SAW IV

Saw IV was released in 2007 and was directed by Darren Lynn. Saw IV was another great of the SAW film series. Saw IV starts off with the autopsy of John Kramer. While in the process of the autopsy a small cassette tape is found in John's stomach that is covered in wax. When detective Hoffman comes into the room he plays the tape and is informed that he too will be tested. When the first game begins Trevor and Art both are chained at the neck and to a winch in the middle of the room. Trevor's eyelids are sewn together and Arts mouth is sewn shut, making communication impossible.When the winch begins pulling them together Trevor attacks Art, who kills him and takes his key and unlocks his collar.

Next we see where the police find  Detective Kerry (who was killed in the Angel Trap). There Hoffman meets Agent Strahm and Agent Perez. They inform Hoffman that Jigsaw was not in good enough condition and Amanda doesn't have the strength to place Kerry into the device therefore there had to be a third party involved. Strahm, then suspicious of Rigg is convinced that Eric Matthews who had recently disappeared is still alive. Later when Rigg's arrived at his house, he is attacked. Upon awakening he watches a video tape that tells him that Matthews is indeed still alive and that he must save himself as well as Hoffman. As the game begins the first subject that Riggs encounters is a blond female secured in a chair with a pig mask over her face. Rigg is informed to leave her there (see what I see) Instead he tries to help her triggering the device that begins to pull her hair resulting in tearing her scalp from her head. Ultimately Rigg saves her however she grabs a knife and attempts to kill Rigg's due to her being told that she would be arrested if Rigg's saved her unless she kills him first. Rigg's ends up killing her and leaves.

  Rigg's next test comes at a motel where he see's "feel what I feel". Here he forces the manager of the hotel (Ivan) into a room and onto a bed. There Rigg places Ivan into restraints holding him to the bed. Surrounding the bed are photos from all the victims that Ivan had raped in the past. Ivan is faced with the decision to gouge out is eyes or be dismembered limb by limb. Above Ivan's head where two metal spikes  that if he chooses  to blind himself they would swing over and gouge out his eyes. The problem was that Ivan only got one eye taken out before the time ran out, therefore he was also dismembered by having his limps ripped off. I found this scene to be awesome. The realness factor was unbelievable The eye gouging device was probably my favorite in the film.

Next Riggs goes to a school where the third test "save as I save" takes place. Here you see a flashback from Rigg where he attacked a man when he was a patrol officer for abusing his wife and daughter. Rigg's finds the man and his wife hanging in the center of a classroom with steel rods impelled through them both holding them together. The rods are strategically placed so that they were penetrated into vital organs on the man but no-vital organs on the wife. When Rigg leaves this room there is one rod left and Rigg hands the wife the key to unlock her harness. While this is taking place Strahm and Perez are investigating the string of murders. While at the school agent Perez locates a Billy doll sitting in a chair inside a room. As she leans down closer to see what it is, it advises Strahm that he will take the life of an innocent man. It then explodes sending  small metal objects into Perez's face. While Perez is hospitalized Strahm begins to interrogate Jill Tuck more than ever. During this time Jill explains to Strahm that while she was pregnant with Gideon, her clinic was robbed by Cecil Adams causing a door to slam into her and forcing her against the wall causing a miscarriage. This is why Cecil was the first target of John's. Jigsaw places Cecil into a chair, where in order for him to be released he must press his face into a grid of knives. However the trap failed and Cecil comes at John but ultimately Cecil falls into a bunch of razor wire. Meanwhile, Rigg arrives at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant just before Strahm does. Strahm, thinking he is on the trail of Rigg, is actually following Jeff. (Jeff is the husband f the nurse that tried to perform the operation on John Kramer while on his death bed.) Once he catches up to Jeff, Jeff flashes a gun wanting to know the whereabouts of his daughter. Strahm then kills Jeff following through with what Jigsaw said earlier with the Billy doll. ("You will kill an innocent man")

Rigg then finds himself inside a room with Hoffman, Matthews and Art. Art was the attorney for Jill and John. When Rigg arrives, Matthews is standing on a large block of ice with a noose around his neck. Hoffman is opposite of him sitting in a chair with an electrical wire at his feet. Two more blocks of ice are set up in the ceiling to swing down and crush Matthews head should the door open. As the ice under Matthews melts it sends water toward Hoffman. Should Matthews slip off the ice he will be hung and the balance scale will shift causing the water to make contact with the electrical wire in turn electrocuting Hoffman. Art has a device attached to his back  to cut his spine. The only way to remove the device is for the ninety minutes to run out. As Riggs comes through the door, he is shot by Matthews, Matthews is killed by the ice blocks in the ceiling. Rigg then kills Art thinking he is responsible for the traps, however a tape that Art had in his hand informed Rigg that he failed the test by interfering. Matthews and Hoffman would have lived had Rigg not tried to save them.. Hoffman then removes himself from the chair and leaves Rigg's in the room to die. That is when we see that Hoffman was the second accomplice. He then arrives in front of the room where Jigsaw had died and sees Strham kill Jeff. Hoffman then seals Strham inside the room with the four bodies. (Jigsaw,Amanda,Jeff and Jeff's wife.) That is when we see that this film was actually taking place the same time that SAW III was taking place.

For me this was the hardest film for me to follow. Mainly due to the fact that it and III were running together but you didn't catch it till the end. Also, I had a lot of trouble keeping up with which detective was which.I think the kill scenes and the devices used were some of the best. I really liked the Ivan scene and then it would have to the school scene. It was just brilliant to think of placing the rods in the husband and wife like they did. The camera angles were awesome.  I would not expect any less coming from the directors of SAW. The plot was great. It really left the film open. I do think if they had made it a little less confusing I would have liked it a lot better. The story line was dead on. I really liked the acting in this film. I think each actor carried out their roll very nicely. Please leave your comments on my post, along with your comments about the film here, on The Jigsaw Diaries.