We finally went to see Jigsaw this week, the return of the big Horror franchise Saw 7 films.which so far had given us
We felt that despite a great ending, which brought Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) back into the story, the previous film Saw 3D: The Final Chapter was probably the weakest entry, that was in 2010 and its box office appeared to agree, so the franchise which had become a staple of every Halloween ended. Now 7 years on, the franchise returns.
This new film directed by the Spierig brothers (who gave us vampire flick Daybreakers) with a script from Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger, who wrote the Piranha 3D reboot films.
We must admit we went in with low expectations, in part as it had no Dr. Gordon or Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) who had carried on John Kramer (Tobin Bell’s) plan as his apprentices in the previous films, but also the biggest worry was that the trailer campaign did not use the Saw theme, Hello Zepp by Charlie Clouser which we associate with the movies almost as much as Billy the iconic puppet. It felt like we may be seeing one of those DVD B-Movie sequels where the only connection to previous entries is the name!
However, the theme is prominent in the opening scenes as Clouser does indeed return to perform the film soundtrack. In the opening scenes, we see the police pursue Edgar, a suspect who warns them that his death will trigger more deaths, whilst seemingly holding a bomb. His hand is shot away in a rather gory way and we knew then the Saw franchise had returned!.
When Edgar is also killed during the confrontation, the bodies begin to pile up again! The first victim establishes that despite being dead for 10 years, it appears Jigsaw has returned from the dead. This theory is enhanced, when a recording of his voice is found and his blood is found on the victim.
We know the body that has been found was one of 5 people who was playing what appears to be a ‘Jigsaw set up’ escape room within a farm barn, with deadly challenges. As victims are killed in the deadly traps, we learn that the 3 remaining contestants, like those already killed, all have decisions in their past that have made them targets for Jigsaw’s games.
One involves Ryan (Paul Braunstein) with his foot trapped in a bear trap having to make the ultimate sacrifice, in order to save Mitch (Mandela Van Peebles) & Anna (Laura Vandervoort)
Outside of this farm barn, detectives Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) & Hunt (Cle Bennett) try to find the new copycat Jigsaw killer, or indeed could the original not actually be dead? A theory which we could just not entertain given some of the autopsy sequences performed on him in previous movies.
Their trail seems to lead them to suspect the actual forensic pathologists Logan (Matt Passmore) and Eleanor (Hannah Emily Anderson) who have the resources to make the murders look like the return of Jigsaw!
We see flashbacks which see the return of John Kramer, which gives motives to some of the characters. We also find another clue is that we learn that one of the suspects is an avid collector of Jigsaw traps!
The film is well done with a storyline that can be made to fit the storyline of previous films and when the twist was revealed, we felt silly for not picking it up earlier! It waits to see if more sequels will follow, but we did not feel disappointed by this entry, it had the traps and their victims, we have come to love in this franchise, the music, Tobin Bell, the mini tape messages and of course Billy the puppet. Overall, we were glad of its return. A worthy entry for those who are fans of this franchise
You can watch the trailer here:
Pre-Order Jigsaw at Amazon here:
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