Jigsaw ( Tobin Bell ) and his apprentice Amanda ( Shawnee Smith ) are dead.. Then comes news of Detective Kerry’s ( Dina Myer ) murder and FBI profilers, Agent Strahm ( Scott Patterson ) and Agent Perez ( Athena Karkanis ), help veteran Detective Hoffman ( Costas Mandylor ) sift through Jigsaw’s latest grisly game.. But then SWAT Commander Rigg ( Lyriq Bent ), the only local officer who has yet to experience Jigsaw’s handiwork, is abducted.. Thrust into the madman’s harrowing game, he has 90 minutes to overcome a diabolical series of interconnected traps, or face the deadly consequences.. Rigg’s citywide pursuit leaves a wake of dead bodies, and Detective Hoffman and the FBI uncover clues that lead them back to Jigsaw’s ex - wife Jill ( Betsy Russell ).. The genesis of Jigsaw’s evil is unveiled, exposing the puppet master’s true intentions and the sinister plan for his past, present - and future victims..

Rated: [ R ] For sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture throughout, and for language..

Cinema release: 26th October 2007

Running time: 95 minutes

Stars: Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Costas Mandylor, Lyriq Bent, Athena Karkanis, Justin Louis, Simon Reynolds, Mike Realba, Marty Adams

Only 360 days till the next Saw movie! The Saw installments have become such an annual event that you half expect the new movies to open and close like an episode of Heroes.. ” Previously.. on Saw..” At the end of the last Saw movie, Jigsaw and Amanda were dead and fans wondered how the trilogy could possibly be continued to an inevitable fourth installment.. Well, that wily troublemaker with the puppet fetish set up a few things before he departed this mortal coil and might have even had an accomplice or two we didn’t know about before.. Saw IV almost makes you believe there are hundreds of rooms out there at this very minute with traps, puppets, tricycles, and audio tapes just waiting for the next game.. The bigger question is, with the trilogy done, does the franchise still have any life in it?

Jigsaw ( Tobin Bell ) really is dead.. He died in Saw III and there’s no supernatural return for him in Saw IV.. However, the notorious John Kramer’s presence pervades the screen perhaps more than ever this time around.. In 2004’s Saw, we barely caught a glimpse of the moralistic murderer; in Saws II and III, he was recumbent as a result of being ill, but here in Saw IV he’s fully realized in living color ( Or, at least shades of green )..

Saw IV opens with the far - too - graphic autopsy of John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer.. We watch as his head is sliced open with a bone saw and his brains are taken out and weighed.. In loving detail, director Darren Lynn Bousman shows us his chest being opened and his stomach being removed.. As the doctors slice open his stomach, they find a tape that our good friend had swallowed just before he died and the game starts all over again..

This time the action follows Detective Rigg ( Lyriq Bent ), who has survived life as a supporting character in the previous two Saw films only to become the target of Jigsaw’s game himself.. While Rigg is dealing with a gambit of traps and games, two visiting FBI agents are on a separate course, attempting to figure out how Jigsaw is still operating considering his ex - living status along with the death of his assistant Amanda.. The solution: Jigsaw had more than one helper, and the remaining aid is still on the loose..

Standard Saw fans may be a little disappointed in the latest installment because the traps and gore seem to take a back seat to plot and exposition.. Instead of just laying on the traps that parallel the moral shortcomings of those involved, the movie offers a glimpse behind the method and madness of Jigsaw and explains how the killer was created.. Unlike poor backstories like Hannibal Rising and Rob Zombie’s Halloween, the story doesn’t demystify Jigsaw as much as just explain how a brilliant architect named John became the killer, extending the mythos around the character..

The flashbacks explaining Jigsaw’s past ( Courtesy of the FBI agents interrogating his ex - wife ) intertwine beautifully with Rigg’s storyline.. Instead of being placed in different traps like Jigsaw’s normal victims, Rigg is exposed to other victims in traps or forced to put them in the traps after seeing the killer’s rationale behind the selection of prey.. It’s an interesting way to give some insight to both the audience and the detective, although that doesn’t make some of the traps any less disturbing.. As always, the creativity of the killing devices makes me question the sanity of letting the movie’s writers run free..

As creative as the traps might be, the one downfall for the movie is the writing.. I can get past the intense gore at times and the seizure inducing editing of the film at key moments, but some of the dialogue of the movie is absolutely horrific.. Even worse, the writers feel the need to point out that Rigg is being indoctrinated into Jigsaw’s mentality throughout the picture.. Frankly, that sort of thing could have been left unsaid, and yet the FBI Agents offer it as part of their investigation at every crime scene..

Saw IV is perhaps one of the best horror movies of the year which surprised the hell out of me.. If you thought Captivity was gorey, you dont want to watch Saw IV.. When I went to the first screening here in Sydney, within the first 5 minutes, 9 people got up and left, while 5 others were vomiting in the seats in front of them.. The autopsy scene and the hair trap and knife trap are three of the nastiest and well put together scenes I have seen in awhile.. Through the flash backs, you get to learn all about Jigsaw, his past and most importantly what drove him to go from quiet and friendly Engineer to Engineer of death.. I think the reason I enjoyed Saw IV so much is because we finally get to see what makes Jigsaw tick and why he does what he does in great detail..

Saw IV will please any fan of the franchise and will fit nice and snug in your new trilogy box set.. It has everything you’d ever want from a Saw film and really brings it full circle.. The only thing that might displease some of you is the open - ended finale, which is about as blunt as closing the door on Adam’s face in the first Saw.. But that’s was you expect right? As Jigsaw so calmly states.. ” This is only the beginning..”

I give Saw IV 4 out of 5..