Saw: The Final Chapter

Director Kevin Greutert sets out to tie up loose ends in this seventh (and supposedly final) installment in the gory franchise, with numerous flashbacks bringing back familiar faces, including serial torturer/killer Jigsaw John (Tobin Bell); his successor, Hoffman (Costas Mandylor); and Jigsaw's former wife, Jill (Betsy Russell), who betrayed him at the close of Saw VI. The chief victim this time around is Bobby (Sean Patrick Flanery), whose “crime” is that he claims to have survived one of John's ingenious murderous traps—a lie that Bobby has successfully parlayed into unwarranted celebrity. For this malfeasance Bobby is faced with a series of challenges in which his wife, publicist, lawyer, and best friend are all put at risk in typically malevolent mechanical devices. Not surprisingly, Bobby proves less adept at saving them in real life than he was in his imagination. Meanwhile, Hoffman is on the trail of Jill, who has put herself in the hands of the police. The film shuttles between these two plot threads, neither of which manages to create much of a sense of urgency or momentum, resulting in a horror flick that is more dull than scary. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (the first by producers Oren Koules, Peter Block, and Mark Burg; the second by writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan), deleted and extended scenes (3 min.), five music videos, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the “52 Ways to Die” featurette on the death traps featured in the Saw franchise, the BD-Live function, and DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a tired final chapter in the long-running torture-porn series.] (F. Swietek)