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Saw V

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Saw V
Saw V Promotional Poster
Directed byDavid Hackl
Written byPatrick Melton
Marcus Dunstan
Produced byMark Burg
Oren Koules
StarringTobin Bell
Julie Benz
Meagan Good
Costas Mandylor
Scott Patterson
Betsy Russell
CinematographyDavid Armstrong
Edited byKevin Greutert
Music byCharlie Clouser
Distributed byLionsgate
Release dates
Australia:
October 23, 2008
United States:
October 24, 2008
United Kingdom:
October 24, 2008
New Zealand:
October 30, 2008
Running time
92 min.[1]
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10,800,000
Box office$106,210,879

Saw V is the fifth installment in the Saw franchise. The film was released on October 23, 2008 in Australia, and October 24 in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom.[2] Saw V was directed by David Hackl, unlike the previous three installments which were directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.[3] Hackl was the production designer of Saws II, III and IV, and second-unit director for Saw III and Saw IV.

Plot

Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a convicted murderer who was released early from prison on a technicality, is chained to a table beneath a pendulum blade. A videotaped message informs him that in order to survive, he must crush his hands by putting them into two presses and pushing the buttons inside. Even though he does so, the pendulum swings down and slices him in half. The fact that the trap was inescapable marks it as a creation of someone other than Jigsaw (Tobin Bell).

In a scene from the end of Saw IV, Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) enters the room where Jigsaw died and shoots Jeff Reinhart (Angus Macfadyen) dead in self-defense. He is then locked in by Lieutenant Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), but soon finds a hidden door that leads into a passage. Here a microcassette recording urges him not to proceed any further; ignoring it, he moves down the passage and is attacked by a figure in a pig mask.

When Strahm wakes up, he discovers that his head has been sealed in a box, which quickly begins to fill with water. A self-administered tracheotomy using a pen keeps him breathing until the police arrive at the Gideon meatpacking plant. Hoffman emerges, carrying Jeff's daughter Corbett (Niamh Wilson) and claiming that he saved her, but is greatly surprised when Strahm is brought out alive as well. The chief of police announces an end to the Jigsaw murders and congratulates Hoffman for closing the cases.

Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), John Kramer's ex-wife, receives a videotape and a box from his lawyer. On the tape, John tells her that the items in the box are of great importance and that she will know what to do with them. After looking inside, she takes the box and hurries away without revealing its contents.

File:Luba trap.jpg
Luba in the first test

Strahm learns that Agent Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis) died of the wounds she suffered in Saw IV, and that the last thing she said was Hoffman's name. He confronts Hoffman with this fact, further unsettling him. Gathering up all the files on Jigsaw’s victims, Strahm revisits some of the crime scenes and pieces together Hoffman's involvement. Seth had murdered Hoffman's sister, so Hoffman set up the inescapable pendulum trap in revenge. Flashbacks reveal that Jigsaw used his knowledge of these events to blackmail Hoffman into becoming his accomplice. The two worked together to capture Paul Stallberg (Mike Butters) for the razor wire trap in Saw, set up the nerve gas house in Saw II, and discussed plans before Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) brought Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) to Jigsaw's bedside in Saw III.

Meanwhile, in a sewer, five people, Ashley, Charles, Brit, Mallick, and Luba, wake up in a trap in which collars are locked around their necks, strung on a cable connected to a set of guillotine blades mounted on the wall behind them. The keys to the collars are in glass boxes on pedestals at the other end of the room. When Mallick (Greg Bryk) rushes to get his key and Charles (Carlo Rota) attempts to stop him, a one-minute countdown starts as everyone else is dragged toward the blades. All but Ashley (Laura Gordon) are able to get their keys and free themselves in time; she is decapitated when the collars are automatically pulled back to the wall and into the blades.

In the next room, the four survivors must break jars hanging from the ceiling and find three keys to shelters that can protect them when the bombs in the room explode. Charles attacks Mallick and takes a key from him, but Luba (Meagan Good) knocks Charles down in turn and gives the key back to Mallick. Luba, Brit (Julie Benz), and Mallick unlock and enter the shelters, leaving Charles to die in the explosion.

