveals that he was part of the original barn game ten years prior, and he was the one who slept at the start. John Kramer, feeling that Logan didn't deserve to die over what was an honest mistake, set him free early, stitched him up, and the two began to work together, thus making Logan John's first apprentice, preceding Hoffman and Amanda. Ten years later  and Logan has recreated the barn game with three criminals from Halloran's failed cases, given all three of them the same choices John gave the likes of Mitch, Carly, Ryan, and Anna. Logan also killed Edgar Munsen, who killed his wife years prior, and set it up to appear that the game was run by Jigsaw, and that Halloran also had something to do with it, but throws any suspicion of himself off, as Eleanor can provide Logan's alibi. Logan reactivates Halloran's collar, and gives him a choice: scream or don't. Logan then states that he speaks for those unable to speak for themselves because of men like Halloran, by stating "I speak for the dead," ending the movie with Halloran's death. 

       Okay, I gotta say it. I love this movie. Not only is it the best since the original, but it genuinely feels like a real continuation of the series in a manner that is unique and creative. This movie marks the first time that actual fans of the franchise got to determine the story and direction was really cool, as it really felt like the baton had been passed to those who watched these movies, and got into making horror films because of them. 

          The cast of performers in this movie, including the likes of Callum Keith Rennie, Laura Vandervoort, Matt Passmore, Hannah Emily Anderson, Cle Bennett, Brittany Allen, and so on, all work really well together, and I loved the new traps in this movie, like the human blender and the laser collars. Overall, the Spierig Brothers made a Saw movie on par with the original one. It's for this reason that I give Jigsaw a rating of 4.95/5. 

       Alright guys, that'll do it for the Saw franchise for now. Be sure to keep it tuned in for more HallowScream, and I would like to point out that we'll be getting a brand new Saw movie in October of 2023. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time for more HallowScream.