Following the grisly events that claimed the life of Jigsaw, Detective Mark Hoffman emerges as the sole heir to the killer's terrifying legacy. However, as the FBI draws closer to uncovering his secret, Agent Peter Strahm begins to suspect that Hoffman is not the hero he claims to be. To eliminate the threat and protect his new identity, Hoffman initiates a new game involving five strangers connected by a dark secret, forcing them to choose between selfish survival or painful cooperation.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 24, 2008 |
Running time |
92 minutes |
Genre |
Horror
Mystery Thriller |
Budget |
$10,800,000 |
Box Office |
$113,864,059 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
David Hackl |
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: #05 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Pendulum Trap
Seth Baxter, a convicted murderer released prematurely from a life sentence due to a legal technicality, awakens to a nightmare. He finds himself restrained flat on his back upon a cold, industrial table, his body immobilized by heavy straps. Suspended directly above his torso is a massive, swinging pendulum blade. As his eyes adjust to the dim light, a television screen flickers to life, explaining his dire situation: he has exactly sixty seconds to save his own life. To do so, he must insert both hands into two mechanical vises mounted beside him and press the buttons inside. This action will crush his hands beyond repair but will simultaneously halt the descending blade.
Panic sets in as the pendulum begins its descent, swinging rhythmically closer to his abdomen with every second. Driven by the primal urge to survive, Seth inserts his hands into the crushing mechanisms. With an agonizing scream, the vises snap shut, pulverizing his bones and flesh. He successfully completes his task before the timer hits zero, expecting salvation. However, the mechanism fails to disengage. The pendulum continues its relentless swing, slicing into his torso. As Seth is brutally cut in half, his final moments of agony are observed through a peephole by an unknown figure in the adjacent room.
The Water Cube
The narrative shifts to the aftermath of the carnage at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant. Special Agent Peter Strahm is trapped inside a sealed sickroom by Detective Mark Hoffman. The room is a tomb, housing the corpses of Jigsaw (John Kramer), Amanda Young, Jeff Denlon, and Dr. Lynn Denlon. Exploring his confinement, Strahm discovers a hidden door leading to a secret passageway. Inside, he finds a micro-cassette recorder. The voice on the tape warns him ominously to remain in the room and await reinforcements, promising that seeking an exit elsewhere will lead to his doom. Ignoring the warning, Strahm ventures into the dark hallway, where he is suddenly ambushed and subdued by a figure wearing a pig mask.
Strahm regains consciousness to find his head sealed inside a glass cube. The device is rigged to a water tank, which immediately begins to drain into the box, submerging his head. As the water level rises, panic threatens to overtake him. With his air supply cut off and death moments away, Strahm retains his composure long enough to improvise. He removes a pen from his pocket and performs a crude tracheotomy on his own throat, allowing him to breathe through the makeshift airway despite his head being fully submerged. Meanwhile, police reinforcements storm the plant. Detective Hoffman emerges carrying the rescued Corbett Denlon, playing the hero. Moments later, the paramedics wheel out a severely injured but living Peter Strahm, much to Hoffman's concealed shock.
Legacy of the Jigsaw Killer
Following the confirmed death of John Kramer, his ex-wife, Jill Tuck, is summoned to the law offices of Bernie Feldman, the executor of John’s estate. Feldman presents her with a videotape recorded by John prior to his death, along with a mysterious black box. Jill opens the box using a key she wears around her neck. The contents—which remain hidden from the audience and Feldman—leave her visibly shaken. She departs the office abruptly, guarding the secret of the box.
Publicly, the nightmare seems to be over. The Chief of Police announces the official end of the Jigsaw murders and promotes Mark Hoffman to Detective Lieutenant, crediting him with solving the case and saving Corbett. However, the celebration is short-lived for the new Lieutenant. Upon returning to his desk, Hoffman discovers an envelope containing a cryptic note: "I know who you are." The tension escalates when he learns that Special Agent Lindsey Perez has succumbed to her injuries sustained during the investigation. Hoffman visits Strahm in the hospital, ostensibly to offer condolences. Strahm, however, is suspicious and combative, revealing that Perez's final words were "Detective Hoffman." The confrontation ends with Hoffman leaving abruptly. Shortly after, Strahm's superior, Special Agent Dan Erickson, formally removes Strahm from the case, citing his erratic behavior and medical condition.
The Game of Five
Despite his promotion, Hoffman continues Jigsaw's work. In an underground catacomb, five individuals—Ashley Kazon, Charles Salomon, Luba Gibbs, Brit Stevenson, and Mallick Scott—awaken to find themselves in a new game. They stand in a room with heavy leather collars locked around their necks, all connected by a single cable that runs through the center of the room to a winch. A videotaped message from Jigsaw explains their selection: all five are guilty of selfishly wasting the advantages given to them at birth.
The rules are simple but deadly: they have sixty seconds to retrieve keys to their collars located in glass boxes at the end of the room. If they fail, the winch will retract, dragging them backward into a row of large, V-shaped blades mounted on the wall, decapitating them. Alternatively, inaction will trigger nail bombs set on a 15-minute timer. As the timer counts down, panic ensues. Mallick, Brit, Charles, and Luba manage to reach their keys and unlock their collars. Ashley, however, fails to retrieve hers in time. The winch activates, dragging her backward into the blades, where she is decapitated.
