Despite the death of the Jigsaw Killer and his apprentice Amanda, the nightmare is far from over. During Jigsaw's autopsy, a wax-coated cassette tape is discovered in his stomach, warning that the games have only just begun. SWAT Commander Daniel Rigg, obsessed with saving everyone he encounters, is suddenly thrust into a ninety-minute series of gruesome tests designed to teach him a hard lesson: he cannot save those who do not wish to be saved. Meanwhile, two FBI agents arrive to profile the killer, uncovering a puzzle that delves deep into Jigsaw's past and reveals a new accomplice.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 26, 2007 |
Running time |
92 minutes |
Genre |
Horror
Mystery Thriller |
Budget |
$10,000,000 |
Box Office |
$139,352,633 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Darren Lynn Bousman |
Produced by |
Mark Burg Oren Koules |
Written by |
Patrick Melton Marcus Dunstan |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
David A. Armstrong |
Edited by |
Kevin Greutert |
Production Co. |
Twisted Pictures |
Distributed by |
Lionsgate |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #04 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Autopsy and the Warning
Following the harrowing events of the previous film, the lifeless body of John Kramer, the infamous Jigsaw Killer, lies on a stainless steel table in the morgue. During a gruesome autopsy, the pathologists make a bizarre discovery: a wax-coated audiotape encapsulated within his stomach. Detective Mark Hoffman is summoned to the morgue to witness the contents of this final message. Upon playing the tape, the voice of John Kramer echoes from beyond the grave, delivering a chilling warning to Hoffman. Jigsaw asserts that his work has not ended with his death, ominously stating that the games will continue and that Hoffman himself will be tested, implying that the detective's ordeal is only just beginning.
Silence in the Mausoleum
The narrative shifts to a macabre scene inside a dimly lit mausoleum, where two men, Trevor and Art Blank, awaken to a nightmare. They are chained by their necks to a heavy, winch-like device anchored in the center of the room. Their ability to communicate has been brutally stripped away: Trevor’s eyelids have been sewn shut, rendering him blind, while Art’s mouth has been stitched closed, leaving him mute. As the winch activates, the chain begins to retract, slowly dragging the men toward the center where the mechanism threatens to strangle them.
In a state of blind panic, Trevor flails wildly, attacking Art with a hook in a desperate attempt to free himself. Unable to reason with the blinded man, Art is forced to kill Trevor in self-defense to survive. Once his captor is dead, Art spots a key attached to Trevor’s collar. He retrieves it, unlocking his own chain just as the winch reaches its limit. In a moment of agonizing relief and horror, Art tears the stitches from his lips to let out a scream, ripping his mouth open in the process.
The Fallen Officer and the Third Accomplice
Four days after her disappearance, the body of Detective Allison Kerry is discovered by a SWAT team led by Officer Daniel Rigg and Detective Hoffman in an underground chamber. The scene is grim; Kerry remains suspended in the "Angel Trap" that tore her ribcage apart. Following the discovery, Hoffman is introduced to FBI Special Agents Peter Strahm and Lindsey Perez. The agents reveal that Kerry had been serving as their informant within the department and had sent them a mysterious key and a cryptic message before her death: "Open the door, and you will find me."
Examining the crime scene, the investigators deduce a disturbing fact: the trap that killed Kerry was inescapable, designed to kill regardless of her compliance. This violation of Jigsaw’s strict moral code leads them to suspect that Amanda Young was not acting alone. They conclude that a third accomplice—someone other than John Kramer or Amanda—must be manipulating the games from the shadows.
Rigg's Obsession and the Game Begins
Officer Rigg has been spiraling into a deep depression since the disappearance of his colleague, Detective Eric Matthews, six months prior. Despite the time passed, Rigg remains obsessed with the belief that Eric is still alive. His fixation makes him a prime target. Later that night, Rigg is ambushed in his own apartment and subdued. He awakens to find a videotape from Jigsaw, which confirms his suspicions: Eric Matthews is indeed alive but has only 90 minutes of air left.
The tape reveals that the fate of Detective Hoffman, who has also been abducted, is inextricably linked to Eric’s survival. Jigsaw presents Rigg with a psychological challenge rather than a physical one: to save his colleagues, he must learn to let go of his obsession with saving everyone. He is warned that their lives depend on his ability to navigate a series of tests within the 90-minute time limit.
See What I See
Rigg’s first test awaits him in his own living room. He discovers a woman named Brenda chained to a mechanical chair. A tape advises Rigg to walk away and leave her, reinforcing the lesson that he cannot save everyone. ignoring the warning, Rigg attempts to help her, accidentally triggering the chair’s mechanism. The device begins to slowly tear Brenda’s scalp from her skull. Desperate, Rigg eventually deciphers the combination to free her. However, the moment Brenda is released, she grabs a knife hidden beneath the television and lunges at Rigg. Forced to defend himself, Rigg throws her onto a glass table, killing her. He subsequently finds a tape recorder explaining that Brenda, a pimp, was blackmailed by Jigsaw: her only way to freedom was to kill Rigg to prevent him from arresting her.
Feel What I Feel
While Rigg departs for his next destination, Agents Strahm and Perez arrive at his apartment with a SWAT team. They discover Brenda’s corpse and a wall covered in photographs of Rigg’s "victims," including Eric, Hoffman, and Brenda herself. Disturbingly, they also find photos of Jill Tuck, John Kramer’s ex-wife. Acting on this lead, the police bring Jill in for interrogation.
Meanwhile, Rigg arrives at the Alexander Motel for his second test. Directed to a specific room, he is ordered to abduct the motel’s owner, Ivan Landsness, a serial rapist who has repeatedly evaded justice. Rigg forces Ivan into a pre-constructed trap in one of the rooms. The sadist is given a choice: he must blind himself by gouging out both of his eyes within 60 seconds or be dismembered. Ivan manages to sacrifice one eye but fails to complete the task before the timer expires. The trap activates, ripping his limbs from his body in a gruesome display of mechanical force.
