Ten years after the death of the infamous Jigsaw Killer, bodies begin turning up around the city, each meeting a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation deepens, forensic evidence points to one impossible suspect: John Kramer. While detectives race against time to stop the slaughter, they must determine if the dead man has somehow returned from the grave to reclaim his legacy, or if a new apprentice has taken up the mantle to continue his twisted games.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 27, 2017 |
Running time |
92 minutes |
Genre |
Horror
Mystery Thriller |
Budget |
$10,000,000 |
Box Office |
$102,952,888 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Michael Spierig Peter Spierig |
Produced by |
Mark Burg Oren Koules |
Written by |
Josh Stolberg Peter Goldfinger |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
Ben Nott |
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: #08 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Standoff Above the City
The narrative begins in a frantic chase as a criminal named Edgar Munsen flees from police pursuit, his desperation leading him to a dead-end on an urban rooftop. There, he finds a mysterious remote trigger waiting for him. As officers surround him with weapons drawn, Edgar screams that he cannot surrender, frantically demanding to speak with Detective Brad Halloran. He warns the police that if they do not comply, five innocent people will die. Detective Halloran arrives shortly after with his new partner, Detective Keith Hunt. Edgar, trembling with fear, explains that he has been forced into a game and that his own survival depends on following the rules, refusing to drop the remote.
The tension snaps when Edgar, seeing no other option, pulls the trigger. The police immediately open fire. Although Halloran shouts an order to aim for the device in his hand, a bullet strikes Edgar squarely in the chest. The impact collapses his lung and sends him crashing to the ground, unconscious but barely alive, leaving the fate of the five captives unknown.
Blood for Freedom
Consciousness returns in a cold, industrial room where five people awaken to a nightmare. They are lined up against a wall, each wearing a metal bucket helmet secured by a heavy chain leading through a slot in the wall behind them. A recorded voice echoes through the chamber—the unmistakable, gravelly tone of John Kramer, the Jigsaw Killer. The tape informs them that they must atone for their sins and that a sacrifice of blood is required to survive. As the message ends, the chains suddenly retract, dragging the prisoners toward a wall of rotating buzzsaws.
Panic erupts as the blades spin closer. Anna, Ryan, Mitch, and Carly manage to deduce the instructions; they allow the saws to graze their bodies, cutting their flesh just enough to satisfy the "blood sacrifice" demand. The mechanism releases their chains, and the buckets fall off. However, the fifth prisoner, a man unconscious from the sedatives, fails to wake in time. Despite the screams of the others, he is dragged relentlessly into the blades, leaving the four survivors to flee into the next chamber.
The Value of a Life
In the second room, the survivors begin to turn on one another. It is revealed that Carly, a young woman in the group, is a purse snatcher whose petty crimes had lethal consequences; she once stole a purse from an asthmatic woman who died because her inhaler was inside the stolen bag. The room presents a new test: three syringes are displayed before them. One contains an antidote for a slow-acting poison already injected into Carly, one contains saline, and the third contains deadly hydrofluoric acid.
To save the group, Carly must choose one needle. As the chains begin to tighten again, pulling them all toward the ceiling to be hanged, Carly freezes, terrified of choosing the acid. Ryan, desperate and aggressive, takes matters into his own hands. He grabs all three syringes and forcibly stabs them into Carly's neck. The acid takes immediate effect, melting her internal structure and killing her instantly. The remaining three are released. Examining the correct needle, they find the numbers "3.53" stamped on it—the exact amount of money Carly had found in the dead woman's purse. Using the numbers on the plunger, they unlock the combination door and advance.
Ghosts of the Past
Back in the city, the game begins to bleed into reality. Police discover two mutilated bodies in public locations—the man from the buzzsaw trap and Carly's acid-burned corpse. Detective Halloran and Hunt take the lead, investigating the impossibility of John Kramer's return, given his death a decade prior. Suspicion falls on the medical examiner's office, specifically pathologist Logan Nelson and his assistant, Eleanor Bonneville. Tensions rise as it is revealed that Logan bears a grudge against Halloran; Logan's wife was murdered two years ago, and he blames Halloran's sloppy police work for letting criminals slip through the cracks.
Public panic ensues as rumors of Jigsaw's resurrection spread. In a drastic move, the Police Commissioner orders John Kramer’s grave to be exhumed to prove he is dead. However, when the coffin is raised and opened, they are shocked to find the body of Edgar Munsen inside, fresh from the hospital where he had been abducted, rather than Jigsaw's skeletal remains.
Buried Alive
Inside the barn, Ryan attempts to cheat the game by breaking through a door marked "No Exit." His violation triggers a trap: the floor beneath him gives way, and his leg becomes ensnared in a tightening web of razor-sharp wires. With Ryan immobilized, Anna and Mitch find a door leading into a grain silo, but the door slams shut behind them, trapping them inside as grain begins to pour from the ceiling, threatening to bury them alive.
