Even though its primary antagonist, “Jigsaw Killer” John Kramer (Tobin Bell), was decisively and irreversibly killed in the third film, the Saw series keeps on plugging. Using increasingly convoluted flashbacks, retcons, and surprise apprentices, it’s come up to ten movies and counting — and that’s after the seventh one claimed it was the final chapter. Saw has been around so long that a whole new generation of critics has grown up to appreciate it — the last one, Saw X, was the first to score a fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It also served as an elegant way to end the story, had anyone involved been interested in doing so; it was an “inter-quel” set between the first and second films, with Kramer fully accepting his terminal cancer diagnosis after pursuing a fake cure and punishing the fraudsters.
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Like every other finale-that-isn’t — Friday the 13th has two — Saw X did well enough to justify more. But where does it go from here? The last loose end in the original storyline is Dr. Gordon, played by Cary Elwes, who’s not entirely averse to returning but feels his arc is done. Bell remains the heart of the franchise, but unless they copy Scream 7 and bring him back as an AI digital mask, the story will have to depend on flashbacks again to use him, and there aren’t many gaps in his story. Whatever the case, the new announcement of a director gives us hope.
Experienced Rebooter Mike P. Nelson Will Direct Saw XI
image courtesy of cineverse
Announced in The Hollywood Reporter, Mike P. Nelson is set to direct the eleventh Saw film, with original director James Wan, who wants to make it scary again, back as producer. The script will be written by Gregory Weidman & Geoff Tock, of Netflix’s In the Shadow of the Moon. New Line head Adam Fogelson is quoted as saying Nelson has a “singular vision” for the film. It wouldn’t be the first time, if so: Nelson breathed new life into Silent Night, Deadly Night last year, reinventing the psychotic Santa slasher as a more satirical take with a vigilante possession angle, and a scene involving the mass slaughter of Nazi Santas. It may or may not spawn sequels, but was easily the best (and most critically praised) film to bear that franchise’s name. Nelson also directed a well-liked reboot of Wrong Turn in 2021, turning it from an ever-diminishing series of DTV inbred cannibal movies to a fresh backwoods religious cult horror story.
Nelson’s pattern, then, is to add new elements to franchise reboots, altering the core premise while keeping the iconography people like. The Saw movies are likely to stay all about the elaborate traps that force victims to self-mutilate or die, but there’s a better than average chance that Nelson will change Jigsaw significantly. The last time the series tried that, we got Spiral, the ninth film (and the only one Bell did not act in), with Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock in a story where most viewers found the new killer too easy to guess. The franchise quickly course-corrected back to John Kramer afterward, but Bell is 84, and can’t do this forever. Nelson’s next movie is the killer snake film Beware Boiúna, opening Oct. 2nd.
Head down to the comments to tell us if you are excited for the Saw series to return or should it have sat on the sideline a bit longer? Or you could tell us your favorite Saw franchise kill!
Saw: All Ten Films in the Franchise Ranked
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