On the 11th of October, 2014, I made my first blog post for Mahan's Media titled “Why didn’t I start this sooner?” I named it that partly because I originally started Mahan’s Media as a holdover while I kept trying to get my old YouTube videos together, which took way too bloody long because, as anyone who has read anything I’ve written before will tell you, I’m not that great at editing. But also because I had been writing mini-reviews for myself for quite a while before that. They weren’t as detailed as the thousand-word-minimum stuff I used to put up on here, but there were a lot of them, along with their accompanying place on a ranked list for 2012, 2013, and 2014.
That was the policy with their listings on here too, until I finally realised that listing them in that arbitrary order made it far more difficult to actually find specific reviews that it should have been. I still keep those lists on my computer, and use them for reference when drafting the year-end lists, but I figure being user-friendly should come first, so I rearranged them alphabetically by year when I did my four-year-long clean-up of the blog. Of course, since I still list everything by year of Australian release, there’s likely to be some further confusion but hey: At least I’m learning.
And indeed, the nine years that have transpired since that first post have indeed been a learning experience for me. I started out as an Angry Critic clone who was fascinated by the art of riffing, but didn’t have any formal training in such things, and quite frankly, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Hell, I’m still not sure if I know. All these reviews and listicles have been as much about figuring myself out as figuring out any film or other piece of media that I’ve come across, and I genuinely think that writing so damn much on here has helped shape me into the man I am today.
What began as an obsessive hobby has grown to the point where my high school dream of becoming a paid writer actually came true thanks to FilmInk bringing me on-board. I may miss one or two screenings due to bad scheduling on my part, but I pride myself on my consistency otherwise with a same-day turnaround for any screening my editor sends me out to. I cut my teeth on watching four films a day at the cinema, and doing mini-reviews for all of them between screenings; I’ve put in my 10,000 hours and then some, and in my case, I have been rewarded for my efforts.
Given my habit of drawing bizarre and idiosyncratic connections between things in my reviews, both here and at FilmInk, this film felt like the right move for an anniversary review: The tenth installment of my favourite film series to celebrate the start of the blog's tenth year. Much like with Jigsaw in 2017 and Spiral in 2021, this is the film I was most looking forward to this year. Mostly because I’m ride-or-die when it comes to the exploits of Jigsaw, his apprentices, and their never-ending array of gruesome contraptions, but also because… well, for the first time in the franchise’s history, this one has been a hit with the critics.
Saw has been stuck with cult film status for as long as the franchise has existed. Only the original film gets any ‘serious’ attention, and even then, it tends to get thrown into the larger conversation about the ‘torture porn’ horror sub-genre which also doesn’t get a lot of major consideration (and I admit that, outside of Saw, that usually applies for me as well). Both on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, none of the films in this series have ever gotten a score higher than 50. This is the kind of thing that, even as someone who is listed on RT nowadays, has made me keep the more ‘serious’ critical circles at arm’s length. I don’t go for the trendy ‘genre films are lesser’ mindset that still seems to be baked into the higher consensus, and for the longest time, it felt like this series was just another victim of that mentality.
Don’t get me wrong, these films have always been rather silly. I don’t begrudge anyone for not being entirely on-board with the ongoing soap opera that is serial killer John Kramer and his rather pretentious attitudes about putting people in death traps while claiming that he totes doesn’t kill anyone. But with how hard I fell in love with this series after watching Saw III in cinemas, I still feel like this series hasn’t gotten the props it’s due. Even beyond the creativity put into the trap scenes and the gore effects, the character work done in these films (for the most part) is highly compelling and, at their best, they bring up some genuinely interesting moral questions that make them into more than just an excuse to watch people die in extravagant ways.
But then this film comes out, with its (at the time of writing) 85% on RT and a 60 on Metacritic, and there is indeed something different about this one. After John Kramer’s death in Saw III, the series has relied on flashbacks and non-linear narratives to keep him in these films because Tobin Bell’s performance is easily one of the best things about these films. No matter how short his screentime is, he has always been a reason to check these out. This film, set between the original Saw and Saw II, is primarily John’s story. We’re not following detectives trying to catch him, or even focusing an ordinate amount on his test subjects; we’re following him.
The shift that creates is quite profound, as is the pacing switch-up here. Along with being the most celebrated entry thus far, it’s also the longest at nearly two hours where a lot of the sequels squeaked in at around 90 minutes. This is mainly because, rather than focusing primarily on the traps and other displays of gore, more room has been given to dialogue scenes and dramatic moments, most of which center on John Kramer himself. Some of the impact is admittedly dulled by how the film’s marketing has led forward with who will be tested and why, but when taken on its own, it makes for a very satisfying showcase of John Kramer as a character.
Bell has never been better with the character than he is here. While I’m certain that some of that might be because the series has been lessening his on-screen time of late, right down to Spiral not featuring him at all, so seeing him this extensively is immediately a relief, but his performance is genuinely quite incredible. We’ve already seen him consistently as the most dangerous man in the room, even when he’s dying on a hospital bed (or, in the case of Saw IV, confirmed dead on the autopsy table), but this opens him up to be more vulnerable. His mission to test the human survival instinct is still at the forefront, but so is his moral compass. The way he shows his refusal to hurt innocents and actually wanting his test subjects to survive their tests feels like a course correction after Saw VI and The Final Chapter walked that shit back so casually. Hypocrisy, retcon, or re-establishing that John Kramer may have a twisted moral compass, but it’s still a moral compass; arguments can be made for all sides, but personally, I see this as a change back to what Jigsaw should be.
