Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) Info

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (Jigsaw Sequel) Film ReviewSpiral: From the Book of Saw is a 2021 horror film written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is the ninth chapter in the Saw franchise. Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson feature in the thriller, which depicts police attempts to arrest a Jigsaw-style murderer. Executive producers include the series' creators, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as Rock and series veteran Kevin Greutert.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw was originally supposed to be released in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lionsgate released it in theaters on May 14, 2021. Critics gave the picture mixed reviews, praising the franchise's new direction but disagreeing on whether it had truly succeeded in modernizing it.

Off-duty Detective Marv Bozwick pursues a criminal into a sewage pipe during a July 4 celebration. Attacked from behind by a pig mask, Bozwick wakes to find himself dangling by his tongue in a subway tunnel. He is offered an option through recorded message: rip out his tongue and survive, or wait until the next train comes, murdering him. Unable to escape the trap, Bozwick is murdered by the train. The following day, Captain Angie Garza sends Detective Zeke Banks an optimistic rookie. Banks and Schenk analyze Bozwick's death, and Banks thinks it's identical to the Jigsaw Killer's.

Banks gets apprehended while following a lead and awakens in the warehouse, shackled to a pipe with a hacksaw nearby. He contemplates chopping off his arm, but instead uses a bobby pin to get away. Peter Dunleavy, his former colleague who was sacked and imprisoned after Banks disclosed a murder he committed, is later discovered shackled in place. A massive glass-crushing machine stands in front of him, modified to throw shrapnel at him quickly. Banks may either liberate him or leave him to die, according to a recording recorder. Despite Banks' best efforts, he is unable to get the key in time to rescue Dunleavy. Banks then discovers Schenk in another chamber, who had been the copycat all along, having faked his own death by using the skinned body of the robber who lured Bozwick into the tunnels. He reveals that his last name is Emmerson, and that he is the son of Charlie Emmerson, who was shot and murdered by Dunleavy after agreeing to testify against a corrupt officer. Marcus, he also admits, purposely sheltered corrupt police throughout his term as chief in order to scrub the streets of crime more quickly under Article 8.

Emmerson believes Banks may be an ally, so he puts him to the ultimate test by suspending Marcus in the air and slowly draining his blood. Emmerson dials 9-1-1 and pretends to be a citizen being chased by a gunman, prompting a SWAT squad to be sent to his area. He delivers Banks a handgun and one cartridge, instructing him to either fire a target that would save Marcus while allowing Emmerson to go, or murder Emmerson and let Marcus bleed to death. To rescue his father, Banks shoots the target, loosening his shackles and lowers him to the ground, before fighting Emmerson. The SWAT squad comes shortly after and accidentally sets off a tripwire, forcing Marcus' handcuffs to tug him upward once again. Marcus' arm has a gun attached to it, causing the SWAT squad to mistake him for the shooter and murder him. As Emmerson flees, Banks shouts despondently.

Chris Rock portrays Detective Zeke Banks in the film.

Max Minghella was William Schenk/Emmerson. Young William was played by Leonidas Castrounis.

Jackson played Marcus Banks. Marisol Nichols was cast in the role of Captain Angie Garza.

Detective Marv Bozwick was played by Daniel Petronijevic. Detective Fitch was played by Richard Zeppieri. Peter Dunleavy was acted by Patrick McManus. Officer Jeannie Lewis was acted by Ali Johnson. Kara Bozwick was played by Zoie Palmer.

Sergeant Morgey Silva was played by Dylan Roberts.

Detection Drury was played by K. C. Collins Detective Deborah Kraus was played by Edie Inksetter.

Chada was played by Nazneen Contractor.

Thomas Mitchell was Tim O'Brien. Benny Wrights was played by Chad Camilleri. Speez was played by Christopher Ramsay. Frank Licari was Charlie Emerson. Genelle Williams portrays Lisa Banks in the film.

Officer Pat Jones was played by Trevor Gretzky.

Tobin Bell, who portrayed John Kramer/Jigsaw in all prior Saw films, did not return in Spiral, making it the first film in the series without Bell or Jigsaw appearing beyond pictures. Bousman said the film's murderer is a Jigsaw copycat, not the original, and he won't replace Bell. Bell would return as Jigsaw if the plot explored Billy the Puppet's origins.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) was conceived by Chris Rock as a means of revitalizing both the Saw film series and his personal career at Lionsgate.

