Saw IV (2007)

I'm starting to think this franchise is a convoluted cruelty device itself, in which Jigsaw is trying to teach me some sort of moral about continuing to watch these dumb movies. The nu metal of horror franchises, they seem to be getting more obnoxiously agro and ridiculously elaborate as they go. Still, this one is slightly better than the last, with its really cool opening blind / deaf death machine scene and some interesting decisions forced upon the main guy.

Saw IV is the best Saw by far! The story was a lot more interesting and more exiting! This movie also features my favorite Saw trap, which is the Scalping Seat. And similar to the surgery scene in Saw III, this film starts off with Jigsaw's autopsy scene, the effects and details were amazing, it looked so accurate to a real autopsy! The ending was probably the best ending out of all the Saw films, it even gives Saw III a bigger conclusion! This film is very underrated, sad to say, and I think it deserves way more attention than it has.

"Saw IV" concentrates on two story lines: what truly motivated Jigsaw (played by Tobin Bell) into putting people into traps; and a cop (played by Lyriq Bent) being tested by Bell to see how far Bent's obsession will go regarding Bent's need to save everyone. While the former is interesting and well played, the latter was forced, with Bent doing many things that were out of character despite the screenwriters trying to justify it with Bent's emotional problems.More bloody, heinous traps; more gruesome deaths of victims; more plot twists; more revelations; more mini cassettes with Bell's altered voice; more frenetic editing and transitions that move the story along rapidly…all leading to more reasons for fans of this series to squirm and laugh and gasp and enjoy the morbid nature of these stories.My most memorable, movie moment of "Saw IV" is the very detailed, disgusting, and fascinating autopsy scene. Unless you have a very strong stomach, this is not the time to be eating your hot dogs or chips and salsa.Four movies in, and the "Saw" movies still have lots of steam. How far can it go before going stale? I shall find out soon because I'll be checking out part V.Mannysmemorablemoviemoments

Since they began, the SAW films have been little more than a string of grisly death set-pieces fixed together by story lines which are often silly and sometimes completely implausible. The fourth entry in a series that shows no signs of flagging offers more of the same, except in even greater amounts: the deaths are bloodier and more painful and the storyline completely ludicrous by now. The problem is that there's so much baggage, with references to all three previous films and recurring characters popping up all over the place, that the resulting plot is a confused mess, with people turning up from two films ago only to die and more unfinished strands than you can shake a stick at. What's even worse, the events of this film play concurrently with the events of SAW 3, but that's something we only find out at the very end, leading to much "what the heck?" confusion come the final moments.The movie kicks off with an utterly gratuitous autopsy scene in which Jigsaw is dismembered in exquisite detail. First, out comes his brain, then we witness his body being sawed open and his stomach removed and cut apart. It's all slaughterhouse graphic and adds utterly nothing to the plot or movie; it's just there to be repulsive. Shortly afterwards we're back to the deadly puzzles, although they're more confused by now and kind of just happen all over the place. Yet these are still worse than before: one woman is scalped in the film's most excruciating moment, while another guy has to push his face through knives. It's all very bloody and nothing is kept to the imagination. What I did enjoy was the movie's set-piece, in which three guys are trapped in a room. One of them is chained by the neck on a block of ice that's readily melting, another one is about to get electrocuted from the rapidly collecting water beneath him. This ends with many twists, as you'd expect, and nothing disappointed.Elsewhere, the film concentrates on the acting with some surprisingly good performances from the assembled cast members. Costas Mandylor and Lyriq Bent are both fine as investigating cops, while Justin Louis puts in a kooky turn as a corrupt lawyer. Donnie Wahlberg and Angus McFadyen also pop up in returning roles, but the best performance goes to Tobin Bell, who gets a chance to develop his character in a lot of flashback scenes. Here we learn how Bell turned from family man into psychotic killer, and it's pretty interesting, giving the movie more depth than the last three films all together. Which is why I found SAW IV to be a surprisingly watchable film, much better than the last sequel. Please, though, don't let there be any more...