It’s an interesting thing: just where exactly is a horror franchise supposed to go when its star villain dies horribly in the previous chapter? This was the question before the makers of Saw in producing this fourth entry into the series, the serial killer Jigsaw (played by Tobin Bell) was left dead from a circular saw to the jugular, not to mention some ad hoc brain surgery. His apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) was also left for dead. So what the deuce? Well, I must admit that the filmmakers try their very best to find some creative solutions around these two major problems, unfortunately though, I think it indicates that the Saw franchise might be past its prime.



We begin with Jigsaw’s rather grisly autopsy, when the coroners make an odd discovery: a wax covered audiotape in the killer’s stomach. The tape proclaims that despite the death of the main man, the games are, in fact, just beginning. Next we see SWAT commander Rigg (Lyriq Bent), he’s been told to take a break by his supervisor Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), but plagued by thoughts of his missing comrade Det. Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg from Saw II), he’s drawn into one of Jigsaw’s puzzles. Meanwhile, two FBI agents (Scott Patterson and Athena Karkanis) are pursuing Rigg under the assumption he’s working with Jigsaw, while the pre-Jigsaw life of John Kramer is slowly revealed.



Oh yeah, the whole thing’s happening in real time with Saw III. Which, I admit is a good hook, it does make the action rather convoluted and it makes one wonder how a cancer ridden old man could find the time to set all this up. While Saw hasn’t always been, what I’d call, realistic, it still was rooted in some kind of plausibility. Beyond realism, the shtick is getting stale. The time-shifting and death traps are really kind of the same old, same old. Even after the barf inducing autopsy, the gore quota isn’t so intense. There’s really no signature reprieve either; everyone gets their just desserts and nobody gets away.



Part of this goes in hand with the fact that there’s no one here to root for be they hero or villain. No one really seems to have any personality or raison d’etre, which proves that the Saw movies have gone the way of so many other slasher pics and just filled its ranks with a bunch of hapless cadavers. The only one that seems to be revelling in his part is Bell, and I get the feeling it’s because he’s diggin’ the way he’s become the centrist element of the franchise. Bell gets the only character arc and a decent share of the screen time despite the notable demerit of his character’s aforementioned death.



Mostly though, Saw IV feels like a do-over. It becomes abundantly clear about 20 minutes in that the intention is to introduce the new Jigsaw and get them rolling on the mayhem they will wrought. For the most part, we get the same visceral thrills, but a lot of the other thrills are gone. I’m reminded of Friday the 13th Part IV: the Final Chapter which later segued to Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, Jason dies, “forever”, killed by Corey Feldman no less, only to come back thanks to the promise of even more money to be made.



Part three felt like a good place to leave things, if only for the reason that all the recurring characters had deceased. Even a prominent reappearance by Wahlberg didn’t engender any warm feelings for Jigsaw’s post-grave adventures, especially given his cavalier dispatching. I know that Lionsgate has Saw V warming up in the bullpen, but it seems how quickly some forget the walking, stabbing punchlines that Michael, Jason and Freddy all became in their later films. There’s a line I always liked from Pet Cemetery, Jud Crandall played by Fred Gywnne is always remarking that, “Sometimes, dead is better.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.