Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)

You can never be sure what horror films will emerge as the decade's most influential until it is all thoroughly in the rear view mirror. I don't think anyone anticipated "Halloween" completely changing the face of horror in 1978, for example. If I was a betting man, however, I'd say "Get Out's" effect has been sizable, at least within the industry. By winning an Oscar, it made "elevated horror" an identifiable trend. It also totally redirected Jordan Peele's career, taking him from a beloved comedy star to the hottest horror director in Hollywood. You can tell other funny men were curious if they could similarly reinvent themselves. John Krasinski, David Gordon Green and Zach Cregger all seem to have made the leap. Another example that wasn't so popular was Chris Rock. Did you know Chris Rock is a horror fan? Did you know he likes the "Saw" movies? A chance meeting with the vice chairman of Liongates had Rock expressing his interest in the series. Eventually, a pitch from "Jigsaw's" Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger would be fused with Rock's ideas. The resulting script was described more as a spin-off than a direct sequel, the connection being solidified with the somewhat ungainly title of "Spiral: From the Book of Saw." Rock managed to convince Darren Lynn Bousman to return to the franchise he swore he had retired from. The addition of Samuel L. Jackson to the cast further built up what was promised to be a complete reinvention of the long-running franchise. 

All throughout the city, dirty cops are awakening in elaborate traps that force themselves to self-mutilate in order to survive. A copycat of the infamous Jigsaw Killer claims responsibility, confronting their victims in a familiar pig mask and marking the crime scenes with the spiral symbol last seen on Billy the Puppet's cheeks. Detective Zeke Banks – son of retired police chief Marcus Banks – is assigned to the case with a new partner, William Schenk. The games continue, more bodies piling up in further vicious traps. Each time, the killer who has quickly earned the nickname Spiral sends mocking messages and clues to the cops. As Banks and Schenk dig deeper into the new Spiral killer, they discover personal connections that become increasingly difficult for Zeke to shake. 

"Spiral" – which is not to be confused with any of the adaptations of "Uzumaki," the 2019 horror indie, Adam Green's 2007 thriller or any of the other movies of the same name – is definitely a horror movie. It's definitely a "Saw" movie too. Within the opening scene, a lying detective is prompted to rip his own tongue out or get splattered by an on-coming subway. He doesn't make it and the resulting bloodshed is theatrical. As the trap scene plays out, cinematographer Jordan Oram and editor Dev Singh replicate the spasmodic visuals of the first "Saw" and its 2000s era sequels. The camera spins around the victim as they freak out. This same approach is repeated for most of the other self-mutilation games throughout the film. The spin-off doesn't lack the gore and terrifying situations that have always defined this franchise. However, "Spiral" seeks out a totally different tone than what we might expect. This is thoroughly a detective story, focused more on the cops trying to stop the killer before they kill again over the victims trapped in sadistic scenarios designed by a fanatic who believes they have the moral ground. 

In other words, the strand of "Seven" DNA that has always been a part of "Saw" is much more prevalent than in the other sequels. Much like Fincher's gritty nineties classic, "Spiral" is also a buddy cop movie. Like a hundred partner films before it, Zeke is the hardened and cynical veteran while Schenk is the inexperienced newbie who is still learning the ropes. Not that the interplay between the two men make up that much of the movie. Max Minghella's Schenk exits the film about halfway through, robbing the apparent buddy cop movie of its buddy. Minghella is fine, as the somewhat nervous sidekick, but he barely gets a chance to play off Rock as the lead. The new partner subplot of "Spiral" is, without a doubt, it's most half-assed element. Inserting that idea into a "Saw" sequel could've been fun but the material simply doesn't support it. 

By focusing so much on police corruption, "Spiral" foregrounds the ACAB subtext that has been apparent throughout "Saw" for a long time. At times, it almost feels like the serial killer-ifed version of "The Departed." This, unfortunately, does not mean "Spiral" is an especially compelling mystery. In a traditional "Saw" movie, we already know who is responsible for these crimes. "Spiral" continues down that path, giving its killer a distinctive pig motif – another reoccurring element given fresh meaning here – and even gifting Spiral with a little puppet pal like Billy before him. When the time comes to unmask the killer's true identity, it happens after all other suspects have been cleaved through. That leaves the reveal without much impact, the audience thoroughly underwhelmed by "Spiral's" last act as it careens towards a weirdly abrupt ending. 

That's because "From the Book of Saw" isn't really about uncovering its criminal mastermind's identity and stopping their reign of terror. Instead, this is a dramatic vehicle for Chris Rock. Rock has the chops to carry a gritty crime movie. "New Jack City" proved that and is name-checked here. In the early scenes, when playing a smart-ass and hard boiled cop, Rock almost convinced me this could work. When playing off an equally quick-witted Samuel L. Jackson, the movie does come alive. However, as "Spiral" goes on, it focuses more in the character's dramatic backstory, emphasizes his persecution complex. While that might've been an insightful peek into the mind of a crooked cop, Rock repeatedly hits the wrong note in each dramatic moment. Zeke comes across as righteous, rather than conflicted, petulant rather than rebellious. By the end, I was instead convinced that Chris Rock probably wasn't the right leading man for this particular film. But it was his idea, right? Why does a movie designed to display Rock's ability serve him so badly? That is when it hits you that "Spiral" is less a "Saw" sequel than a misconceived vanity project for a star eager for reinvention. 

If "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" fails as a mystery, a buddy cop movie, and a chance for Chris Rock to show off his range, what does the film do right? Suggesting all the attempts at reinvention in the sequel were misplaced, "Spiral" is most successful as, well, a "Saw" movie. While his previous entries in the series were Darren Lynn Bousman's first, second, and third movies, "Spiral" was his twelfth. While I've never heard much of anything good about films like "11-11-11" or "The Barrens," he clearly has gotten a little better in all that time. Rather than the obnoxious shock rock video antics of his earlier sequels, "Spiral" actually looks fairly slick. There's a sun-drenched quality to the visuals that show a clear inspiration not only from David Fincher but from the Michael Bay movies that don't look like complete dog shit. "Spiral" is not quite as timid about the explicit gore as "Jigsaw" was, though it definitely remains tamer than earlier installments. (If a movie with a flayed body in it can truly be thought of as "tamer.") While the Spiral Killer, their pig mask, and little marionette guy undoubtedly lack the style of Jigsaw's classic duds, the film does return a sense of irony to the traps that has felt missing for a while. A liar ripping his tongue out and someone who planted evidence tearing off their own fingers feel thematically fitting. Making a "Saw" movie where most of the victims are dirty cops certainly makes for more coherent social commentary than forcing a guy with depression to crawl through barbwire or what have you. 

"Jigsaw" made plenty of money but it failed to reignite a public hunger or fan speculation for these movies. This caused Liongates to present "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" throughout production as the bold reinvention the series needed to catch people's attention. Unfortunately, the world had other plans. The real life horror of the COVID-19 pandemic kept the spin-off on a shelf for over a year. When "Spiral" finally released in October of 2021, movie theaters were still far from a proper recovery. The prospect of a new "Saw" starring Chris Rock was not enough to get people to leave their homes. Subsequently, "Spiral" became the lowest grossing "Saw," only the second to fail to break the 100 million mark at the global box office. Looking back at it several years removed, it's a film with some interesting ideas and a half-way decent execution that is derailed by several key elements. The Chris Rock dramatic vehicle, a buddy cop thriller, and the ninth entry in a notoriously grim horror franchise probably didn't all need to be the same film. [6/10]