As the last remaining apprentice to the Jigsaw Killer, Detective Hoffman is promoted to hero status while secretly carrying on his mentor's gruesome legacy. However, with Agent Strahm closing in on his true identity, Hoffman must set a new game in motion: a trap involving five strangers connected by a dark secret who must choose between selfish survival and working together to escape a horrific fate.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 24, 2008 |
Running time |
92 minutes |
Genre |
Horror Mystery Thriller Crime |
Budget |
$10,800,000 |
Box Office |
$113,864,059 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
David Hackl |
Produced by |
Gregg Hoffman Oren Koules Mark Burg |
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: #05 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Inescapable Pendulum
Seth Baxter, a convicted murderer released prematurely from a life sentence due to a legal technicality, awakens in a dim, industrial chamber. He finds himself strapped horizontally to a table, immobilised beneath a massive, swinging pendulum blade suspended from the ceiling. A video tape activates, informing Seth that he has exactly 60 seconds to save himself. To stop the blade, which descends incrementally toward his torso with every swing, he must insert both hands into two heavy mechanical vises mounted beside him and press the activation buttons. This action will crush his hands, destroying the very tools he used to kill, but it is the only way to halt the mechanism.
Panic sets in as the blade slices through his shirt and grazes his skin. With seconds remaining, Seth summons the will to survive; he shoves his hands into the vises, screaming in agony as the machines pulverize his bones. He successfully presses the buttons before the timer hits zero. However, despite his compliance, the pendulum does not stop. As Seth watches in horror, the blade continues its descent, slicing brutally into his abdomen. He is slowly cut in half while an unknown observer watches the execution through a peephole in the adjacent room.
The Water Cube
The narrative shifts to the chaotic aftermath at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant. Special Agent Peter Strahm is locked inside the sickroom by Detective Mark Hoffman. Surrounded by the corpses of John Kramer (Jigsaw), Amanda Young, Jeff Denlon, and Dr. Lynn Denlon, Strahm frantically searches for an exit. He discovers a hidden door that reveals a secret passageway and a tape recorder. The voice on the tape warns him ominously: his only chance of survival is to stay in the room and wait for reinforcements. Trusting his instincts over the killer's advice, Strahm ignores the warning and proceeds down the dark, secret hallway.
As he moves deeper into the catacombs, a figure wearing a pig mask lunges from the shadows, subduing him. Strahm regains consciousness to find himself in a new trap: his head is sealed inside a plexiglass cube connected to two water tanks. The cube begins to fill rapidly. Strahm struggles, but his hands are useless against the sealed box. As the water completely submerges his head and his lungs burn for air, he spots a pen in his pocket. In a desperate act of survival, he jams the pen into his neck, performing a crude tracheotomy to allow air into his lungs directly, bypassing the water-filled cube. Meanwhile, police reinforcements storm the plant. Detective Hoffman emerges, carrying the rescued Corbett Denlon, appearing to be the hero. Moments later, paramedics wheel out a severely injured but alive Peter Strahm.
The Will and the Promotion
Following the confirmation of John Kramer's death, his ex-wife, Jill Tuck, is summoned to the law offices of Bernie Feldman, John's executor. Feldman plays a videotape John left specifically for her. Following the video's message, Feldman hands Jill a mysterious black box. She unlocks it using a key she wears around her necklace. Upon peering inside, Jill is visibly shocked by the contents but snaps the box shut and leaves the office without revealing what she has seen.
Publicly, the Chief of Police holds a press conference announcing the official end of the Jigsaw murders. He promotes Mark Hoffman to Detective Lieutenant, crediting him with closing the case. Hoffman accepts the accolades, but his victory is short-lived. Upon returning to his desk, he finds an envelope containing a cryptic note: "I know who you are." Shaken, Hoffman learns that Special Agent Lindsey Perez has died from injuries sustained during the previous investigation. He visits Strahm in the hospital, ostensibly to console him. Strahm, however, is cold and suspicious, revealing that Perez's final words were "Detective Hoffman." The tension escalates into an argument, prompting Hoffman to leave. Shortly after, Strahm's superior, Special Agent Dan Erickson, enters and informs Strahm that he has been officially removed from the case for his own well-being.
The Fatal Five: The Collar Test
Ignoring his removal from the case, Hoffman heads to an underground sewer system where he has prepared a new game. Five strangers—Ashley Kazon, Charles Salomon, Luba Gibbs, Brit Stevenson, and Mallick Scott—awaken in a room, standing on metal grating. Each wears a heavy leather collar locked around their neck, and all five collars are tethered together by a single retractable cable. A video message from Jigsaw (recorded by Hoffman) explains their selection: they are all connected by their selfish abuse of advantages given to them at birth.
The rules are deadly simple: they must retrieve keys to unlock their collars from glass boxes positioned on pedestals in front of them. However, if they do not unlock themselves within 60 seconds, the cable will retract, dragging them backward into a row of V-shaped blades mounted on the wall, resulting in decapitation. Furthermore, any attempt to stay still will trigger nail bombs set to a 15-minute timer. As the timer begins, panic ensues. The group struggles against the cable, realizing that if one pulls forward, the others are pulled back. One by one, four of them manage to coordinate briefly to grab their keys. Ashley, however, fails to retrieve hers in time. The cable retracts violently, dragging her into the blade and severing her head.