The third room requires five electrical cables to be connected to a bathtub full of water in order to unlock the door (set to a countdown timer), but they are all too short to reach it. Luba knocks Mallick into the tub, intending to use him to complete the circuits, whereupon Brit fatally stabs her in the neck. By throwing her body in the tub and hooking all the cables to it, Brit and Mallick get the door open.

In the fourth and final room, the exit door can only be opened by filling a beaker with ten pints of blood, to be obtained by the captives putting their arms into a box fitted with circular saws. Here, noticing five holes in the box for their arms, Brit realizes that the five of them were meant to work together so that they could all survive to this point. With no other options, she and Mallick begin sawing their arms to fill the beaker themselves.

While these games are playing out, Hoffman steals Strahm’s cell phone and uses it to make Strahm’s boss, Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston), think that Strahm is Jigsaw's accomplice. He plants the phone and Erickson's own personnel file outside the exit from the fourth room, and Erickson arrives here just as Brit and Mallick get the door open. Both pass out from blood loss as Erickson calls for backup; he then puts out an all-points bulletin for Strahm's arrest.

Strahm’s investigation brings him to a small underground room that contains a transparent box full of broken glass. A recorder inside the box delivers a message from Hoffman: Strahm will have to trust him and get in if he wants to survive. Instead, Strahm stops the tape short, hides in a corner, and ambushes Hoffman when he enters the room, eventually throwing him into the box and closing it. Strahm then plays the remainder of the tape, learning that if he did not comply, he would die and "simply vanish." The door to the room closes and locks as the box lowers Hoffman safely beneath the floor, while the walls come together and crush Strahm to death.

Cast

Development

Saw V was written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan,[4][5] and the film went into production after Christmas 2007.[6] Filming began on March 17, 2008 in Toronto,[7] and principal photography concluded on April 28, 2008.[citation needed] Saw V finished filming by May 2, 2008 and went into post-production.[8][7] By mid-July 2008, there had been three photos released of David Hackl at the set of Saw V.[9] 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.[10][11] 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,[12] in North America and the United Kingdom on October 24, 2008,[12][4] and in New Zealand on October 30, 2008.[12]

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, Saw V grossed $30 million in 3,060 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office[13] behind High School Musical 3: Senior Year.[14] As of December 2, 2008, it has grossed $56,670,155 in the United States and Canada, and an additional $47,685,615 internationally, for a worldwide total of $104,432,384.[15] With the highest budget and lowest gross of all five films, Saw V was the least successful of the series, though it is also still considered a very strong success for making back nearly ten times its budget in theaters. This counts as the second film in the series to not be #1 at the box office, the first was the first film.

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 12% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with the one critic stating that "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."[16] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 19 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.[17]

Elizabeth Weizman of the New York Daily News believed that the lack of Tobin Bell's 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."Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). 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".[18]

Some reviews were positive, however. British website Digital Spy was relatively positive about the film, however, rating it 3/5 stars and commending 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".[19] 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.[20]

DVD and Blu-ray release

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[21]), 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, the Unrated Director's Cut released did not feature the material promised by Hackl, running only a little longer than the theatrical version, and featuring scenes that were presented in the theatrical order.[22]

In this version, several changes have been made from the theatrical version:

