Spiral: From the Book of Saw Movie Storyline. During a Fourth of July parade, an off-duty cop, Det. Marv Boswick, chases a thief down a sewer drainage pipe. Attacked from behind by a figure wearing a pig mask, Boswick wakes to find himself suspended by his tongue in an active subway tunnel and is given a choice via recorded message: tear out his tongue and live, or remain until the next train arrives, killing him.
Unable to escape the trap in time, Boswick is run over by the train and killed. The next day, police chief Angie Garza assigns Det. Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks a new partner, idealistic rookie William Schenk. Banks and Schenk investigate Boswick’s death and Banks realizes this to be similar to the now deceased Jigsaw Killer.
Meanwhile, a homicide detective named Fitch – who several years prior had ignored a backup call from Banks, resulting in him nearly getting killed – is abducted and placed in a trap where he must rip his fingers off to avoid electrocution in a filling water basin; he also fails to escape and dies. Some officers begin to suspect that Banks may be responsible, due to his history with Fitch. A box then arrives at the station, containing a pig puppet and a piece of Schenk’s tattooed skin inside.
A small vial inside the box directs the police to a butcher shop, which was previously a hobby shop that Banks and his father, retired chief Marcus Banks, would go to. Upon arriving, the team discovers a tape recorder and a skinned corpse, identified as Schenk. Deciding to track down the killer himself, Marcus travels to a warehouse, where he is abducted. Shortly afterwards, Garza is kidnapped, and placed in a trap in the precinct’s cold storage where she has to sever her spinal cord on a blade to stop hot wax flowing from a pipe onto her face; she manages to successfully do it but dies of her injuries, with her body found by Banks.
While chasing a lead, Banks is captured and wakes up at the warehouse, handcuffed to a pipe with a hacksaw nearby. He considers sawing off his arm, but is able to escape using a loose bobby pin. He then discovers Pete, his former partner who was fired when Banks exposed a murder he committed, chained in place. In front of him is a large glass-crushing machine, which has been modified to hurl shrapnel at him at high speed; a tape recorder explains that Banks can choose to either free him or leave him to die.
Although Banks attempts to save Pete, he dies from blood loss. Moving to another room, Banks then finds Schenk, who is revealed to have faked his own death by using the skinned corpse of the thief who lured Boswick into the tunnels, and has been the copycat all along. He explains that he is actually Emerson, the son of the person Pete murdered, who was shot because he had agreed to testify against a dirty cop. He also reveals that Marcus, during his time as chief, deliberately protected corrupt officers (including Garza) in order to “clean” the streets of crime more efficiently.
Spiral (also known as Spiral: From the Book of Saw) is a 2021 American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger. It is the ninth installment in the Saw film series. The film stars Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson, and follows police efforts to stop a Jigsaw copycat killer. The original creators of the series, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as Rock and series veteran Kevin Greutert, serve as executive producers.
Talks of another Saw installment began after the release of Jigsaw in 2017, with Chris Rock wanting to branch out into the horror genre. The Spierig Brothers, who directed Jigsaw, were interested in returning for another film but eventually decided against it. The project was officially announced in May 2019, with Rock polishing a script by Stolberg and Goldfinger. The rest of the cast joined in July, with filming taking place in Toronto through that month and August.
Originally scheduled to be released in May 2020, Spiral was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 14, 2021, by Lionsgate Films. The film received praise from critics for the franchise’s new direction but were divided on whether it had fully succeeded in reinventing it.
Box Office Results
As of August 27, 2021, Spiral has grossed $23.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $38.8 million. In the United States and Canada, Spiral was released alongside Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You, and was projected to gross $10–15 million from 2,811 theaters in its opening weekend.
The film made $3.7 million on its first day (including $750,000 from Thursday night previews), lowering projections to $9 million. It went on to debut to $8.8 million, topping the box office (the sixth time for the series) but marking the lowest opening weekend of the franchise. Audiences reported on were 56% male and 75% under the age of 35, with a positive response appearing more frequently along the East Coast of the United States. It remained in first place the following weekend, dropping 48% to $4.6 million.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, Samuel L. Jackson, Dan Petronijevic, Richard Zeppieri, Patrick McManus, Edie Inksetter, Thomas Mitchell, Nazneen Contractor
Screenplay by: Josh Stolberg, Peter Goldfinger
Production Design by: Anthony Cowley
Cinematography by: Jordan Oram
Film Editing by: Dev Singh
Costume Design by: Laura Montgomery
Set Decoration by: Terri Drennan
Art Direction by: Greg Chown, Darshankumar Joshi
Music by: Charlie Clouser
MPAA Rating: R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, pervasive language, some sexual references and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: May 14, 2021 (United States)
Views: 70