That gets kind of funny considering that the director of Saw VI and The Final Chapter has returned for this film: Kevin Greutert, who has also been the primary editor for most of the franchise. Having looked at his work outside of this franchise with Jessabelle, and being rather annoyed by his direction on The Final Chapter (and, if I’m being honest, his editing work on Jigsaw), I am actually kind of impressed by his work here on both fronts. His direction and editing wring a lot out of the more patient pacing, doing the slow build-up from John discovering a supposed miracle cure for his terminal brain cancer, to discovering it was indeed too good to be true, to his retribution against those who tricked him and others. The transition work during the ‘operation’ especially shows Greutert’s editing at its best, really getting across the sensation of fading in and out of consciousness. (Foreshadowing!)
Not that John is the only major focus here, as Shawnee Smith also returns as Amanda, John’s closest apprentice and easy second-place for most compelling character in the franchise. The dynamic between these two characters is one of the main reasons why Saw III is not just my favourite Saw film, but one of my favourite films period, and their chemistry here is just as good if not potentially better here. John as the soft-spoken dark sage, Amanda as the fiery but devoted acolyte, and with both of them being face-to-face with their test subjects here rather than strictly being on tape or speaking through Billy the Puppet (although, in fairness, both of those do still show up here), there’s a far more personal tone to their connected story here that really makes the drama ring true.
It probably helps that the test subjects this time around are not only more than fair game, but contain what are easily some of the scuzziest people that have ever been selected for a Jigsaw trap. Now, John going after targets for personal reasons (despite his lengthy protestations to the contrary) is nothing new for him. The original Saw had him go after his own doctor, Saw VI had the guy who refused him health insurance, Final Chapter was basically John lashing out over a bruised ego at the guy who lied about being a test subject for clout, and Jigsaw involved his next-door neighbour, his nephew’s inadvertent killer, and another one of his doctors. Even outside of those examples, most of his early victims were people he had personally known one way or another, including the patients of his wife’s clinic.
However, even with that track record, there is something more personal still about his selection here. It even links in somewhat with Saw VI in how it specifically targets those who prey on the vulnerable within the medical industry, highlighting a gang of con artists who fleece the dying who are willing to pay for a desperate final remedy. Again, in keeping with the insistence that John only targets the guilty, it’s difficult to think of a group more ‘deserving’ to be in this position than them. Hell, combined with some phenomenally subtle touches in Bell’s performance, there’s an argument to be made that, if these people didn’t pull the shit they did, Jigsaw might’ve had a far smaller body count than we’ve seen up to this point.
I should probably get more into the gore side of things, although believe me, there is a reason why I saved that for last. The traps themselves, while technically rather complicated (remove A and add to B to reveal C which will unlock D; that kind of thing), are straight-forward and keep with the medical impetus for these tests. The bloodshed isn’t OTT as it can get elsewhere in the series, while still getting that desired squirmy reaction. Props also for sticking with practical effects, resulting in some of the better-looking gore this series has seen, and even allowing for a genuine moment of dark humour when Cecilia (Synnøve Macody Lund) finds a creative use for a dead body. That moment in particular helps with seeing people this vile be put into the traps, since it becomes less a point of “I want to see them get out of this” and more “I want to see if they can get out of this, since it looks like they’re smart enough to at least try to”.
But then there’s the ‘cerebral tissue’ trap that is the central fixture of the trailers for this movie, which is where… actually, I’m not even sure how else to describe how it affected me outside of just explaining all of it. Long-time readers might remember my recounting of watching Where The Dead Go To Die, where I blacked-out in the middle of it. Well, for the first time ever while watching a film in the cinemas, that basically happened again here. Now, admittedly, I have had a mild fainting spell before while watching a Saw film at the cinema (it was either VI or Final Chapter, I can’t remember precisely which one), and there was that one time when I passed out in the foyer during Lucy because seeing Scarlett Johanssen get kicked in the stomach apparently didn’t sit well with my own stomach, but otherwise, I’m not generally all that squeamish when it comes to movies. I’m usually the guy giggling at everyone else getting freaked out when I see horror movies in public.
I mostly certainly am not usually prone to reactions that are this… intense.
In the middle of the cerebral tissue trap, I became quite short of breath. I bolted upright in my seat, and then… I blacked out for about two minutes. When I came to, I had broken out into a full-body cold sweat, my ears were ringing, and I had this darkened tunnel vision for a good few seconds. There was also a pronounced explosion(?) sensation in my brain. It didn’t hurt at all, it was actually kind of euphoric, but it was impossible not to notice. And just to confirm that this wasn’t me simply passing out, I later found my headphones (which were originally on the seat next to mine) thrown about halfway across the row of cinema seats. At no point while watching any film have ever I experienced a physical reaction this all-encompassing before. It was like what I imagine the possession in Talk To Me would’ve felt like (an experience I rather ironically compared to the act of watching fucked-up horror movies for fun when I reviewed it).
Even removing that rather unique experience I had watching it (which, much like with WTDGTD, I am counting in this film’s favour because holy shit, that was a rush I will not be forgetting in a hurry), this is easily one of the best films in the franchise. For most regular viewers, I could easily see this being the best, as it doubles down on the drama and characterisation that OG writer Leigh Whannell always led with in the first three films, while still giving time for the (quite literally in my case) breathtaking displays of gore. It’s got some of the best film craft this series has ever seen, its approach to the central themes of rehabilitation and dubious morality shows writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger at their most refined, and more than ever before, it puts John Kramer front and centre and creates a legitimate character portrait for one of modern horror’s biggest icons. My heart will always lie with Saw III as the total package, but this comes in at a very close second. I know I said this about Spiral, but I mean it even more emphatically this time: If you have never had interest in this film series before, I would still highly recommend checking this one out.
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