It’s game over (perhaps finally), but Saw 3D feels a lot like Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. It’ll be the black sheep of the Saw series.

The film picks up seconds after Saw VI ended, leaving one hellbent Det. Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who now knows he was being played by Jigsaw all along, and seemingly with Jill (Betsy Russell) as the cleaner of all of Jigsaw’s loose ends, she becomes Hoffman’s primary target, as he’s executing an escape plan, by cleaning everything up once and for all. Neat set-up, and with all of the possible loose ends being tied up, Saw 3D really does feel like the finale of the series, yet it stutter-steps early and often, with a secondary story of a survivor from Jigsaw’s wicked traps, Bobby Dragen (Sean Patrick Flanery) exploiting this fact for a new self-help book.

This story opens up too many plot holes. It also feels neglected once the final act begins, leaving it as a weak excuse for a further sequel. Since Saw III, the series has had to find an inventive excuse for Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) to be in the films, even though he is dead. In Saw 3D, Jigsaw is all but a cameo, leaving the film squarely on Hoffman’s arc, which creates this uneasy feeling of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. That film has long been titled the worst of the series to some Jason fans, while over time other Jason fans relish the dark nature and kills, but no matter what, it’s the black sheep of that series because the film doesn’t include Jason. Same for Saw 3D. Hoffman is a terrorizing bad-ass, but he’s no Jigsaw.

While the 3D here wasn’t as strong as other 3D horror films, Saw 3D‘s traps and subsequent carnage is some of the top kills in the entire series. The “car trap” is one of the sickest, goriest, traps in all of the now seven films. Saw 3D delivers the carnage to new heights, seemingly as if the MPAA fell asleep during its rating review. Good stuff. As subtitled, the film does feel like an actual “final chapter”, with a finale and twist that bring the series full circle and should leave every Saw fan talking.

If viewed as a solo film, disconnected from the previous six, it’s a decent time. Yet, as a continuation of those six films, Saw fans are trapped. Too many plot holes, despite the (yeah, I call it awesome) ending, the hour before it is sloppily handled. Saw 3D will divide Saw fans.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Screen Rant spoke with Costas Mandylor (Hoffman), and revealed that Saw VIII could be possible, but it depends on which ending makes it into the final cut.  ”But there is a possibility. It depends on which ending they use”, he said. Moviegoers are fully aware that money speaks louder than words in Hollywood, and if Saw 3D makes enough the studio could decide to continue the franchise. And with the increased ticket prices for 3D, you can be rest assured Saw 3D will make a lot at the box-office. It all depends on which ending the studio decides chooses.

Saw 3D opens on October 29, 2010.

Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has been Jigsaw accomplice for a few films until Saw VI. The last entry in the largest grossing horror franchise ever, comes October 29th now.

Source: LGF

Then again, if you have already seen Saw VI, you wonder how exactly they’ll be able to continue the series and in 3D no less. Then you wonder if the particular casting you stumble upon while searching around is correct, and if so how will that person play out in the new film.

What do you think? Do you believe that despite the lackluster opening weekend that Saw VI had compared to it’s previous films that the franchise should finally get the ax? Do you think there’s still more story to be told? Let us know.

Do you want to play a game?

And we have, each and every Halloween these last handful of years, and there’s one thing we all can agree on when it comes to the Saw sequels: Jigsaw is the King of Halloween. Regardless of how you personally feel about the quality of each sequel, they make money, and in this business that’s the bottom line. Coming off Saw V, a sequel that left many either confused or left an odd taste in their mouths (even though I personally enjoyed it), Saw VI quickly picks up from that film’s cliffhanger ending, and now Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is the lone apprentice to Jigsaw, with seemingly no one knowing his identity and involvement. Hoffman now sets the final game into motion.

I really don’t want to talk about the plot, because if you’ve seen a few of these films, then the point of how to have fun with them is the twists and turns of the stories. Saw VI is a very satisfying sequel for a handful of reasons. One of the complaints of the last few sequels, were people felt each entry was incomplete because the film’s would leave plot points left unanswered. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton make Saw VI into a caper for the previous films, finally answering some long wondered questions, while juggling an interesting solo story. We get questions answered, which should please the long time fans, and tells a sick little moralistic tale that goes back to the origin of Jigsaw. Saw VI won’t win over any newbies, but it doesn’t have too. If you’re late in this game, go back to the beginning. Maybe that’s good advice for all of us Saw fans, because you’ll appreciate this film a lot more, with all of the subplots fresh in your mind.

