Nearly 20 years after we all got spooked stupid from the original Saw film with all its gory traps and terror sweat, the next instalment of the horror franchise is very much on the way. The first trailer for Spiral is here, and it looks sufficiently cooked – just how Jigsaw would want it.
Produced by and starring Chris Rock, the ~new chapter from the book of Saw~ follows a new mastermind who’s pretty much copycatting off the original Jigsaw serial killer, John Kramer. The killer’s calling card is a big red spiral, and from the trailer, it looks like the new killer also has a penchant for putting hostages and victims in supremely fucked-up traps.
Aside from the obvious nods to the original film series, Spiral has a bunch of other subtle and not-so-subtle Easter eggs in the trailer alone. The messages with the augmented voice, the marionette puppet, the pig’s heads, the red spiral itself looking like the cheeks of that terrifying tricycle-riding doll thing – just so many nods to that truly cursed film franchise which I 100% have seared into a dark corner in my mind somewhere.
But my absolute favourite? The quick flash of Chris Rock somehow finding himself in that iconic handcuffed-to-the-wall scene with nothing but a hacksaw. You know the one.
A lot of the plot seems to be pinned on Chris Rock reuniting with his estranged dad, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who delivers the finest line in the trailer and, dare I suspect, the entire film. Just the deeply Samuel L. Jackson delivery of “a Jigsaw copycat? This is gonna go sideways fast” absolutely sent me.
I love it so much, and I want to endure the chaos of that film just to see what one-liners he quips throughout the whole of Spiral, because it just adds to the whole absurdity of a serial killer who curates elaborate traps to try and “rehabilitate” their victims through insane, yet very genuine, torture.
Spiral is due for release on May 13, which give you ample time to watch the other eight films in the supremely fucked-up franchise.
