Horror Class is back in session (hopefully you’re not paying any tuition). Put your books away though, because now it’s time again to play a game again! Come on in to find out more about Jigsaw! 

Jigsaw (2017)

• Directed by: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
• Written by: Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger
• Starring:
  • Matt Passmore
  • Tobin Bell 
  • Callum Keith Rennie
• Streaming Spots:
  • Amazon (buy)
• Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
• Synopsis: It’s time for another game… once more Jigsaw is back again with another scheme up his sleeve. There are more games and unbelievable twists that lead to an ending that you’ll never see coming. It’s JIGSAW!

Scary Thoughts

Most of us like playing games, whether they be board, video, or dating. The legacy of the Saw series is partially based on this point. 

“Would you like to play a game?”

Regardless of if the games were fair enough, the answer was always a resounding no. Despite this, the people we’ve seen from Saw (2004) all the way to Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010) have been forced, through convoluted and logic leaping means at times, to participate in games to force them to learn life lessons or lose their heads. Thankfully, after a 7-year hiatus, Jigsaw doesn’t skimp on the fatal school sessions.

This go-around, the game focuses on five individuals, whose hidden backstories are explored, piecemeal, throughout the film (and oftentimes, conveniently before they are killed). Part of the experience of the Saw films is trying to figure out what kind of mistakes the people made to be chosen by Jigsaw (or one of his many apprentices) and stuck in death rooms. 

Among the players this time is a sleeping guy, a housewife, a random scruffy guy, a mechanic, and a punk-looking woman. Each of their reasons for being in the room ends up making sense; they all deserve to be there. However, without spoiling, there are certain details in a few of the backstories that Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) just couldn’t have known for sure. This certainly leads down the philosophical “reasonable doubt”. Though the film does show Jigsaw regretting a certain player’s fate, the series hasn’t really explored whether the Jigsaw team was ever truly wrong. Regardless, the five people trapped in this game do deserve to be there. Jigsaw’s infallibility reigns on.

Of course, the hour and 32-minute run-time isn’t all death trap action. It also focuses on the investigation into dead bodies showing up, conveniently mirroring the bodies in the game. This portion of the movie follows Logan (Matt Passmore), an autopsy doctor, and his rival, Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie), both of which are trying to get to the bottom of the case. Detective Halloran suspects Logan or Logan’s assistant Eleanor (Hannah Emily Anderson) of being complicit in the murders. 

One of the faults of the series is the actors ratcheting up the anxiety and panic, not just during death trap sequences, but interactions. The film does a decent job of avoiding this pitfall, though there are times that the forced anxiety comes off as a contrived reason to lead to someone’s death or force the viewer to suspect or not suspect a certain character of being in Jigsaw cahoots. 

But what of the death traps? Who watches the Saw franchise for character development or plot? On this point, your mileage may vary depending on what you feel is the pinnacle of the Saw series death contraptions. For instance, if you’re a Saw (2004) fan, and you prefer Escape Room: The Movie, you might not prefer the games. Alternately, if you prefer the gratuitousness of a Public Boyfriend Slicer from Saw 3D (2010), then I think you’re more at home with this film. Of the traps, they all seem feasibly created, planned, and built by an individual/individuals, unlike some of the previous films (how did Hoffman have all that time to basically get an engineering degree?). 

As a note, these films always require a leap of faith when it comes to how certain characters make it to the appropriate trap at the appropriate time; this time is no different.

Camera wise, I want to give credit to the Spierig brothers for taking the camera work a step back. There were several excellent shots throughout the film and they went away from the manic editing that is almost as much of a character of the series as the iconic Jigsaw. The editing during game sequences was still tense, but they were far less frenetic than previous films. 

Finally, in the end, it wouldn’t be a Saw film without a twist! I’ll mention the twist in the spoilers below, but the conclusion was fairly predictable, even if I hadn’t pieced all of the evidence together fully by the time the swelling music began.

If you’re a fan of the Saw series, then you’re not going to be disappointed in this one. It took a few years to come back, and I hope that if it comes back again, they explore different directions with the series. We all have our favorite games, but to keep things fresh, sometimes you have to change the rules a bit. 

Results

• Body Count:  4/5
• Blood & Gore: 5/5
• Creep Factor: 1/5
• Favorite Kill: Dudes with fricken laser beams attached to their heads! 
• Overall: Liked It! 

OooOooOoOoh, it’s SPOILERS time!

Ok, last little bit…

Jigsaw is totally dead, brohs. All the deaths we see are from early Jigsaw days! I mean, that makes sense since he died like 10 years ago in the movie world and it’s a big part of why it’s fairly predictable that one of the main people are followers of the saw.

Also, look, if you’ve ever been a comic fan… always remember, no body-no death.

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Brandon @Stevetheheb