Following the release of Jigsaw, Stolberg and Goldfinger were pitching a new Saw film to series veterans Mark Burg and Oren Koules, focusing solely on John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than any of his established apprentices, but Burg and Koules called the duo to inform them about Rock's ideas for a new film, and Rock contacted them shortly after to discuss his concept. Other writers had tried and failed to sell their ideas for the next Saw picture to Lionsgate, while Stolberg and Goldfinger had come up with eight distinct versions of the film until Rock came and blended his concept with the duo's. Burg and Koules gave the pair the task of creating a proposal for Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger did just that, and their proposal was accepted by both Lionsgate and Rock, prompting them to compose their first draft, which was greenlit only a week after it was submitted. During the writing process, Rock assisted Stolberg and Goldfinger, reworking the tale as needed.

Rock's role was formerly linked to Danny Glover's David Tapp from the previous film in an early draft of the screenplay. Because it failed the smell test, Stolberg and Goldfinger decided not to pursue this path. Bousman said in May 2021 that talks are on regarding bringing Costas Mandylor back as Mark Hoffman in a future film. Bousman and the crew debated whether or not Tobin Bell should reprise his role as Jigsaw until the last day of production, but they decided that having Bell back would make the film seem like a continuation of the Saw series rather than a standalone picture, as it was intended. Because Jigsaw was killed off in the third picture, Bousman believed that previous films had done Jigsaw a disservice by utilizing flashbacks to bring him into the tale, and he didn't want to make the same error in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), nor disrespect Bell's legendary portrayal. Bousman contemplated having Bell perform a Johnny Cash song during the concluding scene of Spiral: From the Book of Saw, but decided against it because he thought it was too gimmicky.

Tobin Bell didn't appear in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) for whatever reason.

Spiral was the first Saw film without Tobin Bell repeating his role as Jigsaw, making it the first Saw film without Bell.

Despite discussions occurring after the first test screening and throughout post-production, Stolberg stated in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that Jigsaw was never included in any draft for the screenplay of Spiral: From the Book of Saw because they felt that including Jigsaw would change the foundation of the story they were trying to achieve, not to diminish the character but to move the franchise in a new direction. Because of the franchise's timeline, Stolberg and Goldfinger proposed an after-credits sequence in which Kramer met a young Schenk after the murder of the latter's father and bonded with him, maybe giving him the puppet he later uses as the Spiral Killer.

Spiral's backstage

The film began pre-production on May 16, 2019. Darren Lynn Bousman, a former series director, will direct the picture, with Burg and Koules serving as producers. Rock served as executive producer and wrote the narrative treatment.

Exec producers include original Saw creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Scriptwriters Goldfinger and Stolberg have been confirmed.

According to Burg and Koules, Rock's approach to Saw was analogous to what Eddie Murphy had done for buddy cop films in 48 Hrs., which provided the Saw series with a whole new point of view. In a similar vein, Bousman mentioned that there was less bloodshed and gore in Spiral in comparison to previous installments. He expressed the conviction that the bloodshed and violence were the gimmick for him when he first started working on the Saw films, but that both elements now serve the story, which focuses more on character, tension, and fear.

Detective Zeke Banks is played by Rock. The character was conceived by Rock, Stolberg, and Goldfinger during discussions prior to writing the screenplay, with Rock pondering what he would do if he were the original Saw protagonist Dr. Lawrence Gordon and had to cut off his own foot, until they decided that it would be interesting if Rock played a cop who was shunned by his peers.

Samuel L. Jackson decided to portray Chief Marcus Banks because he wanted to do something new, such as the climax sequence in which his character is hung up like a marionette. Marisol Nichols was chosen as Captain Angie Garza; the character was initially designed for a male actress, but the filmmakers finally selected Nichols, who, while being a Saw fan, preferred to watch David Fincher's Seven instead of the prior films in preparation for the role. Patrick McManus auditioned for the part of Detective Marv Bozwick in an effort to pursue an acting career on film and television after years of performing on stage, but was called back to portray Peter Dunleavy while Dan Petronijevic was cast as Bozwick.

