Saw IV (Unrated)

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

The horror/suspense/gory franchise that won't die, even when the bad guy perpetrating all the elaborate murders does, still has some life in it yet. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is back, kinda, with a bunch of new traps that are supposed to enable evildoers to repent and cherish life, but really only make them torture themselves to death. It centers around an obsessive cop (Lyriq Bent) on a quest by Jiggy to save two of his fellow officers. The timeline on this one jumps all over the place, but we get some insight into who Jigsaw is and why he does what he does. The story gets a bit confusing, however; we spent half the time pausing to remember who each of these characters from past Saw films were. This could have been solved with a quick recap at the beginning—"Previously, on Saw…"—because when a movie franchise hits number four you have to assume not everyone studied the previous ones as religiously as the filmmakers. But we like these movies and are happy to know they haven't given up on trying to tell a story or devise new gruesome traps that continue to give our ass an uncomfortable chill. Bring on Saw V: Still Sawin' After All These Years.

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