Spiral: Latest Installment in the SAW Horror Franchise at Once Faithful and Novel

By Thom Ernst

Rating B-

You will either see Spiral: From the Book of Saw as the latest installment in the SAW franchise, or you'll see it as the first installment in the Spiral franchise. It's a case of Jigsaw is dead! Long live Jigsaw! Fans of the franchise have been through this before.

For those who've been trapped in a cave since 2003, SAW is a torture-based horror franchise that plays off themes of atonement through penance. That sounds nice and righteous, but like a fever-pitched sermon spat from the wrong pulpit (think Malachai from Children of the Corn), SAW is all fire and brimstone. If the atonement doesn't kill you, the penance will.

Now, after years of Jigsaw's rule as the architect behind a series of mechanical devices so tortuous it would give the Marquis de Sade cause to shudder, a new villain emerges. SAW devotees will argue that every SAW installment has a new villain, but until now, Jigsaw always managed to worm his way into the plot. Even with Spiral, actor Tobin Bell — who is as much of the face of Jigsaw as Robert Englund is of Freddy Kreuger — makes a brief Hitchcock-like cameo.

Spiral stars Chris Rock (who also shares an executive-producer title) as Detective Zeke Banks, a cop despised by his precinct for ratting out a corrupt officer. His dedication to lawfulness (albeit in fashionable maverick chic) nearly costs him his life when fellow officers refuse to respond to his call for backup. Now Banks is the lone-wolf in the precinct, much to the chagrin of the tough-talking but ultimately supportive police chief (Marisol Nichols).

But Banks' renegade days are over when assigned to break in a fresh-faced Rookie (Max Minghella), who idolizes Banks and his father (Samuel L. Jackson), the precinct's previous chief. It plays a bit like a cop parody, particularly in a flash-back scene featuring Rock and Jackson, a mustachioed father and son team. But that changes when a Jigsaw copycat killer (credited as Jigsaw II) starts murdering police officers.

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

The script by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger (Jigsaw 2017) is tailored to make the best use of its star's comedic ability. Rock is funny, even when his humour is intended to reflect more severe distrust, anger, and frustration. It's hard not to embrace Banks as a somewhat jovial maniac when his introduction on-screen has him arguing the ethics of ableism in Forrest Gump.

But Rocks' humour takes a backseat to the film's main attraction. Carnage is the draw. There are times when Banks' personal conflicts threaten to hijack the story. There is an almost 30-minute lapse between the first killing and the next. That's the equivalent of two to three hours in horror-movie-franchise time. But director Darren Lynn Bousman who directed three previous SAW films knows what fans want and delivers. Eventually.

Spiral boasts a new beginning; the familiar distorted voice that once meticulously detailed both crime and punishment has changed, and the bizarre-looking joker/clown puppet thing that's become a trademark to the series is replaced with a grotesque pig marionette in a police uniform. But Spiral is locked in a formula that has not budged in nearly two decades. That is likely to read as good news for fans of the franchise.

The official title is Spiral. But we all know it's SAW 9.

Spiral. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Starring Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Max Minghella. Now available on VOD platforms.