Spiral is a 2021 horror film written by Josh Stolberg and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is the ninth in the Saw franchise. Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson feature in the thriller, which depicts police attempts to apprehend a Jigsaw-style murderer. Executive producers include James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the show's original creators, as well as Kevin Greutert, a series veteran.After the success of Jigsaw in 2017, Chris Rock expressed interest in returning to the horror genre with another Saw film. Jigsaw's directors, the Spierig Brothers, considered returning for a sequel but ultimately decided against it. Rock is refining a screenplay by Stolberg and Goldfinger for the project, which was unveiled in May 2019. The remainder of the ensemble arrived in Toronto in July, and production began in August.
Lionsgate pushed the cinema release of Spiral back to May 14, 2021 in the United States because to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the film had been slated to be released in May 2020. Critics were split on whether or not the film was successful in reimagining the series entirely; although they complimented the franchise's new direction, they were divided on whether or not the film was successful in reimagining the franchise.
Spiral (2021) has a storyline.
Off-duty Detective Marv Bozwick pursues a burglar through a sewage drainage pipe during a Fourth of July parade. Bozwick wakes to find himself dangling by his tongue in a busy subway tunnel after being attacked from behind by a person wearing a pig mask. He is offered an option through recorded message: cut out his tongue and survive, or wait until the next train comes, killing him. Bozwick gets murdered by the train after failing to escape the trap in time. The next day, Detective Zeke Banks is assigned a new partner, idealistic rookie William Schenk, by police Captain Angie Garza. Banks and Schenk examine Bozwick's death, and Banks notices similarities to the now-deceased Jigsaw Killer's method of operation.
Meanwhile, a murder investigator called Fitch is kidnapped and put in a trap where he must pull his fingers off to prevent electrocution in a filling water basin; he too fails to escape and dies. Because of his relationship with Fitch, several police suspect Banks. The station then receives a package containing a pig puppet and a bit of Schenk's tattooed flesh. A little vial within the box points the cops to a butcher shop, which was originally a hobby store frequented by Banks and his father, retired police chief Marcus Banks. When the squad arrives, they find a recording recorder and a skinned body identified as Schenk. Marcus decides to seek out the murderer himself and goes to a warehouse, where he is kidnapped. Garza is abducted and held captive in the precinct's cold storage, where she must slash her spinal chord with a sword to prevent molten wax from dripping into her face. As Banks finds her corpse, she dies from her injuries caused by the scorching hot wax.
Banks is caught and wakes up chained to a pipe in a warehouse with a hacksaw nearby. Using a wayward bobby pin, he avoids chopping off his arm. Peter Dunleavy, his former colleague who was sacked and imprisoned after Banks disclosed a murder he committed, is chained up. In front of him is a customized glass-crushing machine that hurls shrapnel. Banks can either liberate him or let him die, a tape recorder says. Banks can't obtain Dunleavy's key in time. Schenk faked his own death by using the skinned body of the thief who lured Bozwick into the tunnels. He was the copycat all along. He says that his last name is Emmerson, the son of Charlie Emmerson, whom Dunleavy assassinated for testifying against a crooked officer. During his stint as chief, Marcus shielded dishonest personnel to clean the streets more effectively under Article 8.
Because Emmerson thinks Banks may be an ally, he gives him one more test, which consists of showing Marcus restrained in the air and having his blood slowly sucked out of him. Emmerson makes a call to 9-1-1 and tells the dispatcher that he is a civilian who is being chased by a gunman. As a consequence, the dispatcher sends a SWAT squad to the place where Emmerson is. He then tosses a handgun with a single cartridge over to Banks and gives him the option of either shooting a target that would rescue Marcus but enable Emmerson to escape, or shooting Emmerson and allowing Marcus to bleed to death from his wounds. Banks fires the target in an effort to rescue his father, which results in the loosening of his bindings and causes him to fall on the ground. Banks then starts to fight Emmerson. Marcus' bindings pull him up again shortly after the SWAT squad gets on the scene and accidentally set off a tripwire, which is why he continues to be held at an elevated position. The movement exposes a pistol that was attached to Marcus' arm, allowing the SWAT squad to mistake him for the gunman and end his life as a result of their error. As Emmerson runs away, Banks shouts helplessly in desperation.
