With Special Agent Strahm dead, Detective Hoffman emerges as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, as the FBI draws closer to exposing him, Hoffman is forced to initiate a new game targeting a ruthless health insurance executive. This man, whose business formula dictates who lives and dies based on profit, must now face a series of brutal tests where he is forced to apply that same algorithm to save—or sacrifice—his own employees.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States Canada |
Premiere date |
October 23, 2009 |
Running time |
90 minutes |
Genre |
Horror Mystery Thriller Crime |
Budget |
$11,000,000 |
Box Office |
$68,233,629 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Kevin Greutert |
Produced by |
Gregg Hoffman Oren Koules Mark Burg |
Written by |
Patrick Melton Marcus Dunstan |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
David A. Armstrong |
Edited by |
Andrew Coutts |
Production Co. |
Twisted Pictures |
Distributed by |
Lionsgate |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #06 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Pound of Flesh
In a grim, claustrophobic room, two predatory lenders, Simone and Eddie, awaken to find themselves seated at a table. Each wears a rusted head harness equipped with power drills aimed directly at their temples. A nearby television flickers to life, playing a videotape of Billy the Puppet, who informs them of the rules of their trial: they have exactly 60 seconds to sacrifice their own flesh. In the center of the table sits a scale; whoever tips the scale with the most weight in flesh will survive, while the loser will be killed by screws piercing their skull.
As the timer begins, the panic sets in immediately. Eddie, who is overweight, realizes his advantage and begins frantically slicing large chunks of fat from his stomach rolls. Simone, lean and desperate, struggles to cut enough skin to compete. As the timer ticks down to its final seconds, and realizing Eddie has cut far more weight, Simone makes a horrifying decision. She grabs a cleaver and chops off her entire left arm, slamming it onto the scale just as the buzzer sounds. The scale tips in her favor. Eddie screams as the mechanical device activates, driving the screws deep into his skull, killing him instantly while Simone survives the gruesome ordeal.
The Resurrection of Agent Perez
The aftermath of the game draws the attention of the authorities. Detective Mark Hoffman is summoned to the crime scene by FBI Special Agent Dan Erickson. Erickson reveals two shocking pieces of evidence: first, the fingerprints of the supposedly deceased Special Agent Peter Strahm were found on the scale and on Eddie's corpse. Second, he escorts Hoffman to an interrogation room to reveal that Special Agent Lindsey Perez, who was believed to have died from shrapnel wounds during the events of Saw IV, is actually alive.
Perez explains that her death was staged by Erickson to ensure her safety while they hunted for Jigsaw’s true remaining accomplice. Faced with this pressure and the "evidence" implicating Strahm, Hoffman agrees to cooperate with the agents to maintain his cover.
The Black Box and The Insurance Executive
Hoffman visits the Jill Tuck Recovery Clinic to meet with John Kramer’s ex-wife. Jill produces a black box left to her by John’s executor, Bernie Feldman. From it, she hands Hoffman five envelopes containing photos and instructions for the next series of test subjects. Hoffman, eager to assert control, snatches the envelopes and insists on setting up the game alone, leaving Jill behind. The target of this game is William Easton, a high-ranking executive at Umbrella Health.
William’s business model relies on a cold, calculated formula to find errors in clients' applications, allowing the company to deny coverage for life-saving treatments. It is revealed that William had personally denied John Kramer coverage for an experimental cancer treatment in Norway, arguing it was a waste of money. That night, William is abducted from his office and brought to the abandoned Rowan Zoological Institute.
The Oxygen Crusher
William wakes up standing in a large vise-like trap, wearing an oxygen mask. A video of John Kramer appears, explaining that William has one hour to complete four tests to remove four explosive straps from his limbs. Facing him in the trap is Hank, the janitor at Umbrella Health. The game is simple: every time one of them breathes, the vise tightens around their ribs. Hank, a heavy smoker with poor lung capacity, struggles to hold his breath. As William stoically holds his, the vise closes in on Hank, crushing his torso and killing him. William is released and proceeds deeper into the zoo.
Calculated value: The Hanging Room
William arrives at his second test, confronting the brutal logic he applies to his clients. He finds two high ledges; on one stands his file clerk, Allen, and on the other, his secretary, Addy. Both stand with barbed-wire nooses around their necks, holding heavy chains. William must choose who lives and who dies by holding up one of their platforms.
Jigsaw’s tape forces William to evaluate them based on his company's policies. Allen is a healthy male with no family, while Addy is middle-aged with a history of diabetes but has a loving family dependent on her. Applying a human value rather than a monetary one, William chooses to save Addy. He lets go of Allen’s chain, causing the platform to drop and the barbed wire to strangle Allen to death.
The Steam Maze
In the zoo’s boiler room, William encounters Debbie, the company’s attorney. She is strapped into a harness with a spear positioned to fire through her head. To survive, she must navigate a maze of piping within 90 seconds to reach a key. However, her path is blocked by jets of scalding steam. To help her, William must divert the steam lines towards himself, suffering intense burns to clear her path.
