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Movies / Upcoming / Saw IV
Saw IV

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Saw IV (2007)

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Reviews Counted:68

Fresh:12

Rotten:56

Average Rating:3.7/10

Consensus: Saw IV is more disturbing than compelling, with material already seen in the prior installments.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

US Box Office: $63,270,259

Synopsis: The fourth SAW film takes fans into uncharted waters. Now that John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is dead, screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (writers of the Project Greenlight-produced FEAST)... The fourth SAW film takes fans into uncharted waters. Now that John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is dead, screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (writers of the Project Greenlight-produced FEAST) give us Jigsaw's "origin" story--finally showing us why he does what he does. Along they way, they still find time to work in the usual dose of elaborate Rube Goldberg-like torture devices and heaps of MPAA-defying gore in what plays like an extreme version of CSI. During his (extremely graphic) autopsy, Jigsaw's final tape (swallowed in SAW III) is found in his stomach. Promising that his work will continue despite his passing, his message sets off a series of grisly tasks for anxious SWAT team leader Rigg (Lyriq Bent), who is given 90 minutes to rescue detectives Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) and Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who are to be dispatched via blocks of ice and high voltage wires. Trailing Rigg are FBI agents Strahm (Scott Patterson of GILMORE GIRLS) and Perez (Athena Karkanis), who get some unexpected blood on their hands along the way. A series of flashbacks details a pivotal event between Jigsaw and his girlfriend, Jill (1980s beauty Betsy Russell, PRIVATE SCHOOL), which inspired him to devote the remainder of his life to the creation of his signature puzzles. Darren Lynn Bousman, director of the previous two sequels, returns once again to ensure that the series retains its trademark desaturated look. Though viewers starting with this installment may find the brief glimpses of characters from the previous films confusing, fans should be pleased with how the films link together. They are also sure to appreciate that, like FRIDAY THE 13th carrying on sans Jason in PART IV: A NEW BEGINNING, the death of Jigsaw won't keep the franchise from evolving into SAW V and beyond. [More]

Starring: Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Costas Mandylor

Starring: Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Costas Mandylor, Lyriq Bent, Justin Louis, Athena Karkanis, Simon Reynolds

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Screenwriter: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Story: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, Thomas Fenton
Producer: Gregg Hoffman, Mark Burg, Oren Koules
Composer: Charlie Clouser
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Saw IV

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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Fortunately, amid all the slavishly photographed grotesquery, there's comic relief. It's called the script.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/29/07
Kevin Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Jam! Movies

The famously inventive torture sequences here seem depleted of imagination.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
10/29/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter

The original Saw was crafted with thought and precision. Saw IV is an orgy of blood.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
10/29/07
Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole
Globe and Mail

The series has essentially become a shell game, entertaining for a while if you can stomach the gore, and then the credits roll and you're pretty sure you've been cheated somehow.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/29/07
Alex Markerson
Alex Markerson
E! Online

The dullest Saw in the shed.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
10/29/07
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press

A film as edgy as a rubber knife.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/29/07
Scott Schueller
Scott Schueller
Chicago Tribune

If the gore quotient has been upped in this chapter (really, after a certain threshold has been reached, who can tell?), the style has, too.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
10/29/07
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

Saw IV is no Saw III. Just as Saw III is no Saw II. But neither Lionsgate, the Saw distributor, nor the North American box office seems to care.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
10/29/07
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

After two solid entries and an OK one, the franchise is getting long in the tooth: This one is Saw It Be-IV.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 2 Comments
10/29/07
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

For devotees of the series, the gore is still there and the traps are just as weird as they were in the other entries but for the rest of us, your mind will forget it the second the end credits roll.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
10/28/07
Michael Ferraro
Michael Ferraro
Film Threat

If it ever had a prime, the Saw franchise is well past it...a mess...and an ugly mess at that.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment 3 Comments
10/27/07
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

as cheap and cheesy as its brethren, but oddly boring for long stretches

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/27/07
Jesse Hassenger
Jesse Hassenger
Filmcritic.com

Easily the worst and most pointless episode of the gore-saturated quadrology.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
10/27/07
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Over the course of [its] sequels, the Saw franchise took a novel, if distasteful, idea and basically tortured it to death.

comment Comment
10/27/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A commercially savvy though ultimately empty combination of warped morality tale, mystery, gore-fest, and torture porn.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
10/27/07
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

The appeal, I suppose, is that some really awful stuff is unfolding up there on the screen and not to us.

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
10/26/07
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News

Saw IV almost makes you believe there are hundreds of rooms out there at this very minute with puppets, tricycles, and audio tapes just waiting for the next game.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment 3 Comments
10/26/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

If the original Saw was the kernel of a potential terror universe, Saw IV is, by this time, a series of satellites and lesser celestial bodies bound together by some of the best bloodletting in modern macabre.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment 1 Comment
10/26/07
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
PopMatters

I can think of five things that are more torturous than what the victims endure in Saw IV...

Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | comment Comment
10/26/07
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

An excessively convoluted rehash of its predecessors.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
10/26/07
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 >> >|
all

Latest News for Saw IV

October 20, 2009: See Saw with Alex, Day 4: Saw IV
Suspecting they would have large significance in later sequels, I yesterday refrained from commenting on Saw III's plethora of useless shots. The camera's fixation on Agent... More...

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March 05, 2008: Scott Patterson Talks Saw V
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