FRIGHT FEST: THE GAMES RESUME WITH JIGSAW

Jigsaw was directed by Michael and Peter Spierig (who previously directed Predestination and Daybreakers), and was written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg (Who both wrote Piranha 3D, I won't mention their other films cuz they suck). They all do a pretty great job here.

It's been eleven years since Jigsaw was killed, and seven years since Detective Hoffman's reign as Jigsaw's successor ended and the madness seems to have finally ceased. The peace and silence cannot last forever though. Bodies start to pop up, seemingly victims of a new game designed by Jigsaw. Strangely enough, all the clues seem to point to Jigsaw himself being the culprit this time around. Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) brings on coroners Logan (Matt Passmore) and Eleanor (Hannah Emily Anderson) for some extra help in solving the case. It's a race against time to figure out who the killer is and stop the latest deadly game before it is completed. Could Jigsaw really have risen from the grave?

This time around, our victims are Anna (Laura Vandervoot), Ryan (Paul Braunstein), Mitch (Mandela Van Peebles), and Carly (Brittney Allen). They awaken from a drug-induced sleep to find themselves trapped in a barn, forced to work together if they are to survive. Naturally, none are as innocent as they seem, and the game's aim is to get each to confess to their crimes and solve the traps they are thrust into. The traps this time around manage to be pretty fun for the most part, though the film does rely on characters making exactly the right poor decisions in order to further the traps and plot. Jigsaw actually makes a small deviation from previous Saw films, in that it chooses not to focus on torture or gratuitous gore. There is still a good amount of blood, but compared to previous entries it's not quite as visceral, graphic or disturbing (except for the final kill, which is all kinds of delicious and grody).

Another welcome bonus is that a good deal of our cast play likable characters. Matt Passmore as Logan,  Laura Vandervoot as Anna , and Paul Braunstein as Ryan were my favorites (Honestly, Ryan was my number one favorite character in the whole film. I also really liked Anna as she was a smart, capable woman though what her crime is revealed to be at the end actually turned me against her pretty quickly). Jigsaw also does away with all the grime, dirt, and grain seen in the previous entries. This outing looks, clean, polished and even has some color added to it. Compared to the other Saw films, this one almost pops a bit. Since this is a Saw film, you can expect some nice twists. All I'll say is I didn't fully guess what one of the twists was (though I did get part of it right). I loved the hell out of the twists in this film, they were definitely some of the better ones found in the Saw franchise (though they did leave me with a few questions).

SPOILER CORNER

I just have to discuss spoilers now. So if you do not wish to know any of the twists or surprises in Jigsaw, now would be the time to stop reading.

Tobin Bell does return as Jigsaw and manages to completely command the screen for the time that he's on. He definitely does a fantastic job as the titular character, and is better here than he was in some of the previous sequels. I also love that Matt Passmore as Logan ends up being the new Jigsaw, and that his MO is somewhat different than Jigsaw's. Logan seems to care more about justice than anything else, and I loved his final line: "I speak for the dead." I whole-heartedly welcome another Saw film with him as the antagonist (though we don't really need one. This latest entry would make for a fine stopping point. Might as well go out on top.). It's nice that the trap we spend most of the film watching is actually a prequel (while the scenes with Detective Halloran and Logan and Eleanor are set in the present day), as it's revealed it was actually Jigsaw's very first experimental trap. This is the part that leaves me with questions though: Did the trigger the criminal pressed at the beginning of the film really set off anything? Was there even another trap going on during the present day segments at all?

SPOILERS OVER

In the end, I walked into Jigsaw super hesitant but hopeful. I'm a fan of the Saw franchise, but not a super big one. No one was clamoring for yet another Saw sequel. Jigsaw definitely had it's work cut for it, it had to show audiences a good time (check) and prove that it had a reason to exist (nope). While it doesn't really do much new, I still found enough to like here. The traps were fun, I appreciated that it wasn't quite as bloody or graphic as previous entries, I liked that the focus was more on fun and less on torture, and it was nice to get some likable characters to root for this time around. Jigsaw likely won't draw any new fans to the Saw franchise, but if you at all enjoyed the previous Saw films you'll likely have fun with this one as well. It's definitely better than some of the other Saw films. I actually cheered a few times in the theater and applauded when the end credits rolled. I know I'll likely be picking this one up on blu-ray. I'd rank Jigsaw right up there with Saw, Saw 3, and Saw 6. It's not the best entry in the series, but I thought it was definitely one of the best (I'd say 4th best).

4 STARS


And just like that, my Fright Fest ends. Till next year, keep the screams alive!