The Shelter Chambers
The four survivors proceed into the next chamber, where the threat of the nail bombs persists. Here, they find sixteen glass jars suspended from the ceiling and three safety chambers built into the walls. A tape recording explains that the keys to the shelters are hidden within the jars, but there are only three chambers for the four of them. As the sixty-second timer begins, Charles reveals his violent nature, attacking Mallick and smashing the jars with a baton, declaring that survival is a zero-sum game.
Brit and Luba manage to secure keys and enter two of the shelters. Charles eventually finds a key, but before he can use it, Luba attacks him, knocking the key from his hand. Mallick seizes the opportunity, grabbing the key and sealing himself in the third chamber. Charles is left exposed in the center of the room as the timer hits zero. The nail bombs detonate, killing him instantly while the others remain safe behind the shelter doors.
Short Circuits and Dark Secrets
Entering the third room, Luba, Brit, and Mallick attempt to deduce the connection between them. Under pressure, Mallick admits to being an arsonist responsible for a fire that killed eight people. Luba reveals she abused her position in the Department of City Planning to take bribes. Brit, a vice president in real estate, confesses to evicting tenants and demolishing buildings for profit. The puzzle in this room requires them to close an electrical circuit to unlock the door. Five electrical cords must be connected to the water in a central bathtub. However, the cords are too short to reach the water simultaneously.
Realizing a body is needed to bridge the gap, Luba attempts to force Mallick into the tub to use him as a conduit. Brit, anticipating the betrayal, stabs Luba in the neck, killing her. With cold pragmatism, Brit and Mallick place Luba’s corpse into the bathtub. They attach the cables to her body, completing the circuit. The door unlocks, allowing them to escape into the final corridor.
10 Pints of Sacrifice
Brit and Mallick reach the final room, confronting a machine fitted with five holes and spinning circular saws. The final tape reveals the price of freedom: the beaker in the center of the room must be filled with ten pints of blood to release the exit locks. As they prepare to mutilate their arms to provide the blood, a horrific realization dawns on them. They were never meant to kill each other. The game was designed for cooperation, not competition.
They realize that in the first room, the keys were identical; one key could have unlocked all five collars. In the second room, the shelters were large enough to house more than one person. In the third room, had all five survived, each person would have only needed to hold one cable, delivering a minor, non-lethal shock. Now, facing the consequences of their selfishness, Brit and Mallick must sacrifice their arms to the saws. They watch in agony as their blood drains into the beaker. Finally, the vessel fills, and the door opens, leaving them alive but permanently maimed and losing consciousness.
Strahm's Investigation
Parallel to the game, Peter Strahm conducts a rogue investigation. Convinced that Hoffman is Jigsaw's accomplice, he raids police archives and uncovers a crucial link: Seth Baxter, the man in the pendulum trap, had murdered Hoffman's sister, Angelina Acomb. Flashbacks reveal the dark history: Hoffman, consumed by grief and rage, had killed Seth in a trap designed to mimic Jigsaw’s MO, framing the serial killer for his personal revenge.
However, John Kramer discovered the copycat murder. John abducted Hoffman, blackmailing him with the "I know who you are" note and forcing him to become an apprentice. The flashbacks show Hoffman assisting in the setup of major traps from previous cases, including Paul Leahy’s razor wire maze and the nerve gas house from Saw II. Strahm visits these old crime scenes, piecing together the timeline of Hoffman's recruitment.
Turning the Tables
Aware that Strahm is closing in, Hoffman initiates a counter-plan to frame Strahm as the second Jigsaw apprentice. He manipulates Jill Tuck into visiting Agent Erickson, claiming she feels threatened by Strahm. After Erickson speaks with Jill, Hoffman uses Strahm’s stolen cell phone to call Erickson, hanging up immediately to leave a digital trail. Erickson orders a trace on the signal, which leads Special Agent Cowan to the underground catacombs where the game is taking place.
Police arrive at the site just as Brit and Mallick complete their final test. Erickson finds the survivors and calls for medical aid. Exploring the surveillance room, he discovers Strahm’s mobile phone and a planted folder containing surveillance photos of Erickson himself. Convinced by the evidence, Erickson issues an All-Points Bulletin (APB) for Peter Strahm, believing him to be the killer.
The Glass Coffin
Strahm trails Hoffman to the renovated Nerve Gas House, discovering a hidden underground facility. He enters a room containing a clear glass coffin filled with broken shards. A tape recorder sitting on the coffin, recorded by Hoffman, offers Strahm a final choice: he must trust Hoffman and enter the glass coffin. The tape warns that while the experience will be painful, it is the only way to survive what is to come. Hearing footsteps, Strahm stops the tape early and ambushes Hoffman as he enters the room.
A violent struggle ensues. Strahm gains the upper hand and manages to shove Hoffman into the glass coffin, slamming the lid shut and locking it. Strahm gloats, believing he has captured the killer. However, the door to the room suddenly seals itself. Hoffman points calmly to the tape player. Strahm resumes the recording, listening to the rest of the message: if he refuses to enter the coffin, he will die, and his legacy will be tarnished as Jigsaw's successor. Immediately, the walls of the room begin to close in mechanically. The floor beneath the coffin opens, safely lowering Hoffman into a protected crawlspace. Strahm desperately attempts to shoot the mechanism and climb through the ceiling grid, but it is futile. As Hoffman watches from the safety of the box below, the walls crush Peter Strahm to death, leaving Hoffman as the sole survivor to continue Jigsaw's work.