Debbie frantically races through the maze as William screams in pain, redirecting the boiling vapor. She reaches the end only to find a diagram revealing that the key to unlock her harness is surgically implanted inside William's side. Driven by panic and the survival instinct, Debbie attacks William with a circular saw to cut him open. William defends himself, fighting her off until the timer hits zero. The device activates, driving a spear through Debbie's skull.
The Carousel
Bloodied and exhausted, William reaches the fourth test. He finds six of his subordinates—Aaron, Emily, Gena, Dave, Shelby, and Josh—chained to a spinning carousel. These are the employees who helped investigate minor discrepancies to reject claims. A shotgun sits on a mechanism in front of the carousel. As it spins, it stops on a random person. William can save them by pressing two buttons that drive a spike through his hand, but he can only save two of the six.
William begs for forgiveness as the game begins. He watches helplessly as Aaron is killed. He summons the courage to impale his hand to save Emily. Gena is next to die, followed by Dave. William impales his hand a second time to save Shelby. Finally, Josh acts defiant, cursing William before the shotgun blasts him in the chest. William, now severely injured, moves toward the final chamber.
The Voice Analysis
While William undergoes his trial, Agents Erickson and Perez, along with pathologist Dr. Heffner, uncover a critical anomaly. Heffner notes that the puzzle piece cut from Eddie’s flesh was done with a knife different from Jigsaw’s usual scalpel—a serrated blade previously used only in the case of Seth Baxter, the man who killed Hoffman's sister. Suspecting the audio tapes might also hold clues, they take the tape from Seth Baxter’s trap to a tech lab to de-scramble the distorted voice.
Hoffman accompanies them, growing increasingly agitated. At the lab, Erickson confronts Hoffman, revealing that he knows Strahm was already dead when his fingerprints were "left" at the recent crime scene. As the technician, Sachi, successfully clears the audio, Hoffman's voice rings out: "Right now, you're feeling helpless." Before they can react, Hoffman draws a knife and slashes Erickson's throat. He throws hot coffee on Perez and stabs her repeatedly as she shoots him in the torso, though he is protected by the straps of the envelope he is carrying. He finishes off Perez and kills Sachi. To cover his tracks, he uses Strahm’s severed hand—which he has kept preserved—to plant fresh prints around the lab before dousing the room in gasoline and setting it ablaze.
The Letter and the Past
Simultaneously, Jill Tuck executes the final instructions left by John. She takes a specific envelope containing a letter Amanda Young had received before her death in Saw III. She travels to the zoo, enters Hoffman's surveillance room, places the letter on his desk, and hides a modified reverse bear trap in a nearby locker.
When Hoffman returns to the observation room, he discovers the letter. A flashback reveals its contents: Hoffman had blackmailed Amanda. He knew that Amanda was the one who convinced her boyfriend, Cecil, to rob Jill’s clinic years ago—the robbery that caused Jill’s miscarriage and the death of her unborn son, Gideon. Hoffman had threatened to reveal this secret to John unless Amanda killed Dr. Lynn Denlon. As Hoffman reads the letter in shock, Jill emerges from the shadows and subdues him with a taser.
The Final Judgment
William enters the final cage, just as his timer expires. He finds himself separated by wire mesh from two containment cells. In one lies his sister, Pamela Jenkins. In the other are Tara Abbott and her teenage son, Brent. They are the widow and son of Harold Abbott, a man whose medical coverage William had personally revoked, leading to his death.
A video of John Kramer informs Tara that she holds William’s life in her hands. She finds a lever labeled "Live" and a switch beside a tank labeled "Die." William weeps, apologizing profusely and admitting his wrongdoing. Tara, consumed by grief but unable to become a killer, drops the lever, refusing to kill him. However, Brent, filled with rage over his father's death, lunges forward and pulls the "Die" switch. A platform of needles swings down from the ceiling, impaling William’s back. Large vats of hydrofluoric acid pump through the tubes, injecting the corrosive fluid directly into William’s body. He screams in agony as his body dissolves from the inside out, eventually melting in half before his horrified sister's eyes.
Game Over
In the surveillance room, Hoffman wakes up strapped to a chair. Jill has fitted the modified reverse bear trap onto his head. She reveals the contents of the sixth envelope: a photo of Hoffman himself. John Kramer had left instructions for Hoffman to be tested for his lack of adherence to the Jigsaw philosophy. Without leaving a key or a timer, Jill tells him "Game Over," seals the door, and leaves him to die.
Hoffman, in a frenzy of adrenaline, slams his hand onto his restraints, breaking his thumb to slide his hand free. He frantically tries to unlock the helmet but fails. With seconds remaining before the trap triggers, he spots the barred window on the door. He jams the front of the trap between the metal bars just as the device snaps open. The bars prevent the trap from fully expanding, but the force rips his right cheek completely open. Screaming in agony but alive, Hoffman rips the device off his head and stares out, mutilated but surviving.
Post-Credits
In a scene following the credits, a flashback shows Amanda Young visiting the room where Corbett Denlon (the daughter of Jeff and Lynn) was locked away during the events of Saw III. Visibly distraught and weeping after reading Hoffman's blackmail letter, she speaks to the child through the door. Amanda warns Corbett, "Don't trust the one who saves you." This final act of revenge was intended to undermine Hoffman, knowing he would be the one to eventually "rescue" the girl to portray himself as a hero.
