Yep, it's almost Halloween, that means time for another SAW flick since they are released every year at this time. Back at the directing helm is Darren Bousman who has done parts 2 and 3. Writing team is two dudes not connected with any of the previous SAW movies....let's see how they do.

The opening scene is an autopsy sequence that hits you right between the eyes with some very graphic images, complete with =squish= sounds as the body of Jigsaw is sliced and diced. Hope you didn't eat too much before attending as this is GROSS! Yep, this is going to be one for the most hardcore gore-fans out there!

The plot starts developing from here and it is all about the origins of the Jigsaw killer and scenes from his past that haven't been shown or explored in the SAW series. This gives a pretty good foundation for setting up all the "game" scenes that follow and kind of a whodunit aspect.

The torture/challenge/game/whatever scenes are definitely pretty clever. They tend to be better IMHO than either part 2 or 3. They certainly deliver some gruesome payoffs that will please the bloodlust crowd. Pretty intense and well-done. I LOVED some of the scenes, and there are plenty of them too.

Without going too much into the plot and what happens, let me say that the groundwork for future SAW movies is laid here, and it's fairly convincing. They are going to have a difficult time coming up with originality, but I sort of thought that 2 SAW movies ago, and they've done pretty well:) Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and thought it was better than 2 or 3, both of which I also liked. Hey, I'm a fan of the SAW series

My main gripe is that Bousman is too hung-up on jump-cut editing and unnecessary effects that detract from the mayhem sometimes instead of adding to it. His background before SAW 2 was MTV, and it shows here with the flashing an strobe-light efffects. He's passable at best. The acting is pretty bad, a trait of all the SAW movies. I mean, they just have some real Grade C acting talent and Bousamn isn't good enough to get much out of them besides the bare necessities of making the movie work. Oh well

I give this SAW an 8/10 and highly recommend it to fans of the horror genre. I'd say it's slightly better than 2 and 3 because the torture-test scenes are more original and the overall story a little more developed. Not as good as SAW 1, but duh, that's a given. A little better direction and this would be a 9, even if with the mediocre cast.

NUK

I saw all the "Saws" till now : 1,2,3 ... cant wait for this one .

Anyway the best was Saw 1 .. the rest were pretty boring