The Saw series has always relied on nasty ingenuity and Tobin Bell, a long-serving supporting villain finally given a signature role as the soft-spoken, creepy-clever Jigsaw – not technically a serial killer since his victims all have a chance to get out alive, if usually by sacrificing a body part.
Jigsaw died a few films back, but Bell is still around in flashbacks, helping out an apprentice (Mandylor) who spends this episode tormenting another basement-load of undeserving losers and matching wits with a rogue FBI agent (Patterson) who got out of Saw IV alive thanks to DIY tracheotomy (not recommended for home use).
Though it makes good use of a Poe-esque pendulum in the opening scene, this is a somewhat ho-hum franchise extension. Maybe the only way forward for the series is a TV spin-off, Celebrity Saw VI.
