Review: Saw V

Dir. David Hackl. Stars Tobin Bell, Julie Benz, Costas Mandylor & Scott Patterson.

The fifth instalment in this Australian-created franchise feels more like an episode of Desperate Housewives than a horror movie. Gone are the creepy atmosphere and suspense that held the first film together, and in their place are boring subplots and gore-splattered walls. It’s a soap opera on acid.

Filled with flashbacks, recaps, and ‘to be continued’, there are more questions asked than answered in what is turning out to be an over-the-top and uninteresting multi-faceted story as to the how and why of the serial killer known as Jigsaw.

After an opening torture scene ala The Pit and the Pendulum, one of the best in the series, Agent Strahm is back and discovers there is much more to the story of Jigsaw. In Saw 4, it was revealed that detective Hoffman was the third accomplice to Jigsaw. Through increasingly annoying flashbacks in this instalment, we learn the ridiculous way in which the two became entwined. Meanwhile, to provide something more interesting to focus on, we meet five people who wake in a cold and deadly room where they must interpret evil traps. These people, too, have a back-story—again uninteresting—in which they are all somehow connected. This provides the reason they were chosen to play the game. One by one, they succumb to their demise while Agent Peter Strahm gets closer and closer to revealing Detective Hoffman’s part in the evil game.

There is nothing new in this episode. Unlike other horror franchises that may try to be inventive or new, the Saw movies are all very similar. The only way to tell them apart is by the most creative torture scene from each movie. The characters are over developed. The gore is over the top. The torture scenes, though top rate, have lost the shock value that established the intensity of the first two films. Yet, this is the first of the franchise to receive an ‘R’ classification rating in Australia.

The film offers more questions than the answers it provides to ensure the viewer is primed for the sixth instalment, due out this Halloween. But this is what we have come to expect from this series. For those eager to find out what happens next, you may be enthralled by Jigsaw’s history. Really, the series is now for the fans patient enough to wait until it’s all played out. Let’s hope the payoff is worth it.


Review by Troy King.