| Saw IV | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Darren Lynn Bousman |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by |
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| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | David A. Armstrong |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Charlie Clouser |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $139.4 million[1] |
Saw IV is a 2007 Americanhorror film directed byDarren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay byPatrick Melton andMarcus Dunstan, and a story by Melton, Dunstan, andThomas Fenton. A sequel toSaw III (2006) and the fourth installment in theSaw film series, it starsTobin Bell,Scott Patterson,Costas Mandylor,Betsy Russell, andLyriq Bent.
The film picks up where the previous film left off, with the death ofJohn Kramer. However, it is revealed that John had planned for his death and left behind a series of recordings and clues that would lead investigators to his final game. As the detectives try to unravel the mystery of John's final game, they are drawn into a web of deceit that reveals more of the motives behind his lethal games.
Saw IV was the first film in the franchise to not be written byLeigh Whannell orJames Wan. It was released byLionsgate Films in the United States on October 26, 2007. It received mostly negative reviews from critics and grossed $139 million worldwide. A sequel,Saw V, was released in 2008.
Anautopsy of the Jigsaw Killer reveals a wax-coatedmicrocassette in his stomach, and Detective Mark Hoffman is called in to listen to it. The tape promises him that "the games have just begun." In amausoleum, a man named Trevor and a lawyer named Art Blank are chained to a large device. Trevor's eyes have been sewn shut, and Art's mouth has been sewn shut, making communication between them impossible. When the device begins pulling them together, they panic, and Art eventually kills Trevor to retrieve a key from his collar.
Meanwhile, the police discover the remains of Detective Allison Kerry.[b] Hoffman cautions Officer Daniel Rigg for barging through an unsecured door in attempt to save Kerry. Hoffman is introduced to FBI Agents Peter Strahm and Lindsey Perez, who deduce thatAmanda, Jigsaw's apprentice, would have needed assistance with Kerry's death, indicating that there is another apprentice.
That evening, Rigg and Hoffman are kidnapped. Rigg is told thatDetective Eric Matthews is in fact still alive, and is given ninety minutes to save himself. He is then given his first test, where he finds a sex trafficker named Brenda strapped to a device that scalps her. He rescues her, although he is warned not to, and Brenda later attempts to stab Rigg; Rigg subdues her and learns that Brenda was told that Rigg was there to arrest her for her crimes.
Strahm interrogates Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's ex-wife, who recounts Jigsaw's backstory. She was once pregnant with a boy named Gideon but suffered amiscarriage when Cecil, a drug addict, robbed the clinic at which she was employed and accidentally slammed a door into her stomach.
Rigg's next test is at a motel, where he is instructed to abduct the manager, Ivan Landsness, revealed to be a serial rapist. Angered by seeing videos of Ivan's exploits, Rigg forces Ivan into a prearranged trap which forces him to gouge out his eyes; he fails to do it in time and the trap dismembers him. Rigg's next test occurs in a school where Rigg attacked a man named Rex acquitted of abusing his family, though Rigg's career was saved by Hoffman. In one of the classrooms, Rigg discovers Rex and his wife, Morgan, chained back to back with a spike impaled through their bodies. Morgan has removed every spike but one, killing Rex and leaving herself barely alive. Rigg removes the final spike and gives Morgan the key to free herself from her restraints, then pulls a fire alarm and leaves.
Strahm and Perez arrive on the scene, where it is learned that all of the victims were defended by Art, who is also Jill's lawyer. After a photographer is accidentally killed on the scene, Perez findsBilly, Jigsaw's puppet, in the office. She is told that Strahm will "soon take the life of an innocent man" and that Perez’s "next step is critical". Ignoring past clues that she is in danger, Perez leans toward Billy and is critically injured by shrapnel when its face explodes. She is rushed to the hospital.
After learning that he had terminal cancer, and after asuicide attempt, Jigsaw placed Cecil in his first trap. After Cecil got out when the trap broke, he lunged at Jigsaw to attack him but fell to his death in a mesh of razor wire. Strahm makes connections from Jill's story to the Gideon Meat Factory, the scene of Rigg's final test.
Strahm arrives but finds himself lost, accidentally trailing Jeff Denlon. Meanwhile, Rigg approaches his final test. In the next room are Art, Eric, and Hoffman; it was revealed earlier that if the door was opened before Rigg's timer expired, Eric's head would be crushed between two ice blocks and Hoffman would be electrocuted by a complex device. Rigg charges through the door with one second to spare. Despite Eric's attempts to stop Rigg by shooting him, he is killed. Rigg shoots Art while, in another room, Strahm encounters Jeff, who brandishes a gun. Strahm, who is unaware that Jeff is frantically searching for his daughter,[b] kills him. Hoffman, who was never in any danger and is revealed to be Jigsaw's other apprentice, rises and seals a dying Rigg and a bewildered Strahm in the factory.