Survival of the Fittest
The four survivors—Charles, Luba, Brit, and Mallick—flee into the next chamber, escaping the nail bombs. The second room contains jars suspended from the ceiling and three safety chambers built into the walls. A tape recorder explains that the jars contain keys to the safety chambers, which will protect them from the explosive devices scattered around the room. Crucially, there are only three chambers for four people.
As the 60-second timer begins, Charles, an investigative journalist, adopts a ruthless strategy. He attacks Mallick, battering him and declaring that one of them must die. While Charles smashes jars looking for keys, Brit and Luba secure keys for two of the chambers. Charles eventually finds a key, but before he can use it, Luba attacks him with a blunt object. Mallick, seizing the opportunity, snatches the key from the dazed Charles and locks himself in the third chamber. Charles is left exposed in the center of the room as the timer expires. The bombs detonate, killing him instantly.
Hoffman's Origin
While the game progresses, Peter Strahm conducts a rogue investigation. Convinced that Hoffman is Jigsaw's accomplice, he digs into old case files and discovers a crucial link: Seth Baxter, the man killed in the pendulum trap, had murdered Hoffman's sister, Angelina Acomb. Strahm visits the scene of Seth's murder, piecing together the timeline.
Flashbacks reveal the truth: Hoffman had been a distraught brother seeking revenge. When Seth was released from prison, Hoffman abducted him and placed him in the pendulum trap, mimicking Jigsaw's modus operandi but rigging the trap to be inescapable—an execution disguised as a game. The real Jigsaw, John Kramer, discovered the copycat murder. He abducted Hoffman, bound him to a chair, and presented the blackmail note: "I know who you are." Jigsaw offered Hoffman an ultimatum: work with him to rehabilitate people, or be exposed as a murderer. Hoffman chose to become the apprentice. The flashbacks show Hoffman assisting with major traps from the past, including Paul Leahy’s razor wire maze and the nerve gas house from the previous year.
The Bathtub and the Connection
In the third room, Luba, Brit, and Mallick face their next test. They must connect five electrical cords to a bathtub filled with water to complete a circuit and unlock the door. However, the cords are too short to reach the water simultaneously. As they strategize, the group pieces together their connection. Mallick admits to being an arsonist who accidentally killed eight people. Luba, a city planner, accepted bribes to facilitate zoning changes. Brit, a ruthless real estate developer, arranged for the destruction of old buildings—including the one Mallick burned down—to clear land for profitable developments.
Realizing a human conductor is needed to bridge the gap between the cords and the water, Luba attempts to force Mallick into the tub. Brit interrupts, stabbing Luba in the neck with a sharp implement, killing her. With cold pragmatism, Brit and Mallick drag Luba’s corpse into the bathtub. They attach the five cables to her body, completing the circuit. The door unlocks, allowing them to proceed.
Blood Sacrifice and Realization
Brit and Mallick enter the final room to find a machine fitted with five circular saws and a central beaker. The instructions require them to spill ten pints of blood into the beaker to open the exit door. As they look at the five saws, a horrifying realization dawns on Brit: the game was never meant to be a competition. They were supposed to work together.
In the first room, one key could have unlocked all five collars. In the second room, the chambers were large enough to hold two people each. In the third room, if all five had held hands, they could have bridged the circuit with a mild shock rather than a fatality. The ten pints of blood were meant to be a collective sacrifice, easily shared among five people. Now, with only two survivors, the physical toll will be immense. With no other choice, Brit and Mallick thrust their arms into the spinning blades, sawing through their own flesh to fill the beaker. They scream in agony as the blood level rises, eventually unlocking the door just as they collapse from shock and blood loss.
The Frame-Up
As Strahm closes in, Hoffman initiates a counter-plan to frame him. He sends Jill Tuck to Erickson's office to report that she feels threatened by Strahm. After Erickson takes the bait, Hoffman uses Strahm’s stolen cell phone to call Erickson, hanging up immediately to leave a digital trail. Erickson traces the signal to the observation room near the sewer game.
Erickson arrives at the site just as Brit and Mallick complete their bloody sacrifice. He finds the survivors and calls for medical backup. While securing the scene, Erickson discovers Strahm's cell phone planted on a table, along with surveillance photos of the victims and a file on Erickson himself. Convinced by the evidence, Erickson issues an All-Points Bulletin (APB) for Peter Strahm, identifying him as Jigsaw’s successor.
The Glass Coffin
Strahm tracks Hoffman to the renovated Nerve Gas House from the second investigation. He infiltrates the basement, discovering a hidden room containing a large, upright glass coffin filled with broken shards. A tape recorder inside the room features Hoffman’s voice, congratulating Strahm on finding the sanctuary but warning him that the only way to survive what comes next is to trust him and enter the glass coffin.
Refusing to trust the man he knows is a killer, Strahm stops the tape abruptly when he hears footsteps. He ambushes Hoffman as he enters the room. A brutal fight ensues, ending with Strahm overpowering Hoffman and shoving him inside the glass coffin, locking him in. Strahm believes he has won, demanding Hoffman explain himself. Hoffman simply points to the tape recorder.
Strahm restarts the tape, and the rest of the message plays: the room is designed to crush anyone not inside the box. As the tape ends, the door to the room slams shut and locks. The walls begin to close in mechanically. Simultaneously, the glass coffin—with Hoffman safely inside—lowers into a secure pit in the floor. Strahm desperately tries to shoot the mechanism and climb out through the ceiling grate, but it is futile. As Hoffman watches calmly from beneath the floorboards, the walls crush Peter Strahm to death, leaving Hoffman as the sole survivor and undisputed heir to Jigsaw’s legacy.
