Saw V (2008)

I’ve been reading up on the Saw franchise while working through Saw-mhain, and today we have a special treat: Saw V is generally regarded as one of the worst entries in the franchise, and… yeah, I can see that. I feel like we’ve lost the plot and I don’t like Hoffman, so there wasn’t much for me in this entry. I mean, besides Ms. Julie Benz in a terrible, terrible wig. Oh hai, Darla from Buffy and Angel!

This movie directly follows up on the ending of Saw IV (and technically Saw III as well): Jigsaw and Amanda are dead, Matthews is dead, Rigg dies off screen, Agent Strahm killed Jeff, and Detective Hoffman was revealed to be Jigsaw’s latest accomplice. Strahm is attacked and put in a device with no escape that’s meant to drown him, but an emergency tracheotomy means Hoffman isn’t the only survivor. The corrupt cop is still hailed as a hero since just about everyone else is dead, though. But a hoarse Strahm is obsessed with the case, especially after his partner, Agent Perez… dies? That’s not gonna stick. Anyway, Strahm says he’s taking some personal time and instead focuses on the Jigsaw case, realizing pretty easily that Hoffman is bad. A combination of flashbacks and detective work reveal that Hoffman put his sister’s killer in a Jigsaw-style trap with no escape, something that annoyed the then-alive John Kramer. After the Hoff survives a trap, he decides to work with Jigsaw as he has since the beginning, apparently. The cutter from Saw? Hoffman nabbed him. And the cop also set up the murder house from Saw II while Amanda was unconscious. It’s been Hoffman all along!

Meanwhile, the main trap involves five people–Brit (Julie Benz), Mallick (Greg Bryk), and three pieces of dead meat. They’re put through a series of tests where someone dies each time, but eventually the dwindling survivors figure out why they’ve been picked: a supposedly abandoned building was burned down, killing 8 people, all so the property could be bought and developed and the five are all associated in one way or another, from Mallick setting the fire to Brit ordering the blaze.

Over with the less interesting stuff, Hoffman manages to outsmart Strahm, framing him for all Hoffman’s work and then killing him in a ~~Death Star trash compactor~~ room with crushing walls. Oh, right, and Jill was also in the movie, but more on that next time.

So first, I wanna touch on the good of the movie, and for me that’s the conclusion of the main trap. Now down to two survivors, the final test involves filling jars with a specific amount of blood to release them. But wait, why are there five slots for arms? That’s when Brit and Mallick realize that no one had to die during any of the previous traps. All the death they inflicted on each other was pointless, which was all related to the burned down building by… um… hm. Guess it’s time to talk about the bad parts.

Why? Just a general question of, “Why?” Why was the point of the trap to get the five to work together? And turning back to the main plot, why is Hoffman still a detective? He’s taken over for Jigsaw and I feel like that’s a full time job. Pulling double duty forces him to apparently put Strahm in a death trap with no escape–I’m sure John Kramer would be upset both at his flat out murder attempt as well as letting the agent escape–obstruct investigations, and kill his fellow cops for the unforgivable crimes of… wanting to bring Jigsaw and his minions to justice? Rigg and Strahm were impetuous, sure, but they weren’t exceptionally corrupt like Matthews. And hey, speaking of Strahm, why the fuck didn’t he call his boss when he was closing in on Hoffman? Bad enough you went in off duty with no backup, but you didn’t leave a note? A call? Fucking anything?!

I’m disappointed more than anything. Usually later franchises like Hellraiser or Children of the Corn just kind of lose their way and start having unrelated scripts that got turned into the next entry of the respective horror franchise, but Saw V was planned to be the next chapter. And the people who wrote this–who also, coincidentally, wrote Feast and its lackluster sequels–also wrote Saw VI and Saw 3D. My hopes are dashed for the next two movies.

Previous: Saw IV (2007)
Next: Saw VI (2009)