Reviewed by Jimi Williams
Stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Julie Benz, Meagan Good, Laura Gordon, Greg Bryk, Joris Jarsky, Mike Butters, Mark Rolston, Mike Realba
Written by Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan
Certification UK 18 | US R | Australia MA
Runtime 88 minutes
Directed by David Hackl
So, here we are again, 12 months down the line and another Saw film has been defecated out onto our cinema screens. I begrudgingly reviewed Saw IV last year, and jokingly commented “see you next year” — thinking that I was being witty and ironic. I guess the joke is on me now that Saw V is here.
I’m really lost for words trying to review this film, because everyone who has endured the preceding four will go and watch this turgid turd anyway. I mean come on, how good can a film be when its entire production time has taken less than a year? There is simply no story ... again, there are copious amounts of footage that have been regurgitated from the other four films and dumped in this one, as if we’re supposed to be happy about that. The gore effects are becoming increasingly numbing — am I the only one that is completely desensitised to this drivel? And the whole MTV editing is just tacky these days. The tagline reads “you won’t believe how it ends” ... but they can’t even deliver a decent ending, leaving everything wide open for Saw VI next Halloween!
“Do you want to play a game?” NO I DON'T ... because you’re about as scary as watching my Nan carve up the Sunday roast. I get the horrible feeling that Saw is going the way of Friday the 13th, and some poor sap will be sat at his computer, trying to review Saw XV in years to come. See you next year? No, let’s not even joke about it.