Saw V

Saw V
Promotional poster
Directed by	David Hackl
Produced by	Gregg Hoffman Mark Burg Oren Koules
Screenplay by	Patrick Melton Marcus Dunstan
Starring	Tobin Bell Costas Mandylor Scott Patterson Betsy Russell Mark Rolston Julie Benz Carlo Rota Meagan Good
Music by	Charlie Clouser
Cinematography	David Armstrong
Editing by	Kevin Greutert
Studio	Twisted Pictures
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date(s)	October 23, 2008 (2008-10-23) (Australia) October 24, 2008 (2008-10-24) (US and Canada)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Canada United States
Language	English
Budget	US$10.8 million
Box office	US$113,864,059

Saw V is a 2008 Canadian-American horror film directed by David Hackl and written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan and stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor and Scott Patterson. The film, the fifth installment in the Saw franchise, was released on October 23, 2008 in Australia and October 24 in North America.

David Hackl, who served as the production designer of Saw II, III, and IV, and second-unit director for Saw III and IV made his directorial debut with Saw V. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writers of the previous film, returned to write the film. Charlie Clouser, who provided the score for all previous Saw films, also returned to compose the score for the film. Saw creators, James Wan and Leigh Whannell served as executive producers.

The film focuses primarily on the events that led up to Detective Mark Hoffman becoming an apprentice of the Jigsaw Killer, as well as his efforts to prevent anyone else from learning his secret.

Plot

Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a convicted murderer, awakens chained to a table beneath a pendulum blade. He can release himself by crushing his hands between presses on either side of the table; though he does so, the pendulum still swings down and violently cuts him in half while someone watches through a hole in the wall.

After Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) kills Jeff Denlon (Angus Macfadyen) in self-defense and is locked in the sickroom, he escapes through a hidden passage and is attacked by a pig-masked figure. He awakens with his head in a box slowly filling with water, and survives by performing a tracheotomy using a pen. After giving Corbett Denlon (Niamh Wilson) to the police, Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor claims they are the only survivors, and is shocked when Strahm is brought out alive as well. Hoffman is promoted to detective lieutenant during a memorial service held for the five officers killed in action, and learns of the death of Strahm's partner, Lindsey Perez, while taking Strahm's phone. He meets Strahm at the hospital, where he learns that his name was Perez's last words. Strahm is also met by Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston), his boss, who takes him off the case. Now suspicious of Hoffman, Strahm takes past Jigsaw victim files and begins researching them on his own.

In his will, John Kramer (Tobin Bell) leaves Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) a box and videotape, in which he stresses the importance of the box's contents. She opens it with a key hung around her neck, and leaves without a word. She later goes to Erickson claiming that Strahm is stalking her, and Erickson becomes suspicious of Strahm and puts a tracker on his phone. Meanwhile, five people - Brit (Julie Benz), Luba (Meagan Good), Mallick (Greg Bryk), Charles (Carlo Rota), and Ashley (Laura Gordon) - awaken in an underground room with collars connected to mounted blades locked around their necks. The keys are in glass boxes across the room, but advancing will set off a one-minute timer. All but Ashley reach the keys, and she is decapitated when her collar retracts. In the next room, keys can be found in overhead jars to unlock three bomb shelters. Charles attacks Mallick for his key, but is struck by Luba and left to die in the explosion. In the third room, five short cables must be connected to a full bathtub to unlock the locks on the door. Luba attacks Mallick to close the circuits with his body, but Brit kills her and they use her body instead.

While the tests play out, Strahm learns through his research that Hoffman killed Seth Baxter, using the pendulum trap to frame Jigsaw, to avenge his sister, who Seth had murdered. John used this information to coerce Hoffman into working with him, and Hoffman assisted in the majority of the tests, most notably the razor-wire maze and the nerve gas house. Hoffman also planted Lawrence Gordon's penlight and provided the files of the gas house victims. Strahm ultimately realizes that everyone was meant to die in the meatpacking plant except Hoffman, who was to be the hero who closed the case. Brit and Mallick enter the fourth room, which contains a machine fitted with circular saws and a beaker to be filled with ten pints of blood to open the door. Mallick notes that the machine has five armholes and they realize that all five were meant to work together to survive every game. Everyone would offer two pints of blood to the machine, but the two must now offer five pints each. Brit also realizes that all five were connected through a building fire that killed eight people. With no other options, they begin sawing their arms to provide the blood.

