The 2021 horror movie Spiral was written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. It is the ninth film in the series of Saw movies. Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson are all in the movie, which is about the police trying to stop a killer who looks like Jigsaw. As executive producers, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, who created the series, and Rock and series veteran Kevin Greutert are in charge.Chris Rock's desire to push out into the horror genre prompted rumors of a new Saw movie after the 2017 release of Jigsaw. The directors of Jigsaw, the Spierig Brothers, were interested in directing another film, but ultimately opted against it. Rock is polishing a screenplay by Stolberg and Goldfinger, which was revealed publicly in May of 2019. The remainder of the ensemble arrived in July, and production continued through August in Toronto.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw, originally set for May 2020, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and released on May 14, 2021 by Lionsgate. The film garnered mixed reviews from reviewers, who applauded the franchise's new approach but weren't sure whether it properly reinvented it.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) has a storyline.
Off-duty detective Marv Bozwick pursues a burglar through a sewage drainage pipe during a Fourth of July parade. Bozwick wakes in an active subway tunnel, hanging by his tongue, after being attacked from behind by a person wearing a pig mask. He is offered an option through recorded message: cut out his tongue and survive, or wait until the next train comes, killing him. Bozwick gets murdered by a train after failing to escape the trap in time. The next day, Detective Zeke Banks is assigned a new partner, idealistic rookie William Schenk, by police Captain Angie Garza. Banks and Schenk examine Bozwick's death, and Banks notices a resemblance to the Jigsaw Killer's method of operation.
A murder investigator called Fitch, who rejected a backup call from Banks and almost died, is taken and put in a trap where he must pull off his fingers to prevent electrocution; he also dies. Banks' experience with Fitch leads several cops to mistrust him. A package comes with a pig puppet and Schenk's tattooed flesh inside. A little vial inside the box leads detectives to a butcher shop that Banks and his father, former chief Marcus Banks, frequented. On arrival, the squad finds a recording recorder and Schenk's skinned body. Marcus tracks down the murderer himself and gets snatched from a factory. Soon later, Garza is abducted and put in a trap in the precinct's cold storage where she must cut her spinal chord to stop hot wax from pouring down her face. Banks finds her corpse after she dies from injuries caused by the hot wax.
Banks is caught while following a lead. When he wakes up in the warehouse, he is handcuffed to a pipe and there is a hacksaw nearby. He thinks about cutting off his arm, but a loose bobby pin helps him get away. He then finds Peter Dunleavy chained in place. Dunleavy was his former partner, but Banks fired him and put him in jail after Banks found out that Dunleavy had killed someone. In front of him is a big machine that crushes glass. It has been changed so that it quickly throws shrapnel at him. A tape recorder tells Banks that he can either set him free or let him die. Banks tries to get the key in time to save Dunleavy, but he can't. Banks then goes to a different room and finds Schenk. It turns out that Schenk faked his own death by using the skinned body of the thief who lured Bozwick into the tunnels. Schenk was the copycat all along. He says that his real last name is Emmerson and that he is the son of Charlie Emmerson, who Dunleavy killed because he was going to testify against a dirty cop. He also says that Marcus, when he was chief, hid corrupt officers on purpose so that Article 8 could be used more effectively to clean the streets of crime.
Emmerson, believing Banks may be an ally, gives him a last test, showing Marcus being drained of blood in the air. Emmerson phones 9-1-1 and pretends he's a civilian being chased by a gunman, so the operator sends a SWAT unit. He gives Banks a handgun with one cartridge and gives him two options: rescue Marcus but let Emmerson escape, or murder Emmerson and let Marcus bleed to death. Banks shoots the target to free his father, dropping him on the ground before fighting Emmerson. Soon later, the SWAT squad comes and accidentally trips a tripwire, forcing Marcus' handcuffs to tug him up again. The movement shows a gun on Marcus' arm, causing the SWAT squad to murder him. Banks wails as Emmerson flees.
In Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), who played the lead role?
Detective Zeke Banks was played by Chris Rock. The role of Detective William Schenk / Emmerson was played by Max Minghella. Young William was represented by Leonidas Castrounis. Marcus Banks was played by Samuel L. Jackson. Captain Angie Garza was played by Marisol Nichols.
Daniel Petronijevic portrays Marv Bozwick, a detective. Richard Zeppieri played the role of Detective Fitch. McManus played Peter Dunleavy. Ali Johnson played the role of Officer Jeannie Lewis in this production. Zoie Palmer played Kara Bozwick. Sergeant Morgey Silva was represented by actor Dylan Roberts.
Detective Drury was acted by K. C. Collins.
Detective Deborah Kraus was played by Edie Inksetter in the film.
Coroner Chada was played by Nazneen Contractor.
Detective Tim O'Brien was played by Thomas Mitchell.
Benny Wrights was played by Chad Camilleri.
Ramsay played Speez.
Licari depicted Emmerson.
Lisa Banks was played by Genelle Williams. The role of Officer Pat Jones was played by Trevor Gretzky.
Tobin Bell, who portrayed John Kramer / Jigsaw in all prior Saw films, did not appear in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, making it the first film in the genre to include neither Bell nor the Jigsaw persona onscreen other than in images. Bousman said that the murderer in the film is a Jigsaw clone, not the real Jigsaw, and that he has no plans to replace Bell in the famous role. Bell has indicated interest in reprising his role as Jigsaw if the plot went further into Billy the Puppet's origins.
Chris Rock in Spiral: From the Book of Saw
Chris Rock contacted Lionsgate with his idea for Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) to revitalize the Saw series and his own career.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Chris Rock reveals that he met Michael Burns, the vice chairman of Lionsgate, during a friend's wedding in Brazil, and that he decided to make a horror picture, even though he wanted to incorporate some humorous aspects. With the help of Lionsgate, Rock came up with the notion of expanding the series. This is a legendary horror series that has been revived by humor, creative vision, and passion from Rock, says Lionsgate's CEO Joe Drake. Rock's approach was totally respectful of the tradition of the material while reinvigorating the brand. Lionsgate was said to be in talks for a ninth Saw picture in January 2018, however the Spierig Brothers would not be involved. In an interview with Screen Rant, the filmmakers stated that their picture lays the groundwork for future sequels to the franchise. Twisted Pictures and Jigsaw authors Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger began work on a sequel in April of last year.
Stolberg and Goldfinger had been pitching a new Saw film focused solely on John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than on any of his established apprentices to series veterans Mark Burg and Oren Koules following the release of Jigsaw. However, Burg and Koules then called the pair to inform them about Rock's ideas for a new film, with Rock contacting them shortly after to discuss his concept. Stolberg and Goldfinger then stopped pitching the idea. Before that, other writers had presented their ideas to Lionsgate for the next Saw film, but none of them had been successful. On the other hand, Stolberg and Goldfinger had come up with eight different versions for the film before Rock arrived and merged his idea with that of the duo. Rock is the one who ultimately decided to direct the film. The pair was given the assignment by Burg and Koules to develop a proposition for Rock. They did so, and their idea was accepted by both Lionsgate and Rock, which led them to create their first draft, which was greenlit a week after it was sent in. Stolberg and Goldfinger are credited with writing the screenplay. Throughout the process of writing, Rock was a tremendous help to Stolberg and Goldfinger, reworking the tale whenever it was deemed necessary.
Early scripts had Rock's character tied to Danny Glover's David Tapp. Stolberg and Goldfinger decided against this since it smelled fishy. Bousman said in May 2021 that he's discussed recasting Costas Mandylor as Mark Hoffman. Tobin Bell was suggested as Jigsaw until the final day of production, but Bousman and the team decided it would make the film seem like the ninth part of the Saw series rather than a standalone picture. Bousman thought that earlier films did a disservice by utilizing flashbacks to introduce Jigsaw, and he didn't want to make the error in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) or disrespect Bell's legendary performance. Bousman contemplated having Bell perform a Johnny Cash song during Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s concluding scene, but found it too gimmicky.