Who played the leading roles in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)?
Detective Zeke Banks was played by Chris Rock.
Detective William Schenk/Emmerson was played by Max Minghella. Castrounis played Young William.
Marcus Banks was played by Samuel L. Jackson in this film.
Captain Angie Garza was acted by Marisol Nichols. Daniel Petronijevic portrays Marv Bozwick, a detective. Detective Fitch was played by Richard Zeppieri. Peter Dunleavy was played by Patrick McManus.
Ali Johnson played the role of Officer Jeannie Lewis in this production.
Kara Bozwick was represented by Zoie Palmer.
Dylan Roberts was Morgey Silva. Detective Drury was played by K. C. Collins. Det. Deborah Kraus was played by Edie Inksetter. Coroner Chada was acted by Nazneen Contractor.
Detective Tim O'Brien was acted by Thomas Mitchell.
Chad Camilleri gave the performance of Benny Wrights. Christopher Ramsay played the role of Speez. Charlie Emmerson was played by Frank Licari in this production.
Lisa Banks was played by Genelle Williams.
Trevor Gretzky was cast in the role of Officer Pat Jones.
Because Tobin Bell, the actor who portrayed John Kramer / Jigsaw in the previous Saw films, did not return for this one, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is the first in the series to not include Bell or the Jigsaw persona in any way other than through images. Bousman indicated that the film's murderer is a Jigsaw copycat, not the real Jigsaw, and stated that he will not replace Bell in the famous role of the killer. When Billy the Puppet's origins were discussed, Bell indicated an interest in returning as Jigsaw.
Chris Rock's participation in the film Spiral (2021)
Chris Rock proposed an idea to Lionsgate called Spiral, with the intention of revitalizing both the Saw series and his own career in the process.Chris Rock met Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns at a friend's wedding in Brazil and believed shooting a horror film would be a fresh direction for his career. He wanted to integrate humorous aspects in the picture. Lionsgate was interested in Rock's plan to prolong the series. Lionsgate CEO Joe Drake said Rock's approach was respectful to the material while reinvigorating the brand with his humour, creativity, and enthusiasm for the iconic horror property. By January 2018, reports suggested Lionsgate was planning a ninth Saw picture without the Spierig Brothers. The filmmakers told Screen Rant that their picture sets up sequels. By April 2018, Twisted Pictures was developing a Jigsaw sequel with Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger.
Following the release of Jigsaw, Stolberg and Goldfinger were pitching a new Saw film to series veterans Mark Burg and Oren Koules, focusing solely on John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than any of his established apprentices, but then Burg and Koules called the duo to inform them about Rock's ideas for a new film, with Rock contacting them shortly after to discuss his concept. Other writers had submitted their concepts for the upcoming Saw picture to Lionsgate before Rock came and melded his with the duo's. Burg and Koules gave the pair the task of coming up with a proposal for Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger did so, and their proposal was accepted by both Lionsgate and Rock, prompting them to compose their first draft, which was approved a week after it was submitted. During the writing process, Rock assisted Stolberg and Goldfinger, reworking the tale as required.
Rock's role was formerly linked to Danny Glover's David Tapp from the previous film in an early draft of the screenplay. Because it failed the smell test, Stolberg and Goldfinger decided not to pursue this path. Bousman said in May 2021 that talks are on regarding bringing Costas Mandylor back as Mark Hoffman in a future film. Bousman and the crew debated whether or not Tobin Bell should reprise his role as Jigsaw until the last day of production, but they decided that having Bell back would make the film seem like a continuation of the Saw series rather than a standalone picture, as it was intended. Because Jigsaw was killed off in the third picture, Bousman believed that previous films had done Jigsaw a disservice by utilizing flashbacks to bring him into the tale, and he didn't want to make the same error in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, nor disrespect Bell's legendary portrayal. Bousman contemplated having Bell perform a Johnny Cash song during the concluding scene of Spiral (2021), but decided against it because he thought it was too gimmicky.
In Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), why didn't Tobin Bell appear?
This is the first Saw movie in which Tobin Bell does not reprise his role as Jigsaw.
Stolberg stated in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that Jigsaw was never included in any draft of the screenplay for Spiral (2021), despite discussions taking place even after the first test screening and throughout post-production. They felt that including Jigsaw would change the foundation of the story they were trying to achieve, not intending to diminish the character but wanting to place the franchise in a new direction. Due to the timeline of the franchise, Stolberg and Goldfinger proposed at one point to have an after-credits sequence where John Kramer met a young Schenk after the murder of the latter's father and bonded with him, maybe giving him the puppet he later uses as the Spiral Ki.
Since the film's killer is a Jigsaw copycat who is different from the original, it was decided to replace Billy the Puppet with a new puppet named Mr. Snuggles. Bousman thought that if the original Jigsaw was replaced, the original puppet should also be replaced with a new one so that the new killer can't be compared to the old one. The production team thought that using Bell's voice for Mr. Snuggles could have led to questions about the relationship between the two killers. In an early draft, Jigsaw's voice was used, but it turned out to be a digitally altered version of his voice. All of the speeches were also originally recorded versions of Jigsaw's voice with the words in a different order to show that the Spiral (2021) Killer had digitally rearranged the words. The moviemakers had a hard time replacing Bell's voice with a new one for the killer. Before he chose the voice made by the computer, Bousman tried out many voices of women, children, and men. The final voice in the movie was chosen just two days before the sound mix was done.
Inside the making of Spiral: From the Book of Saw
The film officially began pre-production on May 16, 2019. Former series director Darren Lynn Bousman will direct the feature, which will be produced by Burg and Koules. In addition to developing the plot proposal, Rock was engaged as an executive producer.James Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Daniel Heffner exec produce Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger will script.
Rock revealed that he has been a fan of Saw since the first film in 2004 while making the news. He was ecstatic at the prospect of taking it to a whole new level of intensity and twistedness.
As a result of Rock's insistence that Bousman direct a Broadway production in New York City, Bousman declined to helm another Saw film.
Burg and Koules said that the way Rock handled Saw was similar to what Eddie Murphy did in 48 Hrs. with buddy cop movies. This gave the Saw series a completely new look. Also, Bousman said that Spiral had less violence and gore than the other films in the series. He said that gore and violence were his "gimmick" when he first started working on the Saw movies, but that they now serve the story, which is more about the characters, tension, and fear.
Stolberg also clarified that the ninth film will exist in the same canon as the previous eight films and would neither be a reboot or a straight sequel to Jigsaw.Spiral's casting options
Detective Zeke Banks was played by Rock. Rock, Stolberg, and Goldfinger came up with the idea for the character during conversations they had before writing the screenplay. Rock wondered what he would do if he were the original Saw protagonist, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, and had to cut off his own foot. They thought it would be interesting for Rock to play a cop who is looked down upon by his fellow officers.
Samuel L. Jackson agreed to play Chief Marcus Banks because he wanted to do something he had never done before, like the scene in the end where his character is hung up like a marionette. Captain Angie Garza was played by Marisol Nichols. The part was originally written for a man, but the producers ended up giving it to Nichols. Nichols, who liked the Saw movies, chose to prepare for the role by watching David Fincher's Seven instead. After years of acting on stage, Patrick McManus tried out for the role of Detective Marv Bozwick in the movie, but he was called back to play Peter Dunleavy instead. Dan Petronijevic was cast as Bozwick.
