Lionsgate Home Entertainment, out now

A criminal mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice.

Like the ingenious traps that are used to dispatch its series of unfortunate victims, the saw movies are well-oiled machines that know what they’re doing and deliver to an expected formula. While Spiral suggested it would be a new twist on the theme, the déjà vu suggests otherwise, though die-hard, undemanding fans of the franchise are unlikely to be disappointed.

The