Another issue this film should rectify for most fans, is the traps. Many felt Saw V‘s were weak, or not that inventive, and while I see their complaint, I felt those traps worked for the nature of that story. But here, we get plenty of fun, gory, interesting traps, disproving my own theory that maybe Melton and Dunstan were tapped out of ideas, after the trap-heavy The Collector. Each of the traps are satisfying. From the opening prologue, where two characters must shed more flesh than the other in 60 seconds in order to live, or the spinning carousel that stops for a shotgun blast, they’re constantly fun and sick. That’s exactly how this series came to become famous, was the wicked traps, and fans, they’re back.

On a technical side, long time Saw editor Kevin Greutert turned director for this film, and he uses that editor eye to great success. Saw VI is a well crafted film, probably the best paced and edited film since Saw II. Greutert makes everything clear; from visuals, to the easy-to-follow story structure, Saw VI is one of the more accessible of the Saw sequels. Again, that clears away a gripe many have had with the series, is that it’s a bit hard to follow. I don’t know how he done it, but Greutert gets away with a lot of gore in this film, more so than Bousman or Hackl did in their respective sequels.

Finally, we cannot discuss a Saw film without talking about Tobin Bell. It seems like each sequel, he gets less and less screen time, and even here it feels like he is barely in the film for 12 minutes, but he completely owns the film. True, it’s Tobin’s sixth go-round with the character, and that certainly helps, but if you haven’t considered it yet, do so: Tobin Bell as John/Jigsaw is a modern horror icon that will be in the same discussions as Robert Englund’s Freddy and Kane Hodder’s Jason Voorhees. Jigsaw is a face of horror for this new generation’s nightmares. I know most fans will always have their favorite or least favorite in this series, and that’s fine, but Saw VI perfectly caps the series off in a satisfying manner. Game over! Well, at least the current arc is complete, and while they’ll be more sequels, Saw VI is a thrilling entry. It’s no Saw II, but like that film, it’s a solid torture-infused entry.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Theater Name	Street City	StreetState
Carmike 10-Asheville	Asheville	NC
Carmike Market Fair	Fayetteville	NC
Carmike 18-Greensboro	Greensboro	NC
Carmike 14  Hickory	Hickory	NC
Carmike 16	Jacksonville	NC
Carmike 15 – Raleigh	Raleigh	NC
Carmike Cinema 14	Columbia	SC
Carmike 14	Dover	DE
Carmike 16	Allentown	PA
Carmike Ohio Valley Mall 11 Cinemas	St. Clairsville	OH
Carmike Park Hills 7	Altoona	PA
Carmike 15	Greensburg	PA
Carmike 6-Charlottesville	Charlottesville	VA
Carmike Midlothian 10	Midlothian	VA
Carmike 10	Roanoke	VA
Carmike Wynnsong 16	Auburn	AL
Carmike 12	Athens	GA
Carmike 15 – Columbus	Columbus	GA
Carmike Wynnsong 11	Savannah	GA
Carmike Governor’s Square 10	Clarksville	TN
Carmike Thoroughbred 20	Franklin	TN
Carmike Johnson City 14	Johnson City	TN
Carmike Wynnsong 16	Murfreesboro	TN
Carmike 20  Edinburg	Edinburg	TX
Carmike 16	El Paso	TX
Carmike 14 – Tyler	Tyler	TX
Carmike Sikes 10	Wichita Falls	TX
Carmike 10	Stillwater	OK
Carmike 12	Kennewick	WA
Carmike Shiloh 14	Billings	MT
Carmike 10	Great Falls	MT
Carmike 10	Missoula	MT
Cinemark Tinseltown 10	Melrose Park	IL
Cinemark 16 at Seven Bridges	Woodridge	IL
Cinemark Tinseltown 19-Louisville	Louisville	KY
Cinemark Tinseltown Movies 15	Canton	OH
Cinemark 24	Valley View ( Cleveland )	OH
Century 20  Jordan  Creek	West Des Moines	IA
Cinemark Tinseltown 16-Rochester	Rochester	NY
Cinemark Movies 16-Somerdale	Somerdale	NJ
Cinemark 20	Moosic	PA
Robinson Township 16	RobinsonTownship	PA
Cinemark 14	Chico	CA
Century  16 Greenback Lane	Citrus Heights	CA
Century 20  Daly City	Daly City	CA
Century 20 Oakridge	San Jose	CA
Century 25 @ Union Landing	Union City	CA
Century Park Lane 16	Reno	NV
Cinemark 24	West Jordan	UT
Theatres at the Mall of America	Bloomington	MN
Goodrich  Portage 16 IMAX Theater	Portage	IN

It should go without saying, that as another Halloween approaches, so does another Saw film. Recently, Lionsgate had a Saw VI media day at the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Maze, that Killer Film attended. So we hope you enjoy our round table discussion interviews, with the cast of Saw VI: Tobin Bell (Jigsaw), Costas Mandylor (Det. Hoffman), and Tanedra Howard (Simone)!

