Saw IV
- Directed by
- Darren Lynn Bousman
- Written by
- Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton, Thomas Fenton
- Produced by
- Mark Burg, Oren Koules, Gregg Hoffman, Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Why it’s HorroRated
Saw IV is worth being curious about mainly for its structural ambition, running its entire plot in parallel with Saw III's timeline while burying franchise-defining reveals inside a story that still can't quite justify its own existence. Tobin Bell remains the franchise's most reliable asset even from beyond the death his character suffered in the previous film, and the flashbacks explaining John Kramer's transformation into Jigsaw finally give the mythology real emotional weight. The Hoffman reveal is a genuinely well-executed twist that reshapes the trajectory of the rest of the series, but everything surrounding it feels increasingly mechanical, torture set pieces stacked on torture set pieces with diminishing returns on tension. It's an entry that matters more for what it sets up than for what it accomplishes on its own.
Synopsis
An autopsy on Jigsaw's body reveals a hidden audiotape addressed to Detective Hoffman, warning that the games will continue even after John Kramer's death. SWAT officer Daniel Rigg is abducted and forced through a series of tests built specifically around his compulsive need to save everyone, running in parallel with the events of Saw III as Rigg searches for his missing colleague Eric Matthews. Flashbacks finally reveal the tragedy that transformed John Kramer into Jigsaw, while the film's final twist recontextualizes Hoffman's role in the killings going forward.
