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Saw VI Saw 3D Jigsaw

Saw 3D: The Final Chapter is a horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. It was the seventh film in the Saw franchise and was released on October 29, 2010.

Plot

A flashback sequence occurring immediately after the first film's events shows Dr. Lawrence Gordon crawling through a hallway after sawing off his foot and escaping the bathroom. Along the way, he comes across a steaming pipe and uses it to cauterize his stump and stop the bleeding, causing him to lose consciousness due to the pain.

The scene shifts to an unknown point in the timeline, where two young men, Brad and Ryan, wake up inside a store in the center of a public square. Both are chained to a contraption consisting of three circular saw blades. Dina, Brad's and Ryan's girlfriend, who cheated on both of them, is suspended above the machine. Jigsaw's mechanical ventriloquist puppet informs them that one of them will have to die within the next 60 seconds. Brad and Ryan must shove the contraption away from themselves and kill their opponent to save Dina. Otherwise, Dina will be killed by the third blade. As the game begins, a massive crowd watches the scene through the storefront window. While Brad and Ryan initially fight against each other, they ultimately decide that Dina is not worth either of their lives and choose to sacrifice her. As the timer expires, Dina is lowered onto the saw and sliced in half.

The scene shifts once again. After escaping the reverse bear trap at the end of Saw VI, Mark Hoffman hides in an abandoned hangar and plans to take revenge on Jill Tuck. Jill, who witnesses his escape, goes to the police station and informs Matt Gibson, an internal affairs officer, that Hoffman is the successor and former accomplice of her ex-husband, John Kramer, commonly known as the Jigsaw Killer. In exchange for protection and immunity, Jill promises to give Gibson all the evidence she can provide to find and arrest Hoffman. Eager to end the Jigsaw murders for good, Gibson immediately agrees.

Sometime later, Hoffman abducts a group of four racist skinheads - Evan, Kara, Dan, and Jake - and takes them to a junkyard, where he has prepared another gruesome game. The group leader, Evan, sits in a jacked-up car. As his game begins, he has 30 seconds to tear himself away from the driver's seat, to which he is glued, and pull a lever attached to the motor. However, he fails to do so in time, resulting in the car falling and crushing the head of Kara, who is strapped to a platform below the rear tire. As the car drives forward, Dan's arms and lower jaw, which are chained to its back, are ripped off. Jake, who is strapped to the garage door, is hit by the car and killed in the process. Finally, Evan crashes head-on into another vehicle and is thrown through the windshield.

Shortly afterward, the corpses are found by the police. At the crime scene, Gibson and his partner, Officer Rogers, discover the bear trap Jill had used when she tried to kill Hoffman. As they find her fingerprints on the device, Gibson takes her into protective custody. However, just as he takes her to a safe house for witnesses, he receives a video message from Hoffman, in which he tells Gibson about another game and assures him to stop it in exchange for Jill. Not willing to accept the ultimatum, Gibson sends Jill to the detention cells of the police station.

Meanwhile, Hoffman sets up the game, which focuses on Bobby Dagen, who had gained wealth and fame by publishing his story about how he survived one of Jigsaw's games, which, in fact, never happened. Following his abduction, Bobby wakes up in a cylindrical cage. A videotape tells him he has 60 minutes to proceed through the building and face a series of tests. If he fails to reach the end of his game before the time expires, his wife, Joyce, will die. As the tape ends, Bobby's cage is moved into an upright position and suspended from the ceiling above two plates armed with large spikes. Bobby, however, quickly manages to escape the cage and goes on to face his game.

In his first test, he finds his publicist, Nina, strapped to a chair in the middle of four metal posts, each armed with a pointed metal rod. A tape informs Bobby that he has 60 seconds to save her. Otherwise, the four rods will impale her throat. Furthermore, these rods would move forward whenever she screamed, killing her even sooner. The key to deactivating the trap is attached to a fish hook in Nina's stomach, which hangs on a wire. To save her, Bobby must pull it out. Although Bobby obtains the key in time, Nina cannot withstand the pain and screams in agony until the trap kills her.

Upon reaching his second test, Bobby finds his lawyer, Suzanne, strapped to a plate in the center of a large, metallic wheel in a horizontal position. The wheel slowly turns forward into an upright position. Thereby, Suzanne's eyes and mouth will be impaled by three metal rods positioned in front of the wheel. Bobby has to step into another machine and lift a heavy bar for at least 30 seconds to save her. However, four metal spikes impale both sides of his body as he does so. Bobby fails again and cannot save Suzanne, who dies before his eyes.

