Saw IV is a 2007 American horror and midquel to the 2006 film Saw III written by newcomers Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Thomas Fenton; and directed by Saw III Darren Lynn Bousman. The film was released in Australia on October 25, 2007, and in the United States on October 26, 2007. The film's North American release date followed the series' tradition that the films be released the Friday before or on Halloween of each year.
This installment continues the story of the Jigsaw Killer, and his obsession with teaching people the value of their own lives. Although Jigsaw died in the last installment, this film focuses on his ability to manipulate people into continuing his work.
Plot
During John Kramer's (Tobin Bell) autopsy, a wax-coated microcassette is found in his stomach; it is given to Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), to whom it informs that he too will be tested, and that the games will continue. Meanwhile, Trevor (Kevin Rushton) and Art (Justin Louis) awaken in a mausoleum. Both men are chained at the neck to a winch; Trevor's eyes are sewn together, as is Art's mouth, rendering communication impossible. When the winch begins pulling them together, Trevor panics and attacks Art, who kills him and takes a key from his collar to free himself.
Four days after her disappearance, the police find the corpse of Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer). After Hoffman cautions Lieutenant Rigg (Lyriq Bent) for going through an unsecured door in order to reach Kerry, he meets Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis), two FBI agents who had previously been in contact with Kerry. They inform Hoffman that neither Jigsaw nor Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) murdered Kerry, as neither were physically capable of placing her in the trap, indicating there is a third party involved. Strahm later becomes suspicious of Rigg, who is convinced that Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), who disappeared six months previously, is still alive.
That evening, Rigg is attacked in his home; upon awakening, a videotape informs him that Matthews is still alive, with ninety minutes to save himself, with Hoffman's life at stake as well. He finds Brenda (Sarain Boylan), a prostitute, chained to a chair with a pig mask covering her face. The first test, "see what I see," is for him to leave her there; he ignores the message and ends up triggering a device to begin peeling her scalp off. He manages to free her, but she attacks him; she had been told that she would be arrested if Rigg saved her unless she killed him first. He throws her into a mirror and leaves; her corpse is later found by police, led by Strahm and Perez. Rigg's next test takes place at a motel, where the words "feel what I feel" are painted on a door. He forces the manager, Ivan Landsness (Marty Adams), into a prearranged trap; pictures around the room show that Ivan was a serial rapist. Ivan must choose between blinding himself with blades or being dismembered. After Rigg leaves, Ivan only manages to blind one eye before time runs out and his limbs are ripped off. The third test, "save as I save," takes place at a school where Rigg once attacked a man named Rex, who abused his wife and daughter. He finds Rex and Morgan, his wife, hanging back-to-back from a harness with several rods impaling them together. The rods are placed through vital organs in Rex's body, but non-vital organs in Morgan's; she can live by removing the rods while he will die either way. Rigg finds her with one rod left; he hands her the key to her harness and leaves, setting off the fire alarm as he does, for his final destination.
Meanwhile, Strahm and Perez alternate between interrogating Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), Jigsaw's ex-wife, and investigating the scenes of each victim's trap. The two discover that they are Jigsaw targets as well, and that Art Blank, a lawyer who had gone missing two weeks previously, had successfully defended each victim of their crimes; he was also Jill's lawyer. When Perez is hospitalized after an incident at the school involving Jigsaw's puppet, which also predicts that Strahm will "soon take the life of an innocent man," Strahm furiously interrogates Jill, who reveals the rest of Jigsaw's backstory. She had been pregnant with a baby to be named Gideon, after John's first project as a civil engineer, but miscarried after drug addict Cecil Adams (Billy Otis) robbed her clinic; this would later drive her and John into divorce. After John learned of his cancer and survived his suicide attempt, he began his work testing others, targeting Cecil first. He placed Cecil in a trap where Cecil was to push his face into several knives to release himself, but the trap collapsed and he blindly lunged at John, who sidestepped and allowed Cecil to fall into a tangle of razor wire. Additionally, Art Blank is revealed to have worked with John before. Strahm connects this story with the Gideon Meatpacking Plant, the location of Rigg's final test. He arrives shortly after Rigg, but ends up trailing Jeff Reinhart (Angus Macfadyen), who is making his way to the makeshift sickroom of the plant. He eventually catches up to Jeff in the sickroom; Jeff waves a gun at Strahm, demanding to know where his daughter is, and Strahm kills him in self-defense, fulfilling Jigsaw's earlier prediction.
