Posted in: Horror, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: film, horror, saw, spiral: from the book of saw
3 Essentials We Need in Spiral: From the Book of Saw
The Saw franchise will be returning with the upcoming Spiral: From the Book of Saw, reviving a world of death traps, scorned detectives, and that demented puppet on a tricycle.
We know this will serve as the official ninth entry to the series, so it won't be disregarding any of the previous chapters — and this film should have a few familiar franchise attributes that will make it feel true to the twisted, long-running horror property.
The Jigsaw Connection
Without John Kramer taking on the title of Jigsaw, there's no doubt that the Saw franchise wouldn't have survived for as long as it has. Played by Tobin Bell, the character's voice, wicked ideology, and calm yet intimidating demeanor created a fictional killer that spawned nearly 10 films and almost a billion dollars in the box office.
After Jigsaw's death in Saw 3, his character appeared in at least some capacity in every entry. Whether through pre-recorded tapes, a surprise prequel, and flashback sequences, the choice to kill the star of the franchise was a gutsy move when the films added another 6 chapters post-death. We have since seen the Jigsaw mantle carried by other proteges like ex-game survivors and double-crossing detectives, so hopefully, this new iteration circles-back to the character that made us love Saw to begin with.
Unexpected cameos
After the demise of Jigsaw, the franchise made it an important inclusion to reintroduce us to characters from prior installments. In Saw: The Final Chapter, the film even brought back a group of those who survived the traps from Jigsaw once before to display the effects of surviving the brutality.
The other option includes bringing back Amanda or Dr. Gordon, who each transitioned into more villainous Jigsaw roles than we had initially known was possible from these former survivors turned game makers. In Spiral, it would be nice to see a reference to someone who has survived the franchise (RIP to Jill Tuck, she had so much potential) to keep the Saw mythology expanding on the original films while carving out a new path for new viewers.
An elaborate game
The Saw franchise has introduced us to several different narrative ideas. We have followed the perspective of an officer's experiences or have witnessed a collective of confused men and women being thrown into a survival game together.
Though this Saw film appears to be following Chris Rock's character while investigating the string of familiar murders, it would be nice to follow a new group trying to survive to add that necessary layer of familiarity. It's these experiences that fleshes out the characters, make their attempts for survival more important, and helps expand the already diverse mixture of survival games.
The torture-traps are a no-brainer, but Saw tends to work best when there are several characters in the mix, so hopefully, in Spiral, we'll be seeing a group as opposed to the aftermath of individual crime scenes.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw is currently aiming for a release of May 21, 2021.