Saw is back for round nine, but things are a little different this time around. There’s a new title, a new cast – including the most prolific box office star of all time in Samuel L. Jackson – and possibly a new tormentor in place Jigsaw. It’s all here in the first Spiral trailer.
Chris Rock plays Detective Banks, the unlucky person chosen to be chained to the wall this time. But the Spiral trailer doesn’t start off that way. In fact, it hides its Saw influences until the very end.
Everything leading up to the gruesome game revolves around a cop killer who is painting some very familiar-looking spirals in the crime scenes of his victims. With Jigsaw seemingly out of the picture, it appears that someone else has taken up his mantle.
Then things get weird. Not only are there serious Seven vibes from the hand-wrapped gift sent to Banks, but there’s a series of scenes where, if you forgive the pun, the pieces don’t quite fit. Masked men, speeding trains, and, yes, the return to where it all began: a bathroom, a chain, and a saw.
Sam Jackson also features in Spiral, though his presence is suspiciously limited. He could be a cop or detective on the hunt for a now-trapped Banks, though a killer twist – such as Jackson’s character being unveiled as the new Jigsaw – certainly wouldn’t go amiss, and would help reinvigorate a franchise which has seen only two lukewarm entries in the past decade.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw releases in the United States on May 15.
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