‘SPIRAL’ (2021) Review: Saw Seeks Se7en’s Success Simultaneously Sabotaging Sequels

Ever since the first Saw film was unleashed on a nationwide scale in 2004, I would see many fans become major devotees to these films. It was even fun that they came out every Halloween for 5 consecutive years. Lately, you may notice – possibly because of the fallout between “Saw vs. Paranormal Activity: Box Office Fights” – there aren’t a lot of genre films being released theatrically lately (barring last year thanks to COVID-19) on Halloween week. Well, Spiral (aka. Spiral: From the Book of Saw – which they seemingly changed recently), switches it up not only on the release date but the look and feel of what aesthetically and formulaically is known as a “Saw film”.

In Spiral, we get Chris Rock who plays Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks who is introduced to the audience in a pseudo-Beverly Hills Cop type of way and seems to be a loose cannon/lone-policeman mainly due to corruption throughout the force and his lack of willingness to trust anyone. His chief assigns a rookie, William Schenk (played by Max Minghella), to Zeke to try and reign him in. When Zeke and Schenk go on their first scene together as a team, it’s one where a cop is a victim and it’s pretty gruesome and is a pretty close colleague to Zeke – once he finds out who it is later (yes, that’s how gruesome it is). It is suggested that there is possibly a Jigsaw Killer copycat that could be taking out cops, one by one, as USB sticks are wrapped up in boxes delivered to Banks at the station. Is it the original Jigsaw, a forgotten accomplice, or just someone using intricate traps that mimic the morality-based Grand Guignol traps introduced by the Jigsaw killer years before?

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST EPISODE FROM 2017 WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE SAW FRANCHISE (UP TO ‘SAW 3D: THE FINAL CHAPTER).

The Saw franchise was exhausted to fumes by its end in 2010 with Saw: The Final Chapter if not before that point. 2017’s Jigsaw didn’t reinvigorate the cash cow for Lionsgate either. At best, it was an interesting, stylish take on the series for the first half of the film before falling into the pitfalls of the franchise’s lowest points. To me, nothing really beats the cleverness of the first entry. The reason why the first Saw was so successful was not only the traps but the mystery unfolding on why our two characters were stuck in this room. Using flashbacks to piece together the story, Saw also benefitted from having some crazy traps that felt personal and real and made viewers question what they would do in the situation. Our victims weren’t running from a killer chasing them, the chase was the clock and it was up to the victim to pay penance for their troubled history. It was an interesting concept that really struck horror fans because it felt fresh. I’m personally a fan of the first two films but after that, they all blend together with the later entries being ultimately forgettable bogged down by repetition and convoluted half-assed mystery.

Spiral feels like the reboot that Jigsaw tried to be. To its credit, it feels like post-David Fincher Se7en neo-noir detective film that we would have seen before the original Saw but somehow retrofitted into the “Saw Cinematic Universe”. Spiral is HEAVILY influenced by Fincher’s Se7en and there is no denying that. Visually, Spiral does switch it up. Gone are the garish, overly saturated colors reflected from hard industrial settings. Most of the film, outside of the traps, takes place during the day complimented by a heatwave that may even recall Predator 2 vibes. Some may see this film’s aping from Fincher’s masterpiece as a cop-out but it only feels like that in procedure and not the environment. Let’s not forget that the original Saw was also a byproduct and influenced by Se7en in its look, moral compass, feel (as far as the John Doe set pieces), and, some may say, even down to music influence. Even though Se7en has one of my favorite scores by Howard Shore, most people will remember the Nine Inch Nails “Closer” remix that opens the film along with St. Louis’ own Gravity Kills having their single “Guilty” in the film. Saw paid tribute by trying to evoke the same musical textures by hiring Nine Inch Nails contributor, Charlie Clouser, to score the film. Clouser creates not only the soundscape of the series (which he is the only constant throughout this series, also contributing to Spiral) but sets up the consistent mood for the series. In fact, outside of the traps and Jigsaw mentions in Spiral, if you took Clouser’s score out of this film, you would have no tie-in to the original series. Saw definitely owes some of its success to Se7en and Spiral takes what Saw didn’t take from that film to try to make it new again.

Chris Rock doesn’t do the best balancing act in Spiral. In fact, most of the acting in the film isn’t great, outside of a few characters. Samuel Jackson adds some excitement to the film via some flashbacks as police chief that really makes me want to watch those films. Rock just can’t carry this film, sadly. For the most part, Chris Rock poorly attempts to be serious and the stereotypical hard-boiled detective that we all know but will also crack jokes and sarcastic one-liners with perps that definitely feel like Chris Rock but ultimately take you out of the film and the character that Rock tries to build.

The different visual take on the universe is very welcoming and, by default, makes the traps feel fresh. The traps in Spiral are some of the better ones and the film definitely doesn’t shy away from the brutality. However, the traps also do feel a bit too extreme to feel like the characters even have a chance to actually choose to live with their physical disfigurements.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed Saw II-IV, does a decent job at the “remodeling”/”refresh” of the franchise but doesn’t really focus on the character development as much as he should have nor the script, which may be as bad as Rock’s performance in the film. Tired tropes are on display here as well like “You’re too close to this” being screamed at Rock’s Zeke as well as the fractured and tortured human that Rock tries to portray. Bousman also makes a few visual missteps in the grand scheme of this new vision by utilizing some of the visual cues from the Saw franchise by speeding up footage, rotating the camera around the subject with a couple of frames taken out to give a frantic and panicked feel that sticks out in this film – even if it may be making an aesthetic callback to the franchise.

Spiral doesn’t succeed, much like Jigsaw, in reinvigorating a franchise that has been dead for eleven years, if not more. Lionsgate may be best to let this franchise go and try to find new talent among the genre. Spiral feels like a 40-year-old man who just had a makeover that tries to hit on women 15 to 20 years younger than him. It simply doesn’t have the charm to do so. New lipstick on an old pig mask just doesn’t work in the case of Spiral. While it isn’t the worst Saw film, it’s not enough to gather the flock back to it either. If anything, it may evoke sentimental feelings for die-hard fans of the franchise and what it once was which was a theatrical Halloween juggernaut.

‘SPIRAL’ is in theatres today!