We are in the middle of “spooky season” in October so expect horror movies for the next few weeks. I am personally extremely excited for this, and I love this time of year. We also have the reemergence from an old horror movie icon in Jigsaw. This is actually the tenth film in the “Saw” series hence the name, if you include a quasi-spin off with Spiral starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. If you’ve been reading and going to the movies with me since this column started, you may remember that review. I enjoyed it and it received 4 stars out of 5 rating!

This new film is actually set between the first Saw (2004) and Saw II (2005) and aside from Spiral most of these movies haven’t been great. I’ve went back and made it up to Saw VI before seeing the new one. They get progressively worse. So, I was worried. Would this be another quick cash grab for Halloween? Would we ride the excitement for last week’s 5-star review?

Onto the film.

We open with Jim Kramer/Jigsaw learning he has brain cancer and only months to live. Immediately the film has a somber tone, and you’ll find yourself feeling sorry??? for this man. Let’s go on. We see that he’s watching a custodian steal from a patient’s room and then the film cuts to one of the class Jigsaw traps. The games begin! I won’t give away what the traps are but this one is pretty good. We then realize this is Kramer (Bell) fantasizing what he would do to the young man, remember he is still new to the serial killer life. The sympathy does not start here. He then goes to a cancer support meeting, and we hear other people discuss their struggles and what they are fighting. I found myself feeling bad for this character. Mind you, I didn’t expect to feel bad or care for this person after watching all of the other films. Well done by the director and script writers and especially Tobin Bell.

We see Kramer meet a man named Henry Kessler from the support group and the man looks like he has a new lease on life! He’s healed!!! We then learn that there is some experimental operation/medication that could possibly save his life. Off John goes to Mexico to meet Cecilia Pederson (Lund) and her team who have allegedly helped so many others with “miracle” operations.

Let’s just say things don’t go as planned…

Here’s what works with this film:

The cast! I was surprised that Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) and Shawnee Smith (Amanda) who are veterans of these films actually brought heart and their struggles has the audience feeling empathetic for them. As I said earlier, WELL DONE! I can’t remember another horror series where one of the later entries turns everything on its head and you feel for the bad guys. This isn’t to say you root for them but maybe the Doctor and company are worse than these two. Regardless this made for a fun movie.

What didn’t work:

The traps unfortunately left a lot to be desired. I get that in this film’s timeline they are both “new” to the Saw universe and the events that happened in the previous films but most of the traps felt lazy and the only thing stopping everyone from getting out was time. One more minute and each person probably lives. It is still entertaining and works for an October release. I would also lose all of them immediately for the record.

If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll definitely want to see this. The setting in Mexico is a lot more fun than a derelict bathroom from Saw (2004) Also I encourage you to go to see how a horror franchise is able to have their big bads have a little heart after all these years. This isn’t better than Spiral, but this is the best entry on the franchise aside from the original. Happy October!!! The Exorcist next week….3 ½ stars out of 5