''Saw V'' is a 2008
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
David Hackl
David Hackl is a Canadian film director and production designer.
Life and career
Hackl was the production designer and second unit director for ''Saw II'', ''Saw III'', and ''Saw IV''; as well as for ''Repo! The Genetic Opera''. He was in talks ...
, in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by
Patrick Melton
Patrick Melton is an American screenwriter, producer and novelist.
Film career
In 2004, Melton won the third season of Project Greenlight, along with Marcus Dunstan and John Gulager. The television show premiered on Bravo and resulted in the ho ...
and
Marcus Dunstan
Marcus Dunstan is an American screenwriter and director who, along with Patrick Melton, wrote screenplay for the film ''Feast'', which was the winner of Season Three of the filmmaking competition reality TV series ''Project Greenlight''. Dunstan ...
. It is the fifth installment in the
''Saw'' film series and sequel to 2007's ''
Saw IV
''Saw IV'' is a 2007 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, and a story by Melton, Dunstan, and Thomas Fenton. It is the fourth installment in the ''Saw'' film series and sequel to 2 ...
''. The film stars
Tobin Bell Tobin may refer to:
Name
*Tobin (surname)
* Tobin (given name)
Places in the United States
* Tobin, California
* Tobin Bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts
* Tobin Range, a mountain range in Nevada
* Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana
* Tobin ...
,
Costas Mandylor
Costas Mandylor (born Konstantinos Theodosopoulos; 3 September 1965) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Kenny in ''Picket Fences'' and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the ''Saw'' films.
Early life
Mandylor was born i ...
,
Scott Patterson
Scott Gordon Patterson (born September 11, 1958) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his role as Luke Danes in ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Special Agent Peter Strahm in the ''Saw'' films. He also starred as Michael Buchanan in the ...
,
Betsy Russell
Elizabeth "Betsy" Russell (born September 6, 1963) is an American actress who is best known for her roles in ''Private School'' (1983), ''Tomboy'' (1985), and as Jill Tuck, one of the primary characters of the ''Saw'' film series from 2006 to ...
,
Mark Rolston
Mark Rolston (born December 7, 1956) is an American character actor, known for his supporting roles in popular films such as ''Aliens'', ''Lethal Weapon 2'', ''The Shawshank Redemption'', ''The Departed'' and the ''Saw'' film series, as well as G ...
,
Julie Benz
Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) l is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel'' (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on '' Dexter'' (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Awar ...
,
Carlo Rota
Carlo Dante Rota (born 17 April 1961) is a British-born Canadian actor. He has appeared in ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' and as systems analyst Morris O'Brian on the Fox series '' 24''. He also co-starred as Emilio Solano in ''Jane the Virg ...
, and
Meagan Good
Meagan Monique Good is an American actress. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter'' (1998–2001). Good received further ...
.
The plot follows FBI Agent Strahm investigating the murders committed by the
Jigsaw Killer but as delves deeper into the case, he realizes that the murders are part of a larger, more intricate plot. Meanwhile, Jigsaw's accomplice,
Mark Hoffman
Detective Lieutenant Mark Hoffman is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist of the ''Saw'' franchise. He is portrayed by Australian actor Costas Mandylor. While the character was first shown as a police officer in ''Saw III'', la ...
, has been promoted to detective and is tasked with leading the investigation into the Jigsaw murders. However, as Strahm gets closer to the truth, he becomes the target of Jigsaw's traps.
Melton and Dunstan, the writers of ''Saw IV'', returned to write the film. Filming took place in Toronto from March to April 2008. ''Saw V'' was released by
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...
in the United States on October 24, 2008. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, but went on to gross $113.9 million worldwide.
Plot
Convicted murderer Seth Baxter wakes up chained to a table beneath a
pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...
blade. He is told that he can release himself by crushing his hands between two presses. He does so, but the blade still bisects him as someone watches discreetly.
FBI agent Peter Strahm escapes from the room he was locked in by Detective
Hoffman
Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be spelle ...
. He is then attacked by a figure in a pig mask and wakes up with his head sealed in a box being quickly filled with water. Outside, Hoffman delivers Corbett, the kidnapped daughter of Jeff, to the police and claims they are the only survivors. Strahm, having survived the trap by performing a
tracheotomy
Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The ...
with his pen, is brought out alive as well, much to Hoffman's shock.
Hoffman is promoted and credited with closing the
Jigsaw
Jigsaw may refer to:
* Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves
* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces
Arts and media Comics
* Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...
case. Hoffman later finds a note in his office reading "I know who you are," and learns of Agent Lindsey Perez's death while taking Strahm's cell phone from the police evidence room. At the hospital, Strahm tells Hoffman that Perez's last words were "Detective Hoffman" and questions how he escaped the plant. After being put on medical leave by his boss, Agent Dan Erickson, Strahm, suspicious of Hoffman, decides to uncover his involvement with Jigsaw and takes case files of past Jigsaw victims to research them.
