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Spiral: From the Book of Saw
(Lionsgate Films/Twisted Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
Between 2004 and 2010, horror fans celebrated Halloween by seeing the “Saw” series on the big screen. Ask any of them, and they’ll tell you they loved these films for its shocking gore, inventive traps and stylish editing. The series had a brief revival in 2017 with “Jigsaw,” which was released to little fanfare. But this year, another attempt was made with a different approach to this franchise with “Spiral: From the Book of Saw.” It’s directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, whose previous experiences with this series was directing the second, third, and fourth entries.
Taking place over a decade after the events of the original series, a new copycat killer is targeting cops in the metro area. Leading the case is Detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock), who teams with young partner William Schenk (Max Minghella) on the recommendation of Capt. Angie Garza (Marisol Nichols). But Zeke is never a popular guy in the force not only as the son of a retired officer (Samuel L. Jackson), but because he ratted out a crooked cop several years before. As he digs deeper, he starts to believe that the killer is actually targeting cops who have done some dirty deeds in the past.
However, the killer is working quickly to sniff out the dirty cops as Zeke finds more clues hidden around the city. Not only that, he’s forced to confront his own past troubles including his troubling relationship with his father. But time is running out as the killer inches closer and closer to revealing the true motive.
The opening scene nicely re-establishes all the elements that made the series great for the fans including a deadly trap, a dark location, and an unwitting victim with a reason to be captured by the Jigsaw killer. But then the movie takes a nosedive when it becomes a gritty ’80s cop film starring a comedian performing his old stand-up routines from the 1990s. The producers were simply trying to re-invent the franchise with a focus on the authorities and their race against time to catch the killer. But the decision to make a cliché-ridden cop drama out of a “Saw” movie is both head-scratching and an absolute letdown.
Another disappointing thing is the lack of memorable traps, which are few and far between. The gross factor is certainly there, but these contraptions lack the spark and imagination as the previous films. In all fairness, the mystery element remains interesting and can be easy to follow. But it’s tainted by the voice of the copycat killer sounding like a young person experimenting with a voice app. At least the voice of the original killer provided by Tobin Bell in the other movies was recognizably sinister that helps bring the suspenseful terror beyond the gory traps.
Rock can be a serious actor, as evident by his recent appearance in FX’s “Fargo,” but he’s directed here to go through different levels of a performance on a whim. There are some parts where he overacts whenever his character gets emotional, while his old stand-up persona seems to be breaking out in other parts. Jackson’s role is basically a glorified extended cameo always finding an excuse to be more entertaining than the rest of the cast because he’s Samuel L. Jackson.
If the traps are the only good thing this movie was going for, then “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” is a major disappointment for a series trying to make a comeback. It’s a major misstep that makes you long for the sweet old days of “Jigsaw” and his endless creativity. There’s no doubt it’ll still make enough of a profit to warrant another follow-up. Let’s just hope they pick a better setting, better characters, bigger traps, and a more terrifying voice for the “Jigsaw” killer to have us keep coming back for more.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, pervasive language, some sexual references, and brief drug use)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 1.75 Stars (Out of Four)