Max Minghella is a fan of both horror movies and buddy-cop movies. He took on the role of William Schenk / The Spiral Killer because he yearned of starring in a movie with simple story-telling like the buddy cops of his youth such as 48 Hrs., and when he read the script, he felt that it was that along with a Saw film. Max Minghella is a fan of both buddy-cop movies and horror movies.
How was the experience of shooting Spiral: From the Book of Saw?
Under the working title of The Organ Donor, principal shooting started on July 8, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario, with Jordan Oram acting as cinematographer. The picture will feature Rock, Jackson, Minghella, and Nichols, among others. According to Lionsgate CEO Joe Drake, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock, as well as Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols, will make this picture wholly unique in the Saw canon, and they can't wait to share this surprising and scary new narrative with fans of the series. On full blast, this was the next level of Saw. On set, Rock contributed rewrites and entirely reworked his character's introductory sequence. According to Bousman, a sequence with a trap was deleted from the film because it was too gruesome.
It was declared over on August 28, 2019. Dev Singh finished the editing in post-production.
How did Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) get its name out there?
The working title of The Organ Donor was used until the name Spiral (2021) was leaked to the press on January 22, 2020, along with Mongrel Media as the Canadian distributor. Spiral: From the Book of Saw was confirmed as the title of the film in the first teaser poster and trailer, which were published on February 5, 2020.
The theatrical and streaming release of Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Lionsgate Films initially planned to release Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) on October 23, 2020. The date was pushed ahead in July 2019. The COVID-19 epidemic delayed the film's release until May 21, 2021, replacing John Wick: Chapter 4. As cinemas reopened, it was postponed for May 14, 2021.
Lionsgate announced on May 25, 2021, that Spiral would stream exclusively on Starz beginning October 8, 2021 in the United States. In copyright, Spiral was available on VOD on 1 June 2021.
Spiral's score?
When the Motion Picture Association gave the picture an NC-17 classification 11 times, director Darren Lynn Bousman decided to remove enough sequences to earn a R rating.
What kind of earnings did the movie "Spiral" have at the box office?
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) has grossed $40.6 million globally as of March 3, 2022, including $23.2 million in the United States and copyright and $17.3 million in other markets.
In the U.S. and copyright, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) opened with Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You and was anticipated to earn $10–15 million from 2,811 theaters. The picture generated $3.7 million on its first day, dropping forecasts to $9 million. It opened to $8.8 million, leading the box office (for the sixth time) but marked the franchise's lowest opening weekend. Positive responses were more common on the East Coast, where 56% of audiences were male and 75% under 35. The next weekend, it dropped 48% to $4.6 million.
What did critics say about the movie Spiral: From the Book of Saw?
Film reviewers appreciated Spiral's efforts to shake up the formula of the genre, but ultimately felt that the film does not provide Saw with the significant lift it required to reclaim its relevancy.
On Rotten Tomatoes, 37 percent of 221 reviewers' reviews are favorable, with an average rating of 5.1/10. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s critical consensus was that it represents a new path for the Saw series, even if the gruesome aggregate is less than the pieces.
The film received a score of 40 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, which use a weighted average to determine scores, meaning that the reviews were either mixed or mediocre.
CinemaScore audiences gave the movie an average grade of B- on a scale from A+ to F, and PostTrak said that 63 percent of people who saw it liked it and 43 percent would definitely recommend it.
A film critic wrote that the movie takes a couple of unexpected turns, but considering that it's a thriller that's based on the issue of police immorality, the movie deals with that theme in a way that's weirdly offtopic and almost garishly generic.
A separate film reviewer noted the script maintained the grizzled-cop-movie tone and creates several interesting characters, but the narrative was repetitive, the mystery was annoyingly obvious, and the inventive deaths were less imaginative than before. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) compromised entertainment value for respectability and in the process didn't quite accomplish either.
