office earnings for its fourth and fifth entries, with screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (FEAST) picking up where original creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell left off (as well as before they started in). Collectors of the series on DVD were urged to “double dip” when it came to the first three entries, as each title was reissued in a two-disc “Special Edition” to co- incide with the theatrical release of its immediate follow-up. Lionsgate, however, possibly tak- ing note of the less-than-stellar fan reception of SAW IV, declined to request their further indul- gence in this instance and pro- ceeded directly to the “unrated director’s cut” of SAW V, the de- but effort of David Hackl (de- signer of the various deadly traps utilized by Jigsaw and his dis- ciples throughout the series). Please consider SAW IV spoiled before reading further.
Where last we left this increas- ingly convoluted saga, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) had been revealed as the mas- termind behind the continuing legacy of the deceased John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell). But while he tried to make sure that no witnesses survived the climactic SAW IV carnage, his secret may yet be exposed: SAW V gets off to a great start when Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) manages to avoid drowning in Hoffman’s “cube” trap, utilizing a trick he might have picked up watching M*A*S*H reruns. The remainder of the film follows four intertwining threads (par for the series course): Strahm tries to get the goods on Hoffman for the continuing “Jigsaw” activities; Hoffman attempts to frame Strahm for the same deeds; flashbacks reveal how Jigsaw (forget THE BUCKET LIST— here’s the most active and indus- trious terminal cancer patient the
movies will ever know) per- suaded Hoffman to join his cause in the first place; and, of course, five fresh victims (Julie Benz and Meagan Good among them) get to run the latest “Jig- saw” gauntlet—and, no matter who’s setting the traps, rest as- sured that Billie the Puppet is there to explain the rules. As noted, SAW V begins well—at the very least, it has the decency to rescue the little girl whose life has been hanging in the balance since the end of the third film in the series. But a film that sells itself with the line “You Won’t Believe How it Ends” has a lot to live up to. Now, nobody at Lionsgate is going to feel sorry for anyone who took that line to signal the end of the series: when Melton and Dunstan took over, they spelled out that they were going to complete what would now be a six-part saga. And yet the problem with SAW V is that most viewers will believe how it ends. Two main characters spend the film trying to fatally outwit each other—one of them succeeds—case closed. True, we do get one of the most brutally gruesome fadeouts to date, but while the traditional climactic USUAL SUSPECTS-style dia- logue montage remains in place, completely absent are the diaboli- cal zingers that would have clued us in had we been paying proper attention. Instead, the viewer is likely to groan (at the utter cluelessness of a supposedly clever character) well before the final trap is sprung. Similarly un- inspired is the multi-trap “gaunt- let” subplot: the viewer will be way ahead of the characters as re- gards the survival potential for all involved. The only remaining se- quel hook is a “what’s in the box” mystery bequeathed by Jigsaw to his widow Jill (Betsy Russell)— but the film doesn’t provide suf- ficient reason for one to actually
care what’s in the box, either. The prospect of a definitive ending may yet make SAW VI (to be di- rected by Kevin Greutert, editor of all five entries to date) worth- while, but SAW V does little more than mark time.
Lionsgate presents the film in a perfectly agreeable anamorphi- cally-enhanced 1.78:1 transfer (a rather pointless “fullscreen” transfer is sold separately for the same price) with fine Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Subtitles in English and Span- ish are provided, as is English closed-captioning. Director Hackl and first assistant director Steve Webb provide a thoroughly detailed feature commentary (among other things, they dis- cuss their painstaking recreation of sets not saved from III and IV); while a second track gives us the observations of producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg and ex- ecutive producers Peter Block and Jason Constantine (Wan and Whannell also receive executive producer credit, but they’re no- where to be found on this disc). Extras are rounded out by a the- atrical trailer and five featurettes devoted to the various traps de- vised for this installment. Our copy came with a SAW V key- chain (packed with miniature storyboard images!) secured inside the shrinkwrap. Also available on Blu-Ray for $39.95.
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
1981, Lionsgate, $19.98, 92m 53s (Extended Cut), 90m 18s (Theatrical), DVD By Eric Somer
Conceived at the height of the 1980s American slasher film movement, and certainly one of the more cleverly titled entries, MY BLOODY VALENTINE re- spects most of the slasher tropes that were prevalent at the time:
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