Upon continuing his path, Bobby enters a long hallway, where most of the floor has been destroyed, except for a few stone arches and wooden beams. Bobby's best friend, Cale, waits at the other end of the hallway and has a mask locked onto his face, which prevents him from seeing anything around him. Bobby has 60 seconds to obtain a key hanging from the ceiling. Meanwhile, he has to guide Cale over the beams and arches to get as close to him as possible. Bobby ultimately receives the key, but as he throws it to Cale, the latter fails to catch it and is hanged by a noose around his neck as the timer expires.

As he goes on, Bobby enters a room with a locked metal door secured by a combination lock. The four numbers necessary to open it are etched on two of his wisdom teeth. Using pliers, Bobby pulls his teeth, successfully opens the door, and finally finds his wife chained by her neck to a metal platform in the middle of an electric fence. A final videotape by Jigsaw tells Bobby how to save his wife. He has to play the same game he claimed to have survived before. Joyce is angry to learn the truth about Bobby's faked survivor story but forgives him as he tries to save her.

At the same time as Bobby's game takes place, Hoffman continues to pressure Gibson and sends another video with a cryptic message. As Gibson understands its true meaning, he and Rogers go to the abandoned Crossroads Manufactory, where Hoffman had once saved Gibson's life by shooting an aggressive assailant, even though the latter had already surrendered. Gibson remembers that the attacker had been institutionalized at the abandoned Clear Dawn Psychiatric Hospital and realizes that this is the location of Bobby's game. He raids the building alongside a SWAT team but goes back to the junkyard when one of his colleagues, Officer Palmer, informs him that she has traced Hoffman's video message back to this location. Only minutes after he leaves the asylum, the SWAT members are killed in a gas chamber set up by Hoffman to prevent them from stopping Bobby's game.

As Gibson returns to the junkyard, he discovers a hidden surveillance room. Upon entering it, accompanied by two armed officers, he finds the mutilated corpse of Dan, one of the skinheads. Gibson looks at the surveillance monitors and sees that Hoffman has hacked the camera security system of the police station. He realizes that Hoffman removed Dan's corpse from his body bag and hid inside it to infiltrate the station through the morgue. However, as he calls Palmer to warn her, Gibson and the other two officers are killed by a sentry gun.

Meanwhile, Bobby pierces two hooks through his pectoral muscles and hoists himself up to the ceiling, where he has to connect two extension cords to deactivate Joyce's trap. However, just as he is about to do so, his muscles no longer support his weight, and Bobby falls to the floor. As the timer expires, Joyce is trapped inside a large oven and roasted alive, while Bobby is forced to watch her demise.

Hoffman finally reaches the morgue, heads for the detention cells, and kills everyone in his path, including Palmer and Rogers. As he finds Jill in one of the cells, she manages to flee but is eventually found and beaten up by him in the evidence room. Afterward, he straps her to a chair and locks the reverse bear trap from the first film onto her head. Jill's mouth is ripped open by the vicious device, killing her without a chance to escape.

Having fulfilled his revenge, Hoffman leaves the station and returns to his hangar. Meanwhile, the news channels inform the public about the massacre and announce a citywide shutdown. After blowing up his hideout, Hoffman is about to leave but is suddenly attacked by three pig-masked figures. One of them reveals himself to be Dr. Lawrence Gordon, who had been nursed and recruited by John Kramer after the first film. Flashbacks show that Gordon has assisted John in setting up and planning several traps and games throughout the previous films. Following his mentor's death, he received a videotape in which John asked him to watch over Jill and take action if anything happened to her. Therefore, Gordon takes Hoffman to the bathroom from the first film and shackles him by the ankle to a pipe. Afterward, he takes the hacksaw he had used to cut off his foot years earlier and throws it out of the room. Then, he turns off the lights and closes the door, leaving Hoffman to die with the words "Game Over."

Cast

Production

Saw 3D was green-lit in July 2009 and was planned to be directed by David Hackl. While producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules and writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan returned, the cinematographer of all previous installments, David Armstrong, was replaced by Brian Gedge.