Erickson follows Strahm's phone to the control room, where the phone was planted along with Erickson's file. He finds Brit, who managed to crawl from the fourth room after Mallick passed out, and calls for medical assistance, and then places an APB on Strahm, now convinced of his involvement with Jigsaw. Strahm follows Hoffman to the renovated nerve gas house and enters a small underground room, which houses a clear box filled with broken glass. Hoffman's tape urges Strahm to trust him and enter the box, but he stops the tape short and ambushes Hoffman when he arrives. He seals Hoffman in the box, causing the room to seal itself, and learns from the rest of the tape's message that if he does not, he will vanish and the Jigsaw legacy will become his. The box is lowered safely into the floor, while the walls close in on Strahm, who attempts to escape through the ceiling grid, and crush him to death.

Production

Saw V was written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, and the film went into production after Christmas 2007. Principal photography took place from March 17, 2008 to April 28, 2008 in Toronto. By mid–July 2008, there had been three photos released of David Hackl at the set of Saw V. The first trailer, depicting Agent Strahm's box trap, was released at Comic-Con 08 as a short clip and the trailer was also shown before The X-Files: I Want to Believe. The website opened on August 6, 2008. On September 17, 2008, a new clip was available on the Saw V website, depicting the Pendulum Trap.

Release

The film was released in Australia on October 23, 2008, in North America and the United Kingdom on October 24, 2008, and in New Zealand on October 30, 2008.

Box office

In its opening weekend, Saw V grossed $30 million in 3,060 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number two at the box office behind High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It grossed $56,746,769 in the United States and Canada, and an additional $57,110,764 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $113,857,533. This was the second film in the series to not be number one at the box office, the first was the first film. It is Lionsgate's tenth highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada.

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 14% of critics gave the film positive reviews, making it the second poorest-reviewed film in the series, losing to the most recent Saw 3D. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus states "If its plot were as interesting as its torture devices, or its violence less painful than its performances, perhaps Saw V might not feel like it was running on fumes." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 19 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.

Elizabeth Weizman of the New York Daily News believed that the lack of Tobin Bell's Jigsaw character hurt the film: "Bell's deliciously twisted madman was the lifeline of this series, and without him, we're left watching a routine horror flick that might as well have gone straight to DVD. The series began with two major assets that set it apart: the concept of a brilliantly righteous executioner, and the actor who played him. Now, aside from Bell's brief, intermittent cameos, it has neither. So where the original Saw was diabolical fun, this fifth installment is as bloodless as the most unfortunate of Jigsaw's victims." Sam Adams of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "The virtues of the individual films are almost beside the point, since it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to pick up the thread at this late date, but Saw V is a particularly dull and discombobulated affair, shot and acted with all the flair of a basic-cable procedural".

Some reviews were positive, however. The British website Digital Spy rated it 3/5 stars and commended the film for its "solid acting, slick direction and suitably filthy cinematography too", while also stating it will "make far more sense to those familiar with the previous installments". IGN awarded the film with 3 out of 5 stars stating that the film ties up most of the loose ends of the previous 4 installments while also having a more straightforward and less complicated storyline. They also praised the traps for being the most inventive and best that the Saw franchise has had to offer.

Home media

Unrated Director's Cut

During an interview at the 2008 Scream Awards, David Hackl claimed that his director's cut of Saw V (released on DVD January 20, 2009), would run approximately 14 minutes longer than the theatrical cut. Hackl also stated that a number of scenes in the film would be re-ordered and arranged differently than in the theatrical cut. However, only a few changes were made and the extra footage was never released, running only four minutes longer than the theatrical version.

Unrated Collector's Edition

A collector's edition is available with exclusive packaging. It features sound effects, a collector's booklet, and a spinning "saw blade". The features on the DVD itself are the same as the standard Unrated Director's Cut.

Soundtrack

Main article: Saw V Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on October 21, 2008 by Artists' Addiction Records.

External links

• Official website
• Saw V at the Internet Movie Database
• Saw V at AllRovi
• Saw V at Box Office Mojo
• Saw V at Metacritic
• Saw V at Rotten Tomatoes