Why did Tobin Bell not appear in Spiral (2021)?
Tobin Bell did not play Jigsaw in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), making it the first Saw movie in which Bell did not appear.
Stolberg told Bloody Disgusting that Jigsaw was never in any draft of the screenplay for Spiral (2021), even though they talked about it after the first test screening and all the way through post-production. They thought that including Jigsaw would change the core of the story they were trying to tell, not because they didn't like the character but because they wanted to take the franchise in a new direction. Stolberg also thought that because of the franchise's timeline, any possible connection between John Kramer and William Schenk/The Spiral (2021) Killer should have happened when the latter was still a child. Stolberg and Goldfinger once proposed an after-credits scene in which Kramer met a young Schenk after the murder of the latter's father and became close to him, maybe giving him the puppet he later uses as the Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) Killer.
This new Jigsaw copycat is different from the original in appearance, so it was decided to use a new puppet named Mr. Snuggles to replace Billy the Puppet. Bousman felt that if the original Jigsaw was changed, then a different puppet should also be used to ensure that the killer could not compare the two. Reusing the distinctive sound of Mr. Snuggles' voice for Mr. Snuggles was feared to raise doubts about the killers' relationship; an early draft of Jigsaw featured his voice, only to reveal a digitally altered version of his voice; and the story originally had all the speeches as actually being past recordings of Jigsaw's voice using words in a different order to show that the Spiral Killer had digitally rearranged the words. It was difficult for the producers to come up with a new voice for the murderer in lieu of Bell. Bousman auditioned a slew of female, kid, and male voices before deciding on the computer-simulated one. Only two days before the final sound mix was completed, the final voice was picked for inclusion in the film.
Take a look behind the scenes of Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021).
The film started pre-production on May 16, 2019. In addition to producers Burg and Koules, former series director Darren Lynn Bousman has returned to lead the feature. Additionally, Rock served as an executive producer and wrote the script proposal for the film.
James Wan and Leigh Whannell, along with Daniel Heffner, served as executive producers for Rock. Scriptwriters Stolberg and Goldfinger have been confirmed.
Rock said that he has liked the Saw movies since the first one came out in 2004. He was excited about the chance to take this to a new, very dark, and strange place.
Rock suggested Bousman direct a Broadway production when Bousman declined to direct Saw IV.
Rock's handling of Saw, according to Burg and Koules, was analogous to what Eddie Murphy did for buddy cop flicks in 48 Hrs., giving the Saw franchise an entirely new viewpoint. Similarly, Bousman stated that Spiral contained less violence and gore than previous installments, expressing his belief that gore and violence were his gimmick when he first started working on the Saw films, but that both elements now serve the story, which focuses more on character, tension, and fear.
Stolberg also clarified that the ninth episode will be a part of the same canon as the previous eight films, and that it would neither be a reboot or a straight sequel to Jigsaw.Alternatives for the roles in Spiral (2021)
Rock was Zeke Banks. The character was conceived by Rock, Stolberg, and Goldfinger from conversations they had before writing the screenplay. Rock wondered what he would do if he were the original Saw protagonist Dr. Lawrence Gordon and forced to cut off his own foot. They decided it would be interesting if Rock played a cop ostracized by his colleagues.
Samuel L. Jackson decided to portray Chief Marcus Banks because he wanted to try something new, including the climax sequence in which his character is hung up like a marionette. Captain Angie Garza was played by Marisol Nichols, who, although being a Saw fan, preferred to watch David Fincher's Seven instead of the prior films in preparation for the part. Patrick McManus auditioned for the part of Detective Marv Bozwick, but was called back to play Peter Dunleavy, while Dan Petronijevic was cast as Bozwick.