In an underground sewer, Ashley, Brit, Charles, Luba and Mallick awaken with collars locked around their necks, connected by cables to a set of blades mounted on the wall behind them. The keys to the collars are in individual glass boxes across the room. A videotape informs them that they are all connected and that they must "do the opposite" of their instincts if they are all to survive the tests ahead of them. Ashley fails to retrieve the key and gets decapitated. In the second room, which is filled with explosives on a timer, Charles first attacks Mallick and then Luba, but she, Brit and Mallick each to retrieve keys to bomb shelters set in the walls. Charles is left to die when the timer expires and the explosives detonate. In the third room, Brit kills Luba and she and Mallick connect her corpse to five cables to complete an electric circuit that unlocks the next door. In the final room, Mallick and Brit find a machine fitted with five saws and a beaker requiring ten pints of blood to open the final door. They realize that all prior tests could have been completed without casualties if they had worked together, and figure out their connection: they were all involved in a building fire that killed eight people. Mallick and Brit concede a truce and each slice an arm in the saws to provide the blood needed to open the final door.
Strahm learns that Hoffman killed Seth Baxter, who had killed Hoffman's sister, years prior. John Kramer abducted Hoffman after the fact and blackmailed him into helping him set up his future "games." Strahm concludes that everyone was meant to die at the plant except for Corbett and Hoffman. John's ex-wife Jill Tuck claims Strahm is stalking her. After Hoffman tells Erickson about Strahm's theory of a second Jigsaw accomplice, Erickson tries to call him. Hoffman answers on Strahm's phone and hangs up. Erickson has one of his agents track the phone's signal.
Following the signal to the sewer observation room, Erickson finds the phone and his own personnel file, both planted by Hoffman. He also finds the still-living Brit and Mallick and calls for medical attention, before putting an
all-points bulletin
An all-points bulletin (APB) is an electronic information broadcast sent from one sender to a group of recipients, to rapidly communicate an important message.Reiter, E. (1970). Police strive to provide protection machines lend valuable assista ...
on Strahm, convinced that he is Jigsaw's successor. Meanwhile, Strahm follows Hoffman to the renovated nerve gas house and finds a tape. In the tape, Hoffman urges Strahm to enter the box, but he stops it short and ambushes Hoffman, whom he seals in the box. Strahm believes he has finally caught Hoffman, but the door to the room suddenly shuts itself and the walls begin to close in as the box is lowered beneath the floor. Strahm finishes playing the tape, which warns him that if he does not enter the box, he will die and be framed as Jigsaw's apprentice. Safe inside the box, Hoffman watches as Strahm unsuccessfully tries to escape the room and is ultimately crushed to death.
Cast
Production
Development and writing
Pre-production began in October 2007 with ''
Saw IV
''Saw IV'' is a 2007 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, and a story by Melton, Dunstan, and Thomas Fenton. It is the fourth installment in the ''Saw'' film series and sequel to 2 ...
'' writers
Patrick Melton
Patrick Melton is an American screenwriter, producer and novelist.
Film career
In 2004, Melton won the third season of Project Greenlight, along with Marcus Dunstan and John Gulager. The television show premiered on Bravo and resulted in the ho ...
and
Marcus Dunstan
Marcus Dunstan is an American screenwriter and director who, along with Patrick Melton, wrote screenplay for the film ''Feast'', which was the winner of Season Three of the filmmaking competition reality TV series ''Project Greenlight''. Dunstan ...
outlining the story.
David Hackl
David Hackl is a Canadian film director and production designer.
Life and career
Hackl was the production designer and second unit director for ''Saw II'', ''Saw III'', and ''Saw IV''; as well as for ''Repo! The Genetic Opera''. He was in talks ...
made his directorial debut with ''Saw V''. He previously served as the production designer of ''
Saw II
''Saw II'' is a 2005 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Leigh Whannell and Bousman. It is the sequel to 2004's ''Saw'' and the second installment in the ''Saw'' film series. The film stars Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Gl ...
'', ''
Saw III
''Saw III'' is a 2006 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Leigh Whannell and a story by Whannell and James Wan. It is the third installment in the ''Saw'' film series and sequel to 2005's ''Saw II''. The film stars ...
'', and ''Saw IV'' and
second unit director
Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...
for ''Saw III'' and ''Saw IV''. Hackl spoke about the fast-paced writing process saying, "We have about a week to write the outline, then the script by the end of the month. We're really just throwing down the ideas now and it's coming together quickly. I've been with
Darren
Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from ...
on all of
he sequels we've always arrived just before Christmas with a script that needed a lot of shakedown but, before shooting,
he scriptis really tight. Right until the last days of filming we're always changing things and adjusting things just seeing what works as the story unfolds and I think that's why people like them - because we never let them rest. We don't go into pre-production with a white script and say, 'That's it no changes.' We push it so there's no holes." He aimed to bring a more emotional context to film so the audience would have an emotional investment to the character in the traps. Without that, Hackl felt the traps would be "just like any gory horror film", which he did not want.
