Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) Review

When I heard about Spiral I have to admit I was worried. With it’s over blown cryptic title that re-brands yet still name checks the immensely successful Saw series I had fears of a reboot situation trashing the original in the hopes to sell the shocking series to a whole new audience who hadn’t lived through it as I had.

Let’s just remind ourselves that the first Saw film released in 2004 directed by the hugely talented James Wan and written by the equally amazing Leigh Whannell is now 17 years old, meaning there are kids out there born the year it came out who are just about to reach the required age to actually go see one of the 8 sequels the landmark horror spewed forth.

Thankfully Spiral is still very much a part of the Saw series both in its story and behind the camera seeing as it is directed by Saw 2 to 4 helmer Darren Lynn Bousman. This then makes it the 9 th time a bunch of people have be disgustingly sliced and diced by a bevy of beastly devices all set up to teach a lesson to these gullible and guilty victims.

Nine films is a lot even for a horror franchise so why you may ask has Saw endured?

The answer can be found in its sinister simplicity seeing as every instalment has repeated the same format. A killer wants to play a game and teach some lessons, traps are set, victims are put into them, lots of blood and guts are spilled repeat ad infinitum.

Many may call it gratuitous torture porn but there is an artistry that elevates the Saw series above more mundane and uninspired horrors with the myriad of magnificent menacing machines attaining a cult status all of their own. Spiral is no exception and the devices here not only innovate yet again by devilishly fit the crimes those captured have committed. Fingers are torn off, tongues are ripped out, glass is propelled into skin at a sicken speed.

Interestingly this time the mastermind behind these painful games of punishment is targeting police officers, a simple plot point which finally and fittingly makes thematic sense of the pigs head mask Jigsaw seemed so fond of donning during his previous chaotic capers.

Gone too is the Puppet toy (whose name is Billy by the way) that Jigsaw creepily employed throughout his reign of terror replaced by a pig faced marionette which is just as unsettling and we find out equally significant to the story line when the final curtain falls.

Let’s be clear however Spiral’s mastermind is not the Jigsaw Killer aka John Kramer always played with aplomb by Tobin Bell and although he is mentioned the film makes it obvious that this is a new villain inspired by Jigsaw’s modus operandi but with a very different mission.

Pulling focus from the classic villain to the people trying to stop them is a sensible move as previous Saw movies attempted to humanise John Kramer and explain his motivation more clearly a noble and noteworthy cause that sadly served to take away a sizeable amount of the fear factor from the films.

Set against this cop killing psychopath is Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks played surprisingly by Chris Rock. Although Rock has acted in the past he is best known for his stand up and his introduction to the audience sees him offensively riffing on Forest Gump in a monologue reminiscent of Tarantino at his best.

In actual fact Rock is a revelation perfectly balancing quick fire quips with a deep rooted anger and pain that makes him the perfect person for this Jigsaw copycat to play with. It is obvious from the off that the department don’t like Zeke from the dead rat left on his desk to the fact that he is forced to work with a new rookie partner (played by The Handmaid’s Tale’s Max Minghella) by his over bearing boss and the feeling is mutual.

It transpires that Zeke is not only working in the shadow of his father who was the esteemed police Captain and role model to the department Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson) but also early on in his career he grassed on his old partner when he killed an innocent man, making the detective a social pariah to the rest of the force who would rather shot him than help him.

Forcing his way onto the case Zeke starts receiving gift boxes from the serial killer containing body parts of the officers he has slain. As the murder gets bolder and more bloodthirsty the investigation gets more grisly with police bodies piling up. Zeke desperately tries to hold things together but when things become personal he and the case start to spiral out of control.

Written by the team behind 2017’s Jigsaw Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger Spiral manages to hit all the notes necessary to be a Saw film while attempting to experiment and offer an original plot.

Although it slips into classic cop cliches on several occasions Chris Rock’s performance carries the viewer through, making these trite moments more entertaining with his enraged energy and quick wit. You are also never far away from another nasty moment and the increasingly stomach churning traps make it hard to look away from the screen.

A more than valid entry to the morbid and magnificent film series Spiral may be from the Book of Saw but it also manages to writes a few original pages of its own as well.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is available on digital, DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD now.

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