Save As I Save
Guided by the next clue, Rigg rushes to an elementary school where he had once assaulted a man named Rex for abusing his daughter. inside a classroom, Rigg discovers Rex and his wife, Morgan, impaled together by long metal spikes that connect them back-to-back. Rex is already dead; the spikes pierced his vital arteries. Morgan, however, is alive but pinned. She explains that she was given a choice: remove the spikes to free herself—at the cost of Rex’s life—or die of blood loss. She had already pulled the spikes from her own body, which killed her abusive husband.
Rigg finds a clue indicating the location of the final test—the Gideon Meatpacking Plant—and a message urging him to go home. Refusing to abandon the game, Rigg pulls the fire alarm to ensure the authorities find Morgan, then flees the school to race toward the meatpacking plant.
The Puppet's Message
Agents Strahm and Perez arrive at the school shortly after Rigg leaves. As they secure Morgan, they uncover a connection between the victims: Brenda, Ivan, and Rex were all defended by the same lawyer, Art Blank. Investigating further, they enter the principal's office and find a mechanical Billy puppet. A tape recorder activates, delivering a cryptic message to Perez implies that her partner "will soon take the life of an innocent man" and warns that her next move is critical.
Perez ignores the ominous warning and leans in to inspect the doll. Suddenly, the puppet’s face explodes, blasting her face and neck with shrapnel. As paramedics rush her away, she hands Strahm the mysterious key they received from Kerry, urging him to solve the puzzle.
The Legacy of Gideon
Enraged by the attack on his partner, Strahm storms back to the police station to interrogate Jill Tuck. Under extreme pressure, Jill reveals the tragic history she shared with John Kramer. She explains that before their divorce, she was pregnant with a son they planned to name Gideon. The pregnancy ended in a miscarriage when Cecil Adams, a junkie attempting to rob her recovery clinic, slammed a door into her stomach. This tragedy drove a wedge between her and John, leading to their divorce and John’s subsequent psychotic break following his cancer diagnosis.
Jill describes John’s very first "test," which he inflicted on Cecil. He strapped Cecil to a chair with knives positioned in front of his face; to release his wrists from blades that would bleed him to death, Cecil had to push his face through the knives. Cecil managed to break the chair and lunged at John, but fell into a barbed-wire cage where he died. Listening to this, Strahm connects the dots: "Gideon" was not just the name of their unborn son but also the name of John's first civil engineering project, the Gideon Meatpacking Plant. Strahm realizes this is where the final game is taking place.
The Scales of Justice
Rigg arrives at the abandoned Gideon Meatpacking Plant and locates the room where Eric Matthews and Mark Hoffman are being held. The trap is a giant seesaw mechanism. Eric stands precariously on a melting block of ice with a chain noose around his neck. Hoffman is strapped to an electric chair on the opposite end. Art Blank stands guard, forced to oversee the game with a spine-severing device strapped to his own back. The rules are strict: if the ice melts or Eric steps off, the water runoff will electrocute Hoffman. Art can only release them once the 90-minute timer hits zero. However, if the door to the room is opened before the time expires, two massive ice blocks will swing down and crush Eric’s head.
Game Over
As Rigg approaches the door, Eric spots him through the window and frantically screams for him not to enter. In a desperate bid to stop Rigg from triggering the trap, Eric uses a gun provided by Art to shoot Rigg through the door. Despite taking a bullet to the chest, Rigg’s obsession drives him forward. He kicks the door open with only one second left on the timer. The mechanism activates immediately: the ice blocks swing down, crushing Eric Matthews' skull and killing him instantly.
Rigg, bleeding on the floor, sees Art reaching for a bag and assumes he is pulling a weapon. Rigg shoots Art in the head, killing him. However, Art was merely retrieving a tape recorder. The final message plays for the dying officer: Rigg has failed his test. His lesson was not to save Eric, but to let Eric save himself by simply waiting. By rushing in, Rigg caused the death he sought to prevent.
The Apprentice Revealed
In the silence following the carnage, Detective Hoffman calmly unstraps himself from the electric chair, unharmed. He walks over to Rigg, who watches in shock and betrayal. Hoffman reveals himself as the third accomplice to Jigsaw. He looms over the dying Rigg and succinctly declares, "Game over," before leaving the room and sealing Rigg inside to die.
Timelines Converge
Simultaneously, Agent Strahm arrives at the meatpacking plant. Navigating the maze-like corridors, he finds a door that unlocks with Kerry’s key. Inside, he stumbles upon the aftermath of the events of Saw III: the corpses of Jigsaw and Amanda Young lie in the makeshift sickroom. It is revealed that the events of Saw IV have been taking place concurrently with Saw III. Jeff Denlon, the protagonist of the third film, is still in the room. Disoriented and grieving, Jeff aims his gun at Strahm, demanding to know where his daughter is. reacting on instinct and the puppet's prophecy, Strahm shoots and kills Jeff in self-defense, fulfilling the warning that he would take the life of an innocent man.
Before Strahm can process the scene, Hoffman arrives. He surveys the carnage, then turns off the lights and locks the door from the outside, trapping Strahm in the dark with the bodies of Jigsaw, Amanda, Jeff, and Lynn Denlon.
Full Circle
The film concludes by looping back to its beginning. In the morgue, the scene from the opening plays out in real-time context. Hoffman stands over John Kramer’s body, listening to the wax-coated tape found in the stomach. The timeline is closed, confirming that the autopsy takes place after all the events of the film, and Hoffman is now the sole heir to Jigsaw's legacy.
