Saw IV

UK Release Date: 26 October 2007

Certification: 18
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Tobin Bell, Lyriq Bent, Louis Ferreira, Athena Karkanis, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Donnie Wahlberg 

Rating: 50%

Review: 

Favourite sequel of the franchise so far. Saw IV isn't a good film by any means but I enjoyed what I was watching during the vast majority of the runtime. Saw IV takes the series in a whole new direction whilst still delivering the infamous traps. 

The best aspect of the film is that it is bold enough to completely change the tone from prior entries. This is a detective story. Saw IV plays like a dramatic serial killer documentary rather than a parody of one. Following Detective Hoffman, Detective Rigg and Agent Strahm all try to achieve the same goal with differing adversities to face building until it reaches the climax - all the clichés of a solid thriller. 

Saw IV had to follow up a dire entry in the franchise, one that left a lot of questions that needed answered. The franchise has a reputation for being incredibly convoluted, often being shown out of order through flashbacks, leading to overly complex storylines. Despite that the writers are able to tie up most of the loose threads from previous entries and left the Saw story in an interesting place. 

However, this film is still edited like a child made it. Constant jump cuts physically annoy me. Although, I will say the direction is a lot better here - a case of Darren Lynn Bousman improving each film. Some of the transitions are technically well done and fairly advanced for this type of film. 

The blood looks awful. With a franchise renowned for it's gore the CG blood is off-putting. It's so fake. Plus Jeff being in the film does not make me happy, one of the worst horror characters put on screen.