Movies
[Review] ‘Saw 5’ (‘Saw V’)
“SAW V attempts to make the audience feel smart for sticking along for so long, only when it’s all said and done you’ll feel like a fool for sitting through this disappointment.”
*Spoiler warning…
Being that Lionsgate is already on their fifth SAW film in only five years, you come to know what to expect from the franchise. There are a few expectations that come when going into the theater – there is a good chance you’ll be confused, there will be loads of hyper-editing and most importantly, there will be blood. But what’s really behind the SAW franchise is that not only are we as viewers allowed to enjoy the film with a high level of suspension of disbelief, but we are also expecting to be entertained, no matter how confused we get. Hypothetically, all the filmmakers have to do is play by the rules (they created), and all will be good. It’s too bad nobody can seem to listen to Jigsaw’s advice.
First and foremost, I think it’s important to make it clear that I am a fan of the franchise and have a special place in my heart for the first four films. I was looking forward to SAW V and went in with the same expectations I had for the past three sequels. While the film has some good “moments”, the overall experience was numbing.
In SAW V, Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) suspects that Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is Jigsaw’s accomplice after the duo are the only ones to survive Jigsaw’s elaborate game from SAW III and SAW IV. He hunts down Hoffman, while in fact he’s a pawn in yet another (elaborate?) game.
There are a laundry list of problems that begin with the film’s focus on Hoffman and Strahm. Besides the fact that the duo look too much alike, it doesn’t help that the acting is atrocious. Not only is Patterson laughably bad, but he also talks to himself the entire movie. The slow points in the film are literally filled with useless exposition of Agent Strahm thinking out loud. For the duration of the film we watch Hoffman set traps, while Strahm explores old crime scenes and reflects on what “might” have happened. This is where the major problem reveals itself….
…. SAW V is not at all about Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). Yeah, I know he’s dead, but the SAW franchise is synonymous with Jigsaw. To remove him from the franchise and expect fans to follow around Hoffman and Strahm is a goddamnn insult. I was even sold with having Amanda (Shawnee Smith) as the successor and was willing to watch her take the torch (being that she was IN the first SAW), only she was harshly dissolved from the last two films. In a hilarious observation, one spectator compared SAW V to FRIDAY THE 13TH Part V: A NEW BEGINNING – you know, the one where Jason really isn’t the killer?
Had the film been entertaining, maybe our minds wouldn’t have wondered leaving us actually thinking about the plot. SAW V was boring, dull and tedious to watch. It was so dull that I was laughing when the “big reveal” graced the screen. We get various shots from previous scenes in the film connecting all of the dots. I couldn’t help but giggle and think, “I was sitting right here, why did I need a recap of what just happened?” It was like watching the intro to a show after a commercial break…
Furthermore, this is the first SAW film that I figured out the twist with the traps immediately. Leaving the film with zero suspense. The group involved in the trap really has no bearing on anything other than to provide the means for another movie, which made it just all meaningless. Basically the entire movie followed a group of people going through a series of (useless) traps while the rest was filled with wink-winks and nudge-nudges. SAW V attempts to make the audience feel smart for sticking along for so long, only when it’s all said and done you’ll feel like a fool for sitting through this disappointment. Even the big set up for the sixth film had me cracking up. Via a video will, Jigsaw leaves his wife Jill (Besty Russell) a big box. She looks inside, smiles and we never do find out what’s inside. I am willing to make a cash bet that not only is Jill being set up to be the killer in SAW VI, but also that the box is filled with tapes. That’s how predictable the franchise has become (I guess we’ll find out next October).
As for the directing by David Hackl, there are some beautifully orcastrated shots, such as the “Strahm in a box” scene that you can check out over at BDTV. He also attempts to bring more stagnant shots to the film, instead of those hyper close-ups, which actually removes us from the experience. It also didn’t help that the editing of the finished product is uneven. The opening sequence is flash-cut to sh*t and is nearly disorientating, while the rest of the film is cut more like SAW II than anything else.
Overall, SAW V looked like a made-for-TV movie that might air on the Sci-Fi Channel. It was dull, boring and even looked cheap. There’s literally someone holding or looking through a file in every single scene (outside of the traps) as if it’s they’re there just to add something to the empty space.
The SAW movies have officially gone stale, and while it should have happened way before the fifth film, it’s still quite impressive they got this far. The franchise will live on, but at what cost? It’s time to either take a break or step back and maybe move away from this overly complex situation and start anew. The only cast I ever want to see on screen again is Jigsaw, Amanda or maybe even Riggs – beyond that, it’s not really SAW, is it?
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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