Working in the shadow of his esteemed police veteran father, brash Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks takes charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city's gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer's morbid game, where the targets are corrupt officers and the price of justice is paid in blood.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
May 14, 2021 |
Running time |
93 minutes |
Genre |
Horror Mystery Thriller Crime |
Budget |
$20,000,000 |
Box Office |
$40,600,000 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Darren Lynn Bousman |
Produced by |
Oren Koules Mark Burg |
Written by |
Josh Stolberg Peter Goldfinger |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
Jordan Oram |
Edited by |
Dev Singh |
Production Co. |
Twisted Pictures |
Distributed by |
Lionsgate |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #09 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Tongue Trap
Amidst the chaotic festivities of an Independence Day parade, Detective Marv Bozwick spots a purse snatcher named Benny Wrights and initiates a pursuit. The chase leads them away from the crowds and down into the dark, damp canalization tunnels of the city. Isolated in the shadows, Bozwick is suddenly ambushed by a figure wearing a grotesque pig mask, who subdues him before he can react. When the detective regains consciousness, he finds himself in a terrifying predicament within an active subway tunnel. He is balancing precariously on a stepladder positioned directly on the train tracks, with his arms bound and his tongue clamped inside a rusty, vise-like contraption suspended from the ceiling.
A television screen flickers to life, playing a videotape that delivers a chilling ultimatum: Bozwick has exactly two minutes to save his life. To survive, he must jump off the ladder, using his body weight to rip his tongue completely out of his mouth. If he stays on the ladder, he will be struck by the incoming train. Panic sets in as the rumble of the subway approaches. Bozwick struggles desperately against the metal trap, but his hesitation proves fatal. He fails to complete the gruesome task in time, and the speeding subway train obliterates him, scattering his remains across the tracks.
A New Partnership
Elsewhere, Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks is deep undercover, attempting to infiltrate a drug ring. His operation is abruptly compromised when a fellow officer accidentally blows his cover, forcing Zeke to abandon the mission. Back at the precinct, Zeke is reprimanded for his lone-wolf tactics by Captain Angie Garza. To curb his reckless behavior, Garza assigns him a new partner: Detective William Schenk, a rookie who has just joined the Metropolitan Police Department. Their introduction is cut short when a call comes in regarding a homicide in the subway tunnels. Arriving at the grisly scene, Zeke and William discover the mangled body of Marv Bozwick, setting a grim tone for their partnership.
The Spiral Copycat
Upon returning to the station, Zeke receives a mysterious package addressed to him. Inside, he finds a flash drive containing a video message from the killer. The distorted voice on the tape declares an intention to reform the corrupt police department and provides a clue leading Zeke to the local courthouse. Zeke rushes to the location, where he discovers a second box. The contents are horrifying: Marv Bozwick’s severed tongue and his police badge. The realization hits Zeke hard—his colleague was targeted specifically. The nature of the trap and the cryptic messages lead the police force to conclude that a copycat of the infamous Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer, is responsible for the murder.
Fitch's Finger Trap
The killer strikes again, targeting Detective Fitch, a man with a dark history of police brutality. Years prior, Fitch had murdered a civilian during a routine check merely for insulting him. The killer abducts Fitch and places him in a water-filled basin inside an industrial location. When Fitch wakes, he faces a mechanism rigged to electrocute him. The only way to break the circuit and survive is to bite down on a device and activate a machine that will rip his fingers off, one by one. Fitch screams in agony as the timer ticks down, but he fails to mutilate himself fast enough. The machine activates a fatal electric shock, killing him instantly.
When Fitch's body is discovered, suspicion within the precinct turns toward Zeke. Tensions are high because of a past incident where Fitch had ignored Zeke’s desperate call for backup during an altercation with an armed criminal—an act of negligence that resulted in Zeke getting shot. Knowing the animosity between them, Zeke's colleagues begin to wonder if he is orchestrating these murders as revenge.
Sins of the Past
Investigating the pattern of corruption, Zeke and William visit a church to interrogate Peter Dunleavy, Zeke’s former partner. Dunleavy had been discharged from the force and imprisoned after Zeke testified against him for shooting an unarmed witness, Charlie Emmerson, to cover up for another corrupt officer. Dunleavy had claimed self-defense, but Zeke knew the truth. The interrogation yields little immediate help, but it reinforces the killer's focus on the department's dirty history.
