Saw: The Final Chapter 4K 2010 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

The victims of *Saw* who survived the previous trials turn to their fellow survivor, Bobby Dagen, for psychological help. But when his own dark secrets come to light, a new wave of terror is unleashed.

Review 4K Movie

Besides moving the action into space, there’s another surefire way to kill a horror franchise—making the next installment in 3D. There have been countless trashy horror sequels released in 3D. There was *Jaws 3D*, *Amityville 3D*, and—God forgive me— *Sadako 3D*... Honestly, aside from the third *Friday the 13th*, I can’t think of any other decent 3D sequels. It’s a shame, but *Saw VII* didn’t turn out to be a pleasant exception.

The seventh installment can be summed up in three words: gore for gore’s sake. The plot doesn’t really matter much anymore, but in a nutshell—Detective Hoffman has completely lost it and is killing everyone left and right; the lying writer Bobby Dagen (a brand-new character in the franchise) goes through a series of bloody trials, and the people around him die... That’s the gist of it. Surprisingly, there are very few flashbacks for a *Saw* movie, which means, alas, there will be very little of Tobin Bell as well. From now on, Hoffman is the one calling the shots, having unleashed such a bloodbath that even Jason Voorhees would be jealous.

There’s not a trace left of that police detective who even elicited sympathy in the fifth *Saw* movie. Hoffman no longer resembles a living person; he’s turned into a Michael Myers-like figure—and as a result, he’s become uninteresting as a character. As for Bobby Dagen, this character inspires nothing but disgust. And bewilderment (among inattentive viewers of the franchise)—why did Kramer choose to put a harmless liar to the test, someone who never harmed anyone but, on the contrary, helped Saw’s surviving victims cope with their psychological trauma? But then you remember Adam from the first *Saw* and Rigg from the fourth—and you realize there’s nothing surprising here; luring people into traps over trivial matters is very much in John Kramer’s style. Although the brutal execution of one innocent character near the end (truly innocent—you can’t even blame him for smoking) leaves a bad taste in your mouth, that’s for sure.

The seventh *Saw* movie clearly skimped on quality, opting instead for quantity. There are a lot of traps here, but only one of them—called “Fishing”—really grabbed my attention. It’s a nasty trap, but the rest didn’t impress me. There’s also a lot of blood and gore, but the quality of the makeup has dropped significantly. The blood is pink, mannequins are used as corpses, and you can tell just by looking at them... All in all, after the well-made sixth “Saw” movie, Kevin Groert suddenly decided to cut corners. “Saw 7” turned out to be downright amateurish trash. I’ll give it a plus only for its good pacing (the film’s tempo is almost frantic), the soundtrack, Tobin Bell’s two-minute appearance, and the long-awaited return of Dr. Lawrence Gordon (though the plot twist involving him turned out to be quite predictable—but *Saw* has already successfully moved on from relying on spectacular twists anyway, so we’ll survive).

This installment was planned as the final one (though the ending isn’t entirely conclusive—the creators still left room for further developments). There were no new *Saw* movies for seven years, but then screenwriter Josh Stolberg came along, and everything took a new turn...

But the classic “Saw” franchise ends with the seventh installment, even if it isn’t the best way to say goodbye.