Max Minghella took up the part of William Schenk / The Spiral: From the Book of Saw Killer because he desired to play in a movie with straightforward story-telling like the buddy cops of his childhood like 48 Hrs., and when he read the script, he believed it was that, as well as a Saw picture.
What was it like filming Spiral?
Under the working title of The Organ Donor, principal shooting started on July 8, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario, with Jordan Oram acting as cinematographer. The picture will feature Rock, Jackson, Minghella, and Nichols, among others. According to Lionsgate CEO Joe Drake, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock, as well as Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols, will make this picture wholly unique in the Saw canon, and they can't wait to share this surprising and scary new narrative with fans of the series. On full blast, this was the next level of Saw. On set, Rock contributed rewrites and entirely reworked his character's introductory sequence. According to Bousman, a sequence with a trap was deleted from the film because it was too gruesome.
Officially, filming ended on August 28th, 2019. In post-production, Dev Singh finished the film's editing.
Spiral's marketing:
A leaked press release on January 22, 2020 revealed the film's official title as Spiral: From the Book of Saw and its distributor as Mongrel Media, which had previously been known as The Organ Donor. The first teaser poster and trailer, published on February 5, 2020, established Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) as the film's name..
The release of Spiral in cinemas and on streaming services
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) was initially slated to be released on October 23, 2020 by Lionsgate Films in the United States. It was pushed back to May 15, 2020 in July 2019. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's release date was pushed back to May 21, 2021, replacing John Wick: Chapter 4. As cinemas started to reopen, it was rescheduled for a week earlier release on May 14, 2021.
Lionsgate announced on May 25th, 2021, that Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) will be available exclusively on Starz beginning October 8th, 2021. copyright's PVOD service launched Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) on June 1, 2021.
What was Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s rating?
When the Motion Picture Association gave the picture an NC-17 classification 11 times, director Darren Lynn Bousman ultimately trimmed enough sequences to achieve a R rating.
How much did Spiral (2021) make at the movie theaters?
By March 3, 2022, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) has grossed $23.2 million in the U.S. and copyright and $17.3 million in foreign regions, for a total of $40.6 million.
At 2,811 theaters, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) was expected to make $10–15 million in its first weekend, with competition from Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You (all of which were also released in North America). At $3.7 million on its opening day, the picture underperformed expectations, falling short of its $9 million budget (including $750,000 from Thursday night previews). Although it topped the box office for the sixth time in the series, its opening weekend was the lowest in the series. A favorable reaction was more common on the East Coast of the United States, where 56% of the audience was male and 75% were under the age of 35. Despite a 48 percent decline to $4.6 million, it was still number one the following weekend.
What did Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s critics think?
Critical reaction to Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s effort to reimagine the Saw formula was generally positive, but it fell short of providing the series the huge push it needed to restore relevancy.
On Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 221 reviewers gave it a good grade, with an average score of 5.1/10. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)'s critical consensus was that it presents a fresh path for the Saw series, even if the gruesome aggregate is less than its components.
According to Metacritic, which uses a weighted average of 33 reviewers, the film received a score of 40 out of 100.
The film received an average grade of B- on a scale ranging from A+ to F from the audiences that were polled by CinemaScore. PostTrak reported that 63 percent of audience members gave it a positive score, with 43 percent saying they would absolutely recommend it to others.
A film reviewer said that the picture takes an unexpected twist or two but given that it's a thriller connected to the problem of police immorality, the film handles that theme in a bizarrely offtopic, almost garishly generic fashion.
Another film reviewer said the writing maintained the grizzled-cop-movie tone and drew some interesting characters, but the plot was repetitive, the mystery was annoyingly foreseeable, and the inventive deaths were less imaginative than before. Spiral: From the Book of Saw compromised entertainment value for respectability and failed to accomplish either.
