♆♆♆ Saw ♆♆♆ Saw II ♆♆♆

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If you haven’t read the previous reviews, you might not understand what I’m talking about in this one! Click the links at the top!

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Saw III starts up with the echoing screams from the ending of the last one, throwing you right back into the mix. It’s a nice opening to get the horror juices flowing, whether you just watched Saw II or not. Jigsaw is on his deathbed and has a new acolyte carrying out his twisted games while he pulls the strings behind the scenes. The brainwashed follower captures a surgeon from a hospital with the intent of preserving Jigsaw for as long as possible. A second story runs parallel with a man named Jeff, played by Angus Mcfayden (Braveheart, Equilibrium), who had lost everything waking up in a run of traps. Wandering through the obstacle course, he faces the people he accused of ruining his life and must decide what becomes of them.

Rib cages are ripped open, limbs are twisted way farther than they should ever go, and pig guts become a swimming pool. In Saw III the traps are the most brutal yet, but the torture doesn’t outweigh the gravity of the moral decisions Jeff has to make. The pain factor of the dying is multiplied by how torn Jeff is about freeing these people he has dreamed of killing himself.

On the Jigsaw side of things, the overarching story progresses without hindrance. The mastermind’s apprentice begins to cheat, making traps that are impossible to escape, therefore missing their master’s original intent. The apprentice designs a new version of the reverse bear trap and it’s a looker. It’s a collar armed with shotgun shells that will go off if the surgeon tries to get away or if Jigsaw flatlines. With those kind of stakes I don’t know if I could even tie my shoes properly! The surgery scene makes me cringe so much I pop blood vessels from squinting so hard. Unless you are a doctor/nurse yourself, I guarantee it’ll get under your skin (pun intended)!

All of the paths lead to a finale common with a pileup in an intersection. James Wan returns as a writer to help Leigh Whannell out and it’s apparent. The story wraps up the end of a certain character’s arc fittingly and makes way for the horrors that await in the next Saw films. Saw III is the first in the series that wouldn’t work as well as standalone story, but if you have been invested from the beginning, it is a satisfyingly wholesome payoff. Here’s to you, Jiggy!

5 ripped open rib cages out of 5

★★★★★

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Thank you for joining me for the MASSACRE MARATHON! There won’t be such a heinous month until next October, but keep your eyes open for new reviews being slung out at a faster rate than pig-faced pizzas at a puddle-poodle parade! The Manster loves you all, from the bottom of his chewed up and spit out excuse for a damned heart.