In 2017, the series came full circle with a sequel that was also a prequel. It didn't have a number on it because things gets more laughable the higher the number goes, and this series was already getting exhausted at that point. As that one "ends", Jigsaw killer John Kramer is still dead, but only after having masterminded 8 over-complicated torture sprees upon the diagnosis of his cancer. If he had spent as much time seeking treatments, he probably wouldn't have needed to be such an asshole, but then you wouldn't have all this fine art, huh?

But fuck him. This movie finally moves beyond him and goes with another copycat. One with no connection to him other than his amazing engineering skills and sadistic tendencies. Chris Rock is a detective who gets caught up in this mess, which also involves his father Sam Jackson. As the story plays out, this "spin-off" veers more and more into familiar territory as the movie turns into more and more of the same-old same-old we Saw before. And of course, there has to be twist endings, right?


What I really hate about these movies is their "To Be Continued" vibes. They feel like episodes of some pretentious crime drama show, only with graphic torture to appeal to "horror fans". These films exemplify the term "Torture Porn" because they're more endurance tests than quality narrative and execution. The writing process revolves completely around torture methods, and there's never any optimism. Just about everyone tortured is tortured fatally, with no real desire for redemption in these characters, but rather the justification that they'll die horrible deaths. Glorified snuff shorts of sorts, and that's not exactly horror. It's not exactly fun. It's not exactly clever. And it's not exactly good. I find this whole series to be a rather low point for mainstream horror, and I don't pariticularly care for it.


SPOILERS

And of course, the cops had to shoot the black man at the end. I think this movie has a bit of a political agenda to it, which is probably why Chris Rock and Sam Jackson's liberal ass wanted to get involved. If all the sequels before had b-grade actors at most, then suddenly these more rich celebs get involved? And the timing after Floyd?

END SPOILERS


Of course they set it up for a sequel. All these endings are like that, implying that this dreadful series will go on forever. Some things need to end. Especially this review.