  • Seth's death is extended and is more graphic.
  • Seth whispers "I did what I was supposed to do", before he dies.
  • Re-edited sequence: Strahm opening the sick room door has been cut. Instead, the screen is blacked out with Strahm saying "Let me see your hands! Let me see your fucking hands!" (the line is now Saw IV continuity accurate), with picture coming in at Jeff's "Where is my daughter, you mother fucker?!" line. The shot of Jeff with his back turned to Strahm has been cut. We never leave the sick room during the recap so the Saw IV shots of Hoffman leaving Jigsaw's lair have also been cut.
  • A couple extra shots of Strahm in the box before the water floods in.
  • The scene with John's tape ends with Jill slamming the box shut. John's lawyer asking Jill "What's in the box?" with her replying "Thanks for your time, Mr. Feldman" lines have been cut.
  • The reporter Pamela Jenkins's line of "Why isn't this a joint press conference with the FBI?" has been cut.
  • Re-edited sequence: Cut from Hoffman leaving his office after finding the "I Know Who You Are" message to him digging through the evidence locker for Strahm's phone, but instead of him grabbing the phone and leaving like in the theatrical version, another cop tells Hoffman that he is wanted at the hospital and it's about Agent Perez instead.
  • Re-edited sequence: Hoffman's scene with Strahm comes before Erickson is introduced instead of after.
  • New shot of Ashley's decapitated head.
  • Hoffman learning Erickson's name comes earlier.
  • Charles laughs when Mallick calls Brit boring.
  • When Strahm lays all the Jigsaw files out, we get a lot of rapid flashes of Seth's corpse at the scene of his death.
  • New Scene: Flashback with Hoffman and Fisk; Hoffman asks if Kerry is handling the Seth Baxter case and tells Fisk to keep him posted.
  • New Scene: We intercut Strahm's "You were involved with every investigation" line with a flashback of Hoffman at his desk. He opens a piece of mail and pulls out the letter inside saying "I Know Who You Are." Hoffman got the message right before meeting Jigsaw. Essentially, when we saw him get it in the theatrical cut, it was the second time he had seen it.
  • There is some extra dialogue exchanged between Brit, Mallick, and Luba in the Bathtub trap.
  • Hoffman writes something on his notepad and watches Erickson leave after a trace is put on Strahm's phone.
  • Re-edited sequence: We cut from Brit's "They all would have worked" line to Strahm following Hoffman, Erickson getting the phone location, etc. Then cut back to Brit and Mallick entering the final room room before the bomb goes off.
  • There is some extra dialogue exchanged between Brit and Mallick before their last test.
  • Brit and Mallick's final test is extended and more graphic.
  • Strahm's final trap is extended and more graphic.

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.[23] [24]

Sequel

Costas Mandylor has signed up for the next installment of the horror franchise along with main character, Jigsaw, portrayed by Tobin Bell.[25]

Saw VI is to be directed by Kevin Greutert, the editor on all the Saw films to date.[26] The writers of Saw IV and Saw V, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, will be writing Saw VI.

The winner of the VH1 reality series Scream Queens, Tanedra Howard, won a role in the film.[27] The show was co-hosted by Shawnee Smith who played Amanda Young in the Saw films.[28]

Bloody-Disgusting has reported that Saw VI will be released on October 23, 2009, keeping with the series tradition of releasing on the Friday before Halloween.[29]

Soundtrack

Main article: Saw V Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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

References

  1. ^ SAW V rated 18 by the BBFC
  2. ^ Lionsgate Publicity lists Saw V for October 24, 2008. Retrieved 2007-December 6.
  3. ^ SAW V and SAW VI Director Already Signed!, Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2007-December 4.
  4. ^ a b Lionsgate Publicity lists Saw V for October 24, 2008
  5. ^ IGN.com interview with Patrick Melton
  6. ^ SAW 5 Shooting This Xmas. Retrieved December 4, 2007.
  7. ^ a b OfficialSawNews.com. Retrieved February 1, 2008.
  8. ^ Officialsawblog. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  9. ^ Behind-the-Scenes Stills From 'Saw V'!, Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
  10. ^ 'Saw V' Trailer Attached to 'X-Files' Prints
  11. ^ SDCC '08: Saw V Panel, Watch the Teaser Trailer!, Shocktillyoudrop. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  12. ^ a b c Hoyts Distribution Release Schedule
  13. ^ "Saw V (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  14. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for October 24-26, 2008". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
  15. ^ "Saw V (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  16. ^ "Saw V Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  17. ^ "Saw V (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  18. ^ 'Saw V' - Los Angeles Times
  19. ^ At The Movies - Saw V
  20. ^ Saw V Review
  21. ^ [1]
  22. ^ http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/14010
  23. ^ Unrated Collector's Edition Pic
  24. ^ Saw V (Unrated Collector's Edition)
  25. ^ Actor Signs for more Saws
  26. ^ JoBlo.com: Saw VI news
  27. ^ Scream Queens VH1. Accessed October 19, 2008.
  28. ^ MTV Movies Blog:"Saw Star Shawnee Smith Searching for New Scream Queens"
  29. ^ ""Official Release Date For Lionsgate's 'Saw VI'"". 2008-11-13. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
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