These games are revealed to have taken place before Jigsaw's autopsy, and Hoffman is warned via the microcassette that he can expect to face a test of his own.
In January 2007,Saw writerJames Wan stated that a script was in development.[2]Leigh Whannell toldFangoria that he and Wan would be executive producers stating, "James [Wan] and I, as executive producers, are still treating it like our baby; we'll still oversee it. I've definitely been privy to the ideas they've had and the scripts they’ve been writing, and it’s coming along well. I'm actually excited".[3] That following month,Darren Lynn Bousman, who previously directedSaw II andSaw III, was announced to return as director.[4]David Hackl, who served as production designer for the two previousSaw films, was offered to direct the film, but the day he received the offer his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Producers offered him directorial duties forSaw V andSaw VI.[5]
As Whannell was uninterested in writing any moreSaw films,Twisted Pictures sought new writers and ideas for the fourthSaw film, making it the first film to not be written by him. An executive discoveredMarcus Dunstan andPatrick Melton and read their scriptThe Midnight Man. The executive thought that the duo's script could serve as a prequel to the first film, detailing a traumatic event inJigsaw/John's early life. However, producersMark Burg andOren Koules did not want to do a prequel and dropped the idea, but the script led Dunstan and Melton to be hired to write the next threeSaw films.[6]Thomas Fenton also joined Dunstan and Melton as writer to the film.Marek Posival was attached to write at one point.[7]
Stepping into the franchise was tricky for Dunstan and Melton, given the serialized nature of theSaw films. However, they counted on Bousman and the crew to watch over them,pitching a trilogy that would start withSaw IV and conclude inSaw VI. The duo did not have any trouble in bringing Jigsaw back into the story despite his death in the last film, as the character had been dying since the original film, feeling that the film would not feel like aSaw entry without the character.[8] Like in previous entries, rewrites took place during the writing process, leading many unused ideas for the film to later be recycled forSaw V.[9]
Even thoughTobin Bell's Jigsaw Killer character was killed off in the previous entry, in March 2007 it was announced that he signed on forSaw IV andSaw V.[10]
With a production budget of $10 million,[11]principal photography took place from April 16, 2007 to May 3, 2007 inToronto.[12][13]
Saw IV was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on October 26, 2007.[14]Lionsgate held its fourth annual "Give Til It Hurts"blood drive for theRed Cross.[15]
"Saw IV (Music From And Inspired By Saw IV)" was released on October 23, 2007, by Artists' Addiction Records.[16] The film's theme song "I.V." was written byYoshiki and performed by the rock groupX Japan.[17]
The DVD andBlu-ray was released on January 22, 2008 byLionsgate Home Entertainment.[18] It grossed $32.7 million in home sales.[19] The film is set to be released on4K UHD in anAmazon-exclusive steelbook on October 21, 2025.[20]
The film grossed $63,300,095 in the United States and Canada with an additional $76,052,538 in other markets, bringing the worldwide total to $139,352,633.[21]
Saw IV received mostly negative reviews from critics. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 18% of 84 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Saw IV is more disturbing than compelling, with material already seen in the prior installments."[22]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[23] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[24]
Scott Schueller, writing for theChicago Tribune, called it "a film as edgy as a rubber knife” and said that "if the terrible craft of Bousman's film doesn't turn your stomach, the borderline pornographic violence will. It's disconcerting to imagine anyone enjoying the vile filth splashing the screen."[25]Frank Scheck fromThe Hollywood Reporter said "the famously inventive torture sequences here seem depleted of imagination", but added that "it hasn't yetjumped the shark like such predecessors as theNightmare on Elm Street andFriday the 13th movies eventually did."[26]
Peter Hartlaub fromThe San Francisco Chronicle called it "theSyriana of slasher films, so complicated and circuitous that your only hope of understanding everything is to eat lots of fish the night before and then watch each of the previous films, in order, right before you enter the theater."[27]James Berardinelli wrote that "Saw IV functions as a drawn-out, tedious epilogue to a series that began with an energetic bang three years ago withSaw, then progressively lost momentum, coherence, and intelligence with each successive annual installment."[28]
A less negative review came from Jamie Russell from theBBC, who called it "deeply unsettling; just like a horror movie should be."[29]