Pre-production began on September 14, 2009, with an approximate $17 million budget. While an eighth film was initially planned to be shot as well, this plan was changed due to the box-office failure of Saw VI. Therefore, Saw 3D was supposed to be the last film and concentrated on answering the remaining open questions of the series while also incorporating parts of the story planned for the eighth film.

In January 2010, another unexpected change was made when Twisted Pictures dismissed David Hackl as director. By enforcing a contract clause, Kevin Greutert, who planned to work on Paranormal Activity 2, was indentured to direct Saw 3D instead, much to his dismay. When he arrived on the set two weeks before the principal photography began, he changed significant parts of the script. These changes were problematic, as the crew had already built sets, cast actors, and bought or created props for the film.

Saw 3D was the first film in the series filmed entirely in 3D, using the SI-3D digital camera system instead of filming on set traditionally and later transferring the footage to 3D. The camera system was one of the reasons why the film was the most expensive installment in the series back then. Therefore, several scenes, mainly the trap scenes, were filmed to take advantage of the new techniques. Principal photography eventually began on February 8, 2010, at Toronto's Cinespace Film Studios and continued until April 12, 2010.

The casting began in mid-December 2009. As with Saw VI, the second season of Scream Queens aired. Like in the first season, ten unknown actresses competed for a role in Saw 3D. Ultimately, actress Gabby West won the show and played the role of Kara in the film. Other actors were offered to reprise their roles. While some of them, such as Tanedra Howard and Cary Elwes, returned to the franchise, others turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and Australia on October 28, 2010, and in the United States and Canada on October 29. Initially, the film was planned to be released on October 22 but was pushed back, probably to have a release date closer to Halloween. Saw 3D was initially rated NC-17 by the MPAA and had to be edited and re-submitted six times to secure an R-rating. In Australia, the Australian Classification Board gave a heavy R18+ rating for "high impact violence, blood, and gore," whereas all previous Saw films were rated MA15+.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television on October 25, 2010, producer Mark Burg announced that the DVD would only be released in 2D. Lions Gate Entertainment released the film on January 25, 2011. There were three different versions. The first was a standard DVD release consisting of the film's theatrical cut, a selection of bonus features, and a second disc with a digital copy. The second edition was a 2D combo pack with an unrated Blu-ray, DVD, and a digital copy. The last edition of the release was a 3D combo pack, consisting of an unrated Blu-ray in 2D and 3D, a DVD, and a digital copy version.

Reception

Unlike Saw VI, the seventh film was a financial success, earning $45,710,178 in the US and Canada and $136,150,434 worldwide. Despite this, Saw 3D received the worst ratings in the series. It received a rating of 9% from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 82 reviews, while Metacritic gave it a score of 24 out of 100, based on 17 critics. The aspects that were criticized the most were the acting, the plot, the excessive violence, and the lack of screen time of both Tobin Bell and Cary Elwes.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Charlie Clouser, who was already responsible for the score of all previous installments in the series. On November 2, 2010, the soundtrack was released on iTunes and contained 30 tracks. However, the complete score for Saw 3D is yet to be officially released.

Original Score

1. Cauterize

2. Tablesaw Intro

3. Tablesaw

4. Chase Jill

5. Stitch Face

6. Only You

7. Talk Show

8. Jill Dream

9. Car Trap

10. Support Group

11. Hallway

12. Junkyard

13. Birdcage

14. News Bar

15. Strugglebeat

16. Crazy

17. Insane

18. Quiet Nina

19. Autographs

20. Eye Trap

21. Flashback

22. Loved Ones

23. SWAT Team

24. Teeth Tape

25. SWAT Teeth

26. Fifty Cal

27. Reach Bobby

28. Roaster

29. Dr. Gordon Montage

30. The Final Zepp

Trivia

  • Several traps from Saw 3D were intended to be used in earlier films. Bobby Dagen pulling his teeth out was the original idea for Troy's game in Saw III. The concept of Dina being lowered onto the grinder was initially supposed to be used in Judge Halden's trap. The Horsepower Trap was also planned to be used before but was initially deemed too violent.
  • Saw 3D is the shortest Saw film, having a runtime of 90 minutes.
  • According to the audio commentary, Brad and Ryan were supposed to be the two pig-masked figures who assisted Gordon in Hoffman's abduction. Initially, their trap scene would have included a shot of Gordon and John Kramer standing in the crowd, watching their game.
  • The audio commentary also revealed that Hoffman died in the bathroom, probably due to starvation or death of thirst.

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