The Butcher Shop Horror
The taunting continues the next day when Zeke receives another package. This one contains a pig marionette, a surgically removed piece of human skin, and a red vial labeled "Constantine Paints." Zeke recognizes the clue immediately; the vial refers to a hobby shop formerly known as Constantine Trains, a place his father, retired Police Chief Marcus Banks, used to visit with him during his childhood. The shop has since been converted into a butcher shop.
Zeke and the team raid the butcher shop, guns drawn. In the back room, they discover a horrific sight: a skinned corpse. An audiotape found at the scene identifies the victim as Zeke's partner, William Schenk. The discovery devastates Zeke, who believes the rookie has become the latest collateral damage in the killer's crusade.
The Wax Trap
The killer's audacity escalates as he infiltrates the police station itself. Captain Angie Garza is ambushed in the cold-case archives room. She wakes up strapped horizontally to a table, her face positioned directly beneath a faucet dripping hot, boiling wax. A tape recorder informs her that she must sever her own spinal cord on a sharp blade positioned beneath her neck to stop the flow of wax. The pain is excruciating, and despite her struggle, the task proves impossible. The boiling wax pours over her face, entering her nose and mouth, suffocating her in a mask of death.
Zeke discovers her body and immediately rushes to review the security surveillance. He finds that the footage of the corridor leading to the cold-case room has been deleted. However, he manages to recover the server logs, which indicate that the log-in credentials used to delete the footage belong to Peter Dunleavy. Believing his ex-partner is the mastermind, Zeke returns to the church to confront him but is ambushed and knocked unconscious by the pig-masked killer.
Glass Shards and Revelation
Zeke awakens in a warehouse, his wrist handcuffed to a pipe. A hacksaw lies nearby, tempting him to saw off his hand to escape—a classic Jigsaw trope. However, Zeke notices a hairpin within reach and skillfully uses it to pick the lock, freeing himself without self-mutilation. He advances into the warehouse and finds Peter Dunleavy chained by his arms to the ceiling, standing on a wooden crate. A large machine filled with broken glass bottles points directly at him.
A tape plays, exposing Dunleavy's deep corruption and offering Zeke a choice: save the man who betrayed him or let him die. As the machine activates, blasting high-velocity glass shards at Dunleavy, Zeke attempts to intervene and smash the machine. Despite his efforts, the barrage of glass flays Dunleavy's back, and he succumbs to his injuries, bleeding to death before Zeke can liberate him.
The Mastermind Revealed
Searching for an exit, Zeke stumbles upon a shocking sight: William Schenk is alive. The rookie detective reveals that he faked his own death at the butcher shop, using the skinned skin of another victim to fool the forensics. William admits he is the copycat killer. He explains his motive: the man Peter Dunleavy murdered years ago, Charlie Emmerson, was William's father. William has adopted John Kramer’s philosophy to purge the Metropolitan Police Department of its systemic corruption.
William reveals that he has abducted Zeke’s father, Marcus Banks, having lured him to the hideout earlier. He offers Zeke a proposal: join him in his crusade to cleanse the city of dirty cops. Zeke, desperate to save his father, plays along initially, allowing William to lead him to the final test.
The Final Test
William leads Zeke to a warehouse floor where Marcus Banks is suspended in the air by wires. Tubes are connected to Marcus's limbs, slowly draining his blood into jars on the floor. William explains that during Marcus's tenure as Chief, he enacted "Article 8," a policy that protected corrupt officers like Bozwick and Fitch, allowing them to operate with impunity. William hands Zeke a revolver with a single bullet and presents a final ultimatum: Zeke can use the bullet to shoot a spiral target on the wall, which will lower Marcus to safety but allow William to escape, or he can kill William, leaving no time to save his father from bleeding out.
The Tragic End
As the tension peaks, William secretly calls the police, reporting an active shooter to draw a SWAT team to their location. Zeke makes his choice; he aims at the spiral target and fires. The mechanism activates, loosening the wires and lowering a weakened Marcus to the floor. Zeke then attacks William, pummeling him in a rage, but the SWAT team breaches the warehouse at that exact moment.
As the officers storm in, they trigger a tripwire rigged by William. The trap holding Marcus reactivates, violently hoisting him back into the air. The wires manipulate Marcus's body like a marionette, forcing his arm upward. To the horror of Zeke, a shotgun has been affixed to Marcus's arm. The SWAT team, seeing a suspect raising a weapon towards them, opens fire immediately. Marcus is riddled with bullets and killed instantly in front of his screaming son. In the ensuing chaos, William steps into an elevator and descends into the shadows, escaping justice while Zeke screams in anguish, left alone with the carnage.