By Senior Writer Jon Peters and Melissa Molina.

Killer Film: You won a role in Saw VI from VH1′s Scream Queens show. Can you explain the long process from getting on that show to actually winning a role in horror’s biggest franchise?

Tanedra Howard: Actually, doing Scream Queens was actually pretty fun, I almost didn’t do the show. I almost actually quit completely to be honest before the audition processing was started. Oh yea, cause you know how reality shows are so I was like “You aren’t gonna be in a jacuzzi drinking champagne, blah blah blah” and I was like “No way”. But once we did it, once I actually won, I was like oh my God I couldn’t believe it, cause it all happened so fast…

Well you know what, the Scream Queens it was an acting competition with ten girls and each week we had an acting challenge. James Gunn was our directing coach and Shawnee Smith (Amanda from Saw I-III) did our immunity challenges, and then he…

Tobin Bell: Immunity?

Tanedra: Yeah, immunity, like it was a certain little acting skit we had to perform in there, and then Shawnee got to pick who won. Then, if you won, you’d escape from being eliminated.

Tobin: Oh…

Tanedra: So, I won immunity like four times I think, like three or four times. And then after that each week we had a director’s challenge where they direct us in a full scene and then they went over it and then each week a girl got eliminated until there was one left.

Tobin: Yeah? (laughs)

Tanedra: Yeah. (laughs)

Tobin: Yay!

Tanedra: Yeah, and then Mark (Burg) and a few other people went over it cause our final scene was actually having to redo the scene from Saw III with the bomb.

Tobin: Yeah, oh…

Tanedra: We had to recreate that scene, that was our final challenge.

Tobin: Yeah, yeah, cool.

Tanedra: It was fun.

Tobin: Did they have the neck thing?

Tanedra: They remade a whole replica, the whole room, and everything. Well, of course you (looks at Tobin Bell) weren’t there, so they had a little speaker box made with your voice on it.

Tobin: Oh, yeah? Can I expect a check?

Tanedra: (laughs) No they actually used another guy but then just like, I guess slowed it down. Yeah, that was it, so that was how I got to it was doing that scene over again. It was fun.

Costas Mandylor: I was just thinking about, talking to the girls and just like being mysterious on the thing. If it was me I’d be like “Hello girls…what are you wearing?”

Tanedra: (laughs) Yeah, that sounds about right.

Costas: I had a different take on it (laughs).

Killer Film: Mr. Bell, the evolution of Jigsaw/John has been pretty interesting to see unfold throughout the series. Was this something as an actor that brought you back film after film?

Tobin: Yeah, I mean the arc of any character is the most interesting part of playing the character. You guys will all follow your own individual arc in your life as writers or broadcasters or whatever you are, and there’ll be times when there’s conflict, difficulty, struggle and so that’s what makes a character the most interesting and connecting the dots. Thats the part that is the most interesting to me, is like being truthful to what’s preceded in terms of his character. That’s what I care most about is that the scenes seem like they’re happening for the first time, that the stakes are high. Like, even though in Saw II, I was just sitting across the table with Donnie Walhberg, the stakes were high. We worked very hard to recreate those scenes, to reshape the dialogue in those scenes so that it, because two guys sitting across a table in a Saw movie could be deadly.

But with the tension, we needed to keep the it up, and there’s a scene in Saw IV with Costas where he sits in a chair with a shotgun under his chin and we, its a testament to all the actors who work on these shows, that we always are trying to keep the tension up, or to try to. There are lines in that scene that directly connect back to things that have been set up in Saw IV and connect. I think what sets the Saw films apart from other just special effect horror movies, is that there are some smart ideas and smart concepts. So, you know, in that scene in Saw V we were definitely trying to connect to some other thing that proceeded it and try to explain to the fans the relationship between Hoffman and John Kramer. So that’s the fun part of it, I mean the special effects and the blood, make up and the props and all that, these guys are very good at what they do. But the actors need to create what appears to be reality on screen and that’s not always an equation that’s easy to arrive at. Sometimes its really an evolution, a kind of improvisation although by the time we shoot the scene hopefully we know what were going to say. In arriving at that, you know I mean Costas will come up to me and he’ll say ‘You know what? I think, why don’t we do this?’ I remember it was a fuck you?