The Jigsaw voice returns, stating that their salvation lies in Ryan's hands. To stop the flow of grain and save Anna and Mitch, Ryan must pull a lever that will tighten the wires around his trapped leg, severing it completely. Faced with the screams of his dying companions, Ryan screams in agony and pulls the lever. The wires slice through his bone and flesh, amputating his lower leg, but the grain stops, and the door unlocks, freeing Anna and Mitch.
The Cycle of Retribution
While Anna tends to Ryan's severed limb, Mitch is lured into the next trap. He is hoisted up by a foot snare and dangled over a massive, funnel-shaped machine with a spiral blade spinning at the bottom. A tape recording reveals Mitch’s sin: he knowingly sold a motorcycle with faulty brakes to John Kramer's nephew, resulting in the young man’s death in a horrific accident.
To survive, Mitch must reach the bottom of the funnel and pull a brake handle to stop the engine, risking being shredded in the process. He is lowered slowly toward the churning blades. Anna attempts to jam the mechanism with a metal bar, halting the blades momentarily, but the force of the machine shatters the obstruction. The blades resume spinning, and Mitch is consumed by the spiral, his body mangled beyond recognition before he can reach the brake.
The Jigsaw Rules
In the outside world, Eleanor reveals to Logan that she is a "Jigsaw fangirl," taking him to a secret studio where she has built detailed replicas of Kramer's traps. She fears her hobby will frame her for the recent murders. Unbeknownst to them, Detective Hunt has followed them and photographs the studio. Armed with this evidence, Halloran orders their arrest. As Hunt takes Logan into custody, Logan fiercely argues that Halloran is the real killer, citing the detective's corrupt history.
Later, Eleanor convinces Logan to investigate the location of the bodies based on forensic traces of pig manure she found during the autopsies. She deduces the game is being played at an abandoned pig farm owned by the family of Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's ex-wife. Logan and Eleanor head to the farm to stop the killer, with Halloran in hot pursuit.
A Lesson in Reverse
Inside the barn, Anna and Ryan, now the final two, are captured by a figure in a pig mask. They awaken chained to opposite sides of a room. The figure removes his hood to reveal John Kramer himself—alive and standing before them. He confronts them with the truth of their darkest secrets. Anna, once John’s neighbor, murdered her own infant in a fit of rage because the baby wouldn't stop crying, then framed her sleeping husband by placing the body next to him. Her husband, believing he rolled over on the child, was institutionalized and committed suicide. Ryan, in his youth, caused a car accident while drunk that killed his friends, allowing his best friend to take the fall and go to prison.
John places a double-barreled shotgun between them loaded with a single shell. He tells them they have lived their lives "backwards" and must now "turn it all around" to be free. He refers to the shell as their "key to freedom" and leaves. Anna, misinterpreting the clue, grabs the gun and aims it at Ryan, believing she must kill him to survive. As she pulls the trigger, the gun—rigged to fire backward—explodes in her face, killing her instantly. Ryan, sobbing and defeated, examines the debris and finds the keys to their chains were hidden inside the shotgun shell itself, now destroyed by the blast. He is left shackled to the wall to die.
The Laser Collars
Logan and Eleanor arrive at the barn, but Halloran ambushes them. Eleanor manages to flee, but a brutal fight ensues between the men. Halloran knocks Logan unconscious but is then attacked and subdued by an unseen assailant. When they awake, Halloran and Logan are wearing collars fitted with high-powered laser cutters, trapped in the same room where Anna and Ryan met their end.
John Kramer’s voice fills the room, demanding a confession. The collars are linked; they must choose who speaks first. Halloran forces Logan to go first by pressing a button. Logan confesses that years ago, while working as a medical resident, he mislabeled John Kramer’s X-rays, causing John’s cancer to go undiagnosed until it was terminal. Despite the confession, the lasers activate, apparently slicing into Logan's neck and killing him. Terrified, Halloran screams his own confession: he admits to years of corruption, taking bribes, and allowing criminals—including Edgar Munsen—to walk free.
I Speak for the Dead
Suddenly, the lasers deactivates before killing Halloran. To the detective's shock, Logan stands up, wiping fake blood from his neck. He reveals that the entire game the police have been investigating was a recreation. The game involving Anna, Ryan, Mitch, and Carly actually took place ten years ago. Logan was the fifth unconscious man in the buzzsaw trap back then, but John Kramer had saved him, deciding he shouldn't die for an honest clerical error. Logan became Jigsaw's first apprentice, and together they built the traps.
Logan explains that the bodies found recently were actually criminals Halloran had let free, placed into the replica game to entrap the corrupt detective. Logan reveals that Edgar Munsen, whom Halloran protected, was the man who murdered Logan’s wife. Having recorded Halloran’s confession to corruption and murder, Logan seals the detective's fate. He declares that he speaks for the dead and reactivates the laser collar. Halloran’s head is sliced apart by the lasers as Logan slams the door, walking away to continue Jigsaw’s legacy.