Simultaneously, Rigg is on a trail leading to a large room containing Hoffman, Matthews and Art Blank. Matthews stands atop an ice block with a noose around his neck, and Hoffman is strapped to a chair with an electrode at his feet. The two are at opposite ends of a balanced scale, and if Matthews slips off the ice after too much time passes, he will be hanged and Hoffman will be electrocuted by the melted water reaching the electrode. Two more ice blocks are positioned on the ceiling, set to swing down and crush Matthews' head if the door to the room is opened. Art must monitor them while a device on his back is set to cut through his spine; he can only release them after ninety minutes have passed. When Rigg arrives, Art and Matthews attempt to ward him off, and Matthews shoots Rigg, though he still makes it through the door with one second left on the clock. Rigg shoots just as Matthews is killed by the ice blocks. He then kills Art, believing him to be responsible for the trap, and learns from the tape recorder in Art's hand that he has failed the test by interfering; Matthews and Hoffman would have lived if Rigg had not tried to save them. An unharmed Hoffman releases himself and leaves Rigg to die, revealing himself as the second accomplice. He arrives in front of the sickroom just as Strahm kills Jeff, and seals Strahm inside with the four corpses. He is later called to Jigsaw's autopsy, which took place after the events of the film.
Cast
Production
There were rumors[who?] about who was writing the script for Saw IV, including Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan.[2] On a news article on the same rumor site, an actual writer was revealed,[by whom?] Thomas Fenton.[3] There was also a hunt for the director of Saw IV before it was officially stated that Darren Lynn Bousman would direct the fourth installment, with creators and executive producers, James Wan and Leigh Whannell also returning.[4] Two of the rumored directors were David Moreau and Xavier Palud.[5] It has been stated[who?] that 90% of the crew from the last movie will be back.[6]
On the official Saw fan page, director Bousman says: "Scott Patterson, the first day he shows up, he says, ‘I’m going to do something a little different here.’ And I’m like, ‘Alright.’ We yell ‘action’ and all of a sudden he started improvising and it was gold. It was like the best stuff I’d ever seen and he’s insane."[6]
Production offices opened on February 12, 2007 to begin the pre-production period. The filming of Saw IV began on April 16, 2007[7] and continued for 6 weeks.[8] The filming location for the horror film was Toronto, Ontario,[9] the same place both Saw II[10] and Saw III[11] were filmed. Post-production period began on May 19.[12]
Shooting for the film ended on May 30, 2007,[6] with a budget of approximately $10,000,000.[13] In an interview with Darren Lynn Bousman, he stated that the last work on Saw IV would happen in August to be able to have prints made.[13]
At Comic Con 2007 it was revealed by director Darren Lynn Bousman and producer Mark Burg that the MPAA had given the film an NC-17 rating. They would have to figure out whether or not to cut the film to achieve an R rating or release it as an NC-17 film.[14]
Lions Gate has teamed with the American Red Cross for the annual Saw IV Blood Drive.[15] Since the first Saw blood drive in 2004, Saw film-goers have donated nearly 38,000 pints of blood to help save as many as 112,500 lives. Collection totals have doubled year after year resulting in tens of thousands of lifesaving blood transfusions.
On August 30, 2007, it was announced that the film was officially rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture throughout, and for language. This was clarified by the new poster (which can be seen at the top of this page), www.ropeofsilicon.com, and numerous other websites.
