Saw VI Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: October 27th, 2009

Saw VI is as disposable as it’s victims, a graphic gore-fest that blurs into the rest of the series and takes a weak stab at social relevance.

Splayed open on an autopsy table in part IV, series serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is still somehow plotting torture chambers from beyond the grave.  His legacy remains intact though, a  sealed box is willed to his widow, the cruel hardware preserved for the next “lesson,” and the endless acres of industrial real estate left to his minions.

The puppeteer’s newest apprentice is Detective Hoffman (D-list actor Costas Mandylor), who survived V to oversee a familiar macabre maze of over-thought death traps.  Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda through flashbacks, but she may as well be absent, and Jigsaw’s wife Jill (Betsy Russell) inexplicably eludes authorities as a prime suspect.

This time Jigsaw and friends have caged an insurance executive, who makes a living denying the claims of the ill, and pitted him against a herd of his employees.  The uncaring William (Peter Outerbridge) threatened to cut off John/Jigsaw’s coverage while he suffered from inoperable cancer, so this one’s to settle a grudge.  As for the others, their offenses aren’t exactly aligned with Jigsaw’s tired modus operandi of forcing degenerates to appreciate life and see the error of their ways.  One man is guilty of smoking cigarettes…

However, the blunt universal health care agenda reeks of a franchise scrambling to remain timely in a horror genre that has moved past the gruesome “torture porn” subgenre to an equally unappetizing string of remakes.

The high point, if you could call it that, is a cruel carousel with six people strapped to it.  William is coerced into selecting two survivors while he witnesses the splattered deaths of the rest.

A ticking clock attempts to add suspense to the array of “games,” but the sense of urgency is lost in the relentless assault of meaningless flashbacks to previous installments.  The realization that I was bored throughout says as much about the series as it does my desensitization to the same gratuitous bloodletting.

There isn’t much help for the uninitiated as the tangled narrative dredges up old characters and footage before trying to piece them together like a Jigsaw.  I’ve seen every one of these time wasters and I felt like I still needed a refresher course to keep details straight; facts that have congealed together or were thankfully forgotten over time.

Instead Saw VI is for the undying fans of the franchise still lining up every Halloween for booby traps and body counts.

2 out of 5.