Many film reviews praised Spiral: From the Book of Saw as a really terrifying, albeit unevenly paced, detective thriller, while simultaneously criticizing its writing for failing to depict the potential tensions between its major characters' father-son relationship.
Some film reviewers praised the performances and Spiral (2021)'s simple yet captivating idea, but they also remarked on the unknown killer's voice, which he claimed sounded like Kermit the Frog, and noted that the screams and gore aren't for the movie's intended demographic. They are, in fact, the attraction.
A film reviewer awarded the film one star out of five and criticized its finale, noting that he believed it was hurried and half-assed and clumsily written and worst of all progressively uninteresting. He completed his evaluation by proclaiming game over.
Another film critic, in his one-and-a-half star review, criticized the film's tone and Darren Lynn Bousman's direction, which he said disappointed him despite his praise for the cast, and called it "downright illegible" for its lack of tension, story, and plot progression.
A third film reviewer enjoyed the opening sequence but felt it to be the only excellent section of the picture, summarizing it by noting that the idea is dishonest at best and fear mongering at worst. Like Jigsaw giving one of his easy riddles, this film is not as brilliant as it thinks it is.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw: From the Book of Saw is likely to offend both Saw devotees and mainstream moviegoers, according to one film reviewer. It's a poor rip-off of the show, failing to match even the most basic aesthetic and narrative standards. It's also a bad movie in general, as it tries to tell a socially relevant story but fails miserably. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is barely a Saw film, he said, delivering only briefly on the visceral thrill of mutilation and none of the series' other tenets. It's also the most artless, tactless version of what it actually is: a snubbed pilot episode for a rote cop drama.
Reviewer Spiral (2021) was seen differently by Decker Shado. Chris Rock's newest Saw movie, Spiral, came released in 2021. After an SUMMER OF SAW, you should know the drill: A murderer is on the run who doesn't directly kill his captives, but rather tests them with innovative, unsettling machines. The idea, anyhow. The approach and objective of many of these traps are also wrong. His video explains better.
Another film critic said that it's not exactly a waste of an idea. But the franchise doesn't need a fresh start either. Rock's involvement in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) gives it some new blood, but after a promising start, the movie just turns out to be a pretty okay Saw movie with some bigger names than usual—one whose dark lighting and procedural storyline remind me most of David Fincher's Se7en. If the point of the game was to see if a new take on a long-running franchise could survive the sequel machine, then the game is over.
Spiral fumbles through its fundamental riddle without elegance, flair, or even much thinking, according to a film reviewer who gave it a bad review. Even the death traps lack imagination. He recognized the picture's promise, claiming that the most aggravating aspect of Spiral (2021) is that a better, wiser film lies behind all the foolishness. There are just too many rapid cuts and sequences when the tempo ramps up. It's irritating to hear poor speech blasted at full volume. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is ultimately a picture about corrupt, even deadly officers suddenly having a reckoning, and material like this has the potential to be both subversive and current for a Hollywood film, yet it's been remarked that Spiral is almost infuriating in how little it appears to care about any of this. It merely want to lose a great deal of blood, which it does.
Will there be a continuation of the story told in Spiral?
Twisted Pictures confirmed in April 2021 that they were making a sequel movie called "Saw X." But Bousman said it was an early announcement that surprised him and the producers of the movie. He said that just because they made Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), the Saw series doesn't end. Even though Spiral (2021) has already come out, that doesn't mean that there won't be a Saw IX. This isn't the ninth movie in the Saw series. Jigsaw may easily be followed by Saw IX. I think they are waiting to see how Spiral does and how people react to it before deciding what will happen next. Josh Stolberg said the script was finished that same year in December.
Is there going to be a Spiral (2021)-themed television show?
During an interview with Deadline Hollywood in April of 2021, Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs revealed that the company has begun discussions with Mark Burg and Oren Koules' Twisted Television productions to develop a television series based on Spiral: From the Book of Saw.