Many film reviews praised Spiral: From the Book of Saw as a really terrifying, albeit unevenly paced, detective thriller, while criticizing its writing for failing to communicate the possible tensions between its major characters' father-and-son relationship.
Some film reviewers praised the performance and Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s simple yet captivating idea, but they also remarked on the unknown killer's voice, which he claimed sounded like Kermit the Frog, and noted that the screams and gore aren't for the genuine audience. They are the attraction.
A film reviewer awarded the film one rating out of five and criticized the climax, noting that he believed it was hurried and half-assed and clumsily written and worst of all, progressively uninteresting. Finally, he declared that the game was finished.
In a one-and-a-half-star review, another reviewer criticized the film's tone and Darren Lynn Bousman's directing, calling it "illegible" for its lack of suspense, plotline, and plot advancement.
A separate film reviewer complimented the opening sequence but concluded that it was the film's sole redeeming feature, stating that the idea is "dishonest at best and fearmongering at worst." This film is not as brilliant as it thinks it is, like Jigsaw presenting one of his simple riddles.
Spiral is a sequel that wants to woo Saw enthusiasts and mainstream viewers equally, but Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021): From the Book of Saw is likely to offend them both, according to one film reviewer. It's a cheap rip-off of the show, failing to match even the most basic aesthetic and narrative standards. It's also a terrible movie in general, attempting to portray a socially important subject but failing miserably. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is hardly a Saw picture, delivering only momentarily on the primal pleasure of mutilation, and on none of the series' other precepts, according to him. It's also the most artless, tactless form of what it really is: a rejected pilot episode for a routine cop show.
Critic Decker Shado's analysis on the Spiral (2021). Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), the next film in the Saw series, is based on the Book of Saw and the mind of Chris Rock. It will be released in late 2021. After a whole Summer of Saw, you should know the routine by now: a murderer is on the run who does not directly do in his victims, but rather tests them with mechanical contraptions that are as inventive as they are scary. At least, that's the idea. A number of these traps left a lot to be desired... and the technique, as well as the purpose, is a little wrong. His Youtube analysis explains it much better.
Another film reviewer said that it is not a complete waste of a notion in any way. However, the franchise does not need a new take on the concept in any way. After a promising beginning, Spiral: From the Book of Saw just becomes a pretty okay Saw movie with some bigger names than usual; one whose jaundiced lighting and procedural storytelling are most reminiscent of David Fincher's Se7en than anything else. This is despite the fact that Rock's involvement in the film brings some new blood to it. Whether the point of the game was to test if a new spin on a long-running property could make it through being chopped up and reassembled by the sequel factory, then consider the game to be over.
A film reviewer gave the film a bad review, noting that Spiral (2021) fumbles through its fundamental enigma without elegance or flair, or even much thinking. Even the death traps lack any kind of originality. His main criticism of Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) was that below all of the fluff, there is a better, smarter picture waiting to be discovered. There are just too many fast cuts and scenes that pick up the tempo quickly. The horrible speech that's blasted at full volume is unpleasant. For a Hollywood picture, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) has the potential to be both subversive and relevant, but it's almost irritating in how little it appears to care about any of this in the film. It merely wants to bleed a lot of blood, which it does.
It's been almost a year since Spiral (2021)'s release.
In April 2021, Twisted Pictures announced production on Saw X. Bousman said the news startled him and the film's producers. He claimed that making Spiral (2021) doesn't imply Saw is over. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) doesn't mean Saw IX won't happen. Not the ninth Saw film. A Saw IX might follow Jigsaw. I suppose they're waiting to see how Spiral: From the Book of Saw does and how viewers react. Josh Stolberg said the script was done in December.
A Spiral TV series?
In an April 2021 interview with Deadline Hollywood, Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs said that Lionsgate TV is in early negotiations to produce a television series based on Spiral (2021), with Mark Burg and Oren Koules' Twisted Television productions.