Casting and filming
Tobin Bell Tobin may refer to:
Name
*Tobin (surname)
* Tobin (given name)
Places in the United States
* Tobin, California
* Tobin Bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts
* Tobin Range, a mountain range in Nevada
* Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana
* Tobin ...
,
Scott Patterson
Scott Gordon Patterson (born September 11, 1958) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his role as Luke Danes in ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Special Agent Peter Strahm in the ''Saw'' films. He also starred as Michael Buchanan in the ...
,
Costas Mandylor
Costas Mandylor (born Konstantinos Theodosopoulos; 3 September 1965) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Kenny in ''Picket Fences'' and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the ''Saw'' films.
Early life
Mandylor was born i ...
and
Betsy Russell
Elizabeth "Betsy" Russell (born September 6, 1963) is an American actress who is best known for her roles in ''Private School'' (1983), ''Tomboy'' (1985), and as Jill Tuck, one of the primary characters of the ''Saw'' film series from 2006 to ...
reprised their roles as Jigsaw/John, Agent Strahm, Detective Hoffman, and Jill, respectively. Patterson had signed on through ''
Saw VI
''Saw VI'' is a 2009 horror film directed by Kevin Greutert, in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. It is the sequel to 2008's ''Saw V'' and sixth installment in the ''Saw'' film series. The fil ...
'' but stated, "that doesn't mean I'll actually be in it or do it. It's their option". Bell, whose character was killed in ''Saw III'', shot all new flashback scenes for the film. Bell stated that Russell's character Jill, who plays his ex-wife, would not be featured as prominently as in ''Saw IV'', but "still plays an important part in the story".
Julie Benz
Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) l is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel'' (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on '' Dexter'' (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Awar ...
was cast as Brit, a real estate developer who is put in a Jigsaw trap. Bentz described her as a "very unlikeable character". On her experience filming she said, "Filming the movie freaked me out. I had nightmares. I'd never been in a psychological horror movie. It actually affected me on a deep level. I don't know if I can actually see this one".
However, Benz praised Hackl's directing techniques, such as using a full
storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...
on set which helped the actor's know the correct camera angles at any given time.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place from March 17 to April 28, 2008 in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
Reception
Box office
''Saw V'' was released in the United States on October 24, 2008 by
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...
. In its opening weekend, ''Saw V'' grossed $30,053,954 in 3,060 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number two at the box office behind ''
High School Musical 3: Senior Year''. It grossed $56,746,769 in the United States and Canada, and an additional $57,117,290 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $113,864,059.
Critical reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports an approval rating of 13% based on 76 reviews, with a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
of 2.92/10. The site's consensus states "If its plot were as interesting as its torture devices, or its violence less painful than its performances, perhaps ''Saw V'' might not feel like it was running on fumes."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
reported the film had an average score of 20 out of 100, based on 13 reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.
Elizabeth Weizman of the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' gave ''Saw V'' one out of five stars. She believed that the lack of Tobin Bell's Jigsaw character hurt the film: "Bell's deliciously twisted madman was the lifeline of this series and, without him, we're left watching a routine horror flick that might as well have gone straight to DVD. The series began with two major assets that set it apart: the concept of a brilliantly righteous executioner, and the actor who played him. Now, aside from Bell's brief, intermittent cameos, it has neither. So where the original ''Saw'' was diabolical fun, this fifth installment is as bloodless as the most unfortunate of Jigsaw's victims."
Sam Adams of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' wrote that "The virtues of the individual films are almost beside the point, since it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to pick up the thread at this late date, but ''Saw V'' is a particularly dull and discombobulated affair, shot and acted with all the flair of a basic-cable procedural".
Some reviews were positive, however. The British website
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
rated it three out of five stars and commended the film for its "solid acting, slick direction and suitably filthy cinematography too", while also stating it will "make far more sense to those familiar with the previous installments".
Jim Vejvoda of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
awarded the film with three out of five stars stating that the film ties up most of the loose ends of the previous four installments while also having a more straightforward and less complicated storyline. They also praised the traps for being the most inventive and best that the
''Saw'' franchise has had to offer.
Home Media
Charlie Clouser
Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits a ...
, who provided the score for all previous ''Saw'' films, returned to compose the score for the film. The "Saw V Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" was released on October 21, 2008 by Artists' Addiction Records. Spence D. from
IGN.com gave the soundtrack a score of 7.9 out of 10, saying, "From start to finish the ''Saw V'' soundtrack flows with a sense of purpose and cohesion, the tracks having a unifying dark undercurrent that makes for an electric shocked jolting mixtape with dark intent."
''Saw V'' was released on DVD on January 20, 2009. An unrated
director's cut
A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
was released and runs approximately 14 minutes longer than the theatrical cut.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saw 5
5
2008 films
Crime horror films
2008 horror films
2000s action horror films
American horror thriller films
American sequel films
American splatter films
Canadian splatter films
Canadian sequel films
2000s English-language films
Films scored by Charlie Clouser
Films directed by David Hackl
Films shot in Toronto
Lionsgate films
Torture in films
2008 directorial debut films
2000s American films
2000s Canadian films