Spiral: From the Book of Saw

I like being scared; what I don't particularly like is being grossed or winced out.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman, on his fourth Saw film, keeps things fresh while also nodding, via the pig mask and a scene involving handcuffs and a hacksaw, to where it all began in 2004.

In trying to save itself, the Saw series got caught in a convoluted trap of its own making.

Here you have really good actors in a really mediocre movie.

I was just happy watching Chris Rock having fun in this movie, even if I wasn't really having fun watching people get their limbs torn off.

The film conveys no coherent message, except as a warning to makers of mash-ups: throwing an unusual set of ingredients into the blender may be a way of creating something fresh, or it may simply result in an indigestible stew.

It’s such a wasted effort that recommending even half of it feels hard. Wait for the inevitable Netflix run, and tune out when there’s half a film left. You won’t miss a thing.

"Make us work harder. For Christ's sake, we're horror fans, this is not our first who-dunnit rodeo. The goods were given up way too early."

The real trap was presenting something new, only to be given the same formulaic Saw movie once again. The added humor and talent does make this better than most Saw entries.

Spiral might offer enough blood, gore, and brutal traps/murders to fans of the franchise, but overall it's still just another lazy, predictable take on the SAW formula. A strong yet abrupt ending doesn't compensate for such dull storytelling.