Max Minghella took on the role of William Schenk/The Spiral Killer because he wanted to be in a movie with a simple plot like the buddy cop movies he watched as a kid, like 48 Hours. When he (first post) read the script, he felt like it was both a buddy cop movie and a Saw movie.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw was released to the media on January 22, 2020, along with the Canadian distributor Mongrel Media, under the working title The Organ Donor. A teaser picture and video for Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) were unveiled on February 5, 2020, confirming its title.

Lionsgate announced on May 25, 2021, that Spiral (2021) would stream exclusively on Starz beginning October 8, 2021 in the United States. In Canada, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) was available on VOD on 1 June 2021.

How much did Spiral (2021) make at the movie theaters?

Spiral: From the Book of Saw has earned $40.6 million worldwide as of March 3, 2022, including $23.2 million in the US and Canada and $17.3 million elsewhere.

In the US and Canada, Spiral (2021) came out at the same time as Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You. It was expected to make $10–15 million in its first weekend from 2,811 theaters. The movie made $3.7 million on its first day, which includes $750,000 from previews on Thursday night. This is less than the $9 million that was expected. It went on to make $8.8 million in its first weekend, which was more than any other movie (and the sixth time in the series) but was the lowest opening weekend for the series. Most of the people in the audiences that were reported on were under the age of 35 and 56% were men. Positive responses were more common on the East Coast of the United States. It stayed in first place the next weekend, even though its sales dropped by 48 percent to $4.6 million.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw's efforts to shake up the series formula were lauded by reviewers, but it fell short of providing Saw with the huge push it needed to reclaim its relevancy.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 221 reviewer reviews are favorable, with a 5.1/10 average. The site's critical consensus was that Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) reveals a new path for the Saw series, even if the gruesome whole is less than its pieces.

The film received a score of 40 out of 100 on Metacritic, which is a weighted average and is based on the opinions of 33 different reviewers. This indicates that the reviews were either mixed or average.

63 percent of those questioned by PostTrak gave it a good rating, while 43 percent said they would certainly recommend the movie to others. CinemaScore assigned the picture an average grade of B- on a scale of A+ to F.

Another film reviewer said the writing caught the grizzled-cop-movie tone and created some memorable characters, but the plot was repetitive, the mystery was annoyingly obvious, and the inventive deaths were less imaginative than before. Spiral chose respectability above entertainment value, but it didn't quite accomplish either.

Many film reviews thought Spiral (2021) to be a truly scary, albeit unevenly paced, detective thriller, but criticized its writing for failing to communicate the father-and-son bond of its key protagonists.

According to another film reviewer, "It's simply unreadable" because it lacks suspense, narrative, or movement in the storyline; he stated it disappointed him because of the high acclaim for the performers he'd given it.

However, another film reviewer appreciated the opening sequence and concluded that the film's concept is dishonest at best and fear mongering at worst. Not as brilliant as it pretends to be like Jigsaw with one of his easy puzzles.

A film critic gave the movie a bad review, saying that "Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) stumbles through its central mystery without grace, style, or even much thought." Even the death traps are strangely boring. He said that the movie had potential and that the most frustrating thing about Spiral: From the Book of Saw is that there is a better, smarter movie hiding under all this nonsense. There are too many fast cuts and scenes that get faster and faster. It's annoying that bad dialogue is shouted at full volume. In the end, Spiral (2021) is a movie about corrupt and even murderous cops who are suddenly held accountable. This kind of material has the potential to be both subversive for a Hollywood movie and timely, but Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) seems to care so little about any of this that it's almost frustrating. Its only goal is to kill many people, which it does.

Twisted Pictures revealed in April 2021 that a sequel, named Saw X, is in the works. However, Bousman and the film's producers were taken aback by the early announcement. He said that just because they created Spiral (2021) doesn't imply the Saw franchise is dead. Spiral: From the Book of Saw's arrival does not rule out the possibility of a Saw IX sequel. The Saw series does not have a ninth installment. Jigsaw may be followed by a Saw IX. I believe they are waiting to see how Spiral: From the Book of Saw performs and how the public reacts before deciding what to do next. In December of that year, Josh Stolberg announced that the script was done.

Will Spiral eventually be adapted into a series for television?

Kevin Beggs, chairman of Lionsgate TV, told Deadline Hollywood in April 2021 that the company is in early talks to develop a Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) TV series with Mark Burg and Oren Koules' Twisted Television productions.

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