On August 31, 2007, the official trailer was placed on Yahoo Movies.[16] On the same date, the official website for Saw IV was launched.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed $31,756,764 in the United States and an additional $71,228,814 internationally, bringing the theatrical total to $134,528,909. [17]
Reviews
Critical reception to Saw IV was generally negative. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 18 percent of critics gave the film a positive review, based upon a sample of 67, with an average score of 3.7 out of 10.[18] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 36 out of 100, based on 16 reviews.[19] Scott Schueller from the Los Angeles Times called it "a film as edgy as a rubber knife" and said that "if the terrible craft of Bousman's film doesn't turn your stomach, the borderline pornographic violence will. It's disconcerting to imagine anyone enjoying the vile filth splashing the screen."[20] Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter said "the famously inventive torture sequences here seem depleted of imagination", but added that "it hasn't yet jumped the shark like such predecessors as the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th movies eventually did."[21] Peter Hartlaub from The San Francisco Chronicle called it "the Syriana of slasher films, so complicated and circuitous that your only hope of understanding everything is to eat lots of fish the night before and then watch each of the previous films, in order, right before you enter the theater."[22] James Berardinelli wrote that "Saw IV functions as a drawn-out, tedious epilogue to a series that began with an energetic bang three years ago with Saw, then progressively lost momentum, coherence, and intelligence with each successive annual installment. Saw IV is nothing short of a money-grab. Despite a couple of loose ends (that are tied up unsatisfactorily here), Saw III finished the story."[23]
Positive reviews came from Scott Weinberg from Fearnet, who said that while it "is almost certainly the weakest of the series where stuff like plot, logic, and chills are concerned... there's still more than enough here to keep the fans intrigued, entertained, and squirming in their seats" and added that the "Saw-makers are to be commended for actually putting forth this sort of effort. I grew up in an era that offered little more than quick-cash, stand-alone horror sequels like Halloween 5 and Friday the 13th Part 7 — so the fact that these producers actually give a damn about narrative continuity (right down to the smallest detail) is fairly impressive."[24] Horror.com said that "with Saw IV, the pieces have all come together and [it's] the best of the lot."[25] Jamie Russell from the BBC called it "deeply unsettling; just like a horror movie should be."[26] Chris Hewitt from St. Paul Pioneer Press claimed that "Saw IV is a fluid film, as neatly constructed as the deadly puzzles Jigsaw creates to snare his victims." Film School Rejects said that "One of the things that is most intriguing to me about the Saw movies is how much I actually have enjoyed them" and claimed that "As far as fourth installments in a series, Saw IV is quite impressive." Linda Cook from Quad-City Times gave it a positive review also and said "The twists and turns are deadly, the 'lessons' are taught once again, and we have the perfect setup for Saw V."[27]
Home media
The Unrated Director's Cut was released on January 22, 2008 in America and March 3, 2008 in the UK, on DVD and Blu-ray. The "Extreme Edition", which was released in the UK only, before the release of Saw V in October 2008[28][29] features a 95-minute running time of the film.
Unrated Director's Cut
In this version, several changes have been made from the theatrical version[30]:
- In the Mausoleum trap, Trevor is hit with a hatchet four times instead of two.
- In his apartment, Rigg is shown waking up in bed after hearing a noise outside his room. A light is seen turning on then off, and then someone runs past his bedroom door.
- There is some extra dialogue exchanged between Rigg and Brenda.
- How Ivan gets captured is different. In the unrated version, Rigg lures Ivan's dog Chance up to his room. When Ivan comes looking for her, Rigg surprises him with his gun drawn.
- Ivan's death is extended and is more graphic.
- Rigg pulls the final rod out of Morgan at the "Save As I Save" test.
- New Scene: Agent Strahm calls Perez's mother and informs her that Perez has been injured.
- Strahm calls for back-up before entering the Gideon building.
- The "Open the door and you will find me" key is further explained. It is the key needed to open the door to the "sick room" that Jigsaw was killed in and Jeff was sealed in at the end of the third film.
- Footage of Hoffman unstrapping himself during the climax has been cut.
The DVD extras include:
- Two audio commentaries (One with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Lyriq Bent; the other featuring the producers.)
- "Darren's Video Diary"– A half-hour behind-the-scenes featurette
- Mini-Featurettes on the Traps
- A Props Featurette
- A single deleted scene
- "I.V." by X Japan music video
- A trailer for the video game Condemned 2: Bloodshot
- A hidden game in the special features menu of the Blu-Ray version
- Select packages included a bonus disc of eight tracks from the Saw IV Soundtrack entitled Music Inspired by Saw IV
Extreme Limited Edition
This edition was only released in the United Kingdom.[28]
- Exclusive automated spinning Saw with a sound clip packaging
- A copy of the Saw: Rebirth comic
- Two audio commentaries (One with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Lyriq Bent; the other featuring the producers.)
- Video Diary of Darren Lynn Bousman
- Traps of Saw IV
- Props of Saw IV
- "I.V." by X Japan music video
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on October 23, 2007 by WEA/Warner Bros. Records.
References
External links