Costas: Yeah, yeah! (chuckles)

Tobin: It doesn’t seem like terribly Shakespearian, but it was after we pulled the trigger, after I pulled the trigger on the shotgun and we had a number of different things for him to say. By the time we shot it that seemed the most appropriate for his character, for the moment, and to keep him stronger. (To me) So what’d you ask me? (laughs)

Costas: What was that question again?

Tobin: I know what the question was, it had to do with the character’s arc and yes that’s absolutely the most important thing. Is the arc complete? It’s not.

Killer Film: How has it been working with Kevin Greutert, and what did he bring to Saw VI?

Costas: He’s great, he’s very specific as Tobin has said before, (looks to Tobin) he’s edited all of the movies?

Tobin: Since part one.

Costas: Since one, so you know he knows every nook and cranny, every frame and its easy to trust him. He’s got a great sense of humor and we need to laugh once in awhile over there cause it gets a little mundane. He’s got a great eye and Tobin’s seen some of the work that he’s done. I haven’t seen anything but he was great to work with and Tobin says he’s done a great job.

Tobin: He’s smart, he’s a smart guy. He understands the films, he understands the connecting of the dots and where this potential richness, and that’s great. Its absolutely critical, these films that everything that is potentially rich, be everything that it can be. We know the special effects, we know the traps, we know the twists and the turns, or the plot turns, but in terms of shooting the actors in the moments. The camera sees everything; you know, and the smallest moment between two people is giant on the screen and that’s not mechanical, its human so a director who can get that from his actors has got a lot.

Killer Film: How much influence have you had on Jigsaw through the duration, which has been all six (films)?

Tobin: Happily, a lot. You know I’ve been working with writers, producers, actors who care about the result. Not every idea I had is accepted, but it’s a collaborative environment and that’s been great, because I feel that we’ve been able to get more out of that environment than we had. When the script was done, then we start with that script and then we try to make it as good as we can. Like ‘Wait, wait, wait, we’ve got an opportunity here. What if we did this? What if we did that?’ and sometimes it’s accepted and sometimes it’s not, for a variety of reasons creative, financial, or time, they can’t do it.

I’ve done a lot of films and television, and with the exception of I can recall one moment in Washington DC, and going up to Wolfgang Peterson for In The Line of Fire, there’s a scene with Clint Eastwood and I wanted to change one word and it was major discussion. I can’t remember what the word was, but it was a major discussion. With Saw, it’s been a much more theater where you can work on stuff and can make it better. Depending on the situation, it gets in or doesn’t get in. Darren Bousman was very good drawing on people’s ideas. You know, one actor would have an idea, another actor would have an idea, and say ‘Good, that’s better, lets do that’. That’s what a good leader does.

Killer Film: Do you feel you’ve become kind of like a Kane Hodder, Robert Englund where your like this horror icon now or do you feel, personally for you do you feel that way?

Tobin: Some people say that, but I haven’t seen Robert Englund. I haven’t seen any of those films so I don’t know what, I mean, I know what they’re talking about, but horror icons? That’s from like that side of the room that way, I’m on this side, I’m looking that way.

Costas: And he’s not wearing a mask.

Killer Film: (To Costas) I’m sure secrecy is an issue everyone wants protected, but did you know Hoffman’s arc in this film before shooting, and what can we expect?

Costas: Well, you know what, its all a bit of a surprise, because we get the scripts very late. I’ve never been able to take a script home, because I have to go and read it in the office. So they keep stuff, last twenty pages of (Saw) four and five I didn’t have. I think (Saw) five maybe I got way before we shot it. You know what, our secrets, were not allowed to share them, and I kind of love that because every time I’ve seen the movie with an audience, I become an audience member. We’ve shot alternate endings, things like that so it keeps it exciting for me just to see the movie as a movie goer that I happen to be in, and very proud of and very grateful. Yeah, all the secrecy stuff works for me. We can talk to you generally, but we can’t say too much, which is kind of cool too, because you’ll see the movie and if you like this kind of movie you’ll be pleasantly surprised, hopefully.
Oh, don’t worry Costas, Killer Film is. Now, keep it here only on Killer Film, for Part 2 of this round table discussion, as we talk to Saw VI‘s creative team with director Kevin Greutert, writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, along with producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules. Saw VI opens this Friday!

Got something to add? Feel free to leave comments or contact the writers via their emails!

Saw VI tortures filmgoers on October 23.

Synopsis: “Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood.”

Source: Yahoo Movies

Love it or hate it the Saw franchise is one of the most successful the horror genre has ever seen. Will anyone step up this Halloween and knock Jigsaw off his throne? Not likely.

Saw VI hits theaters on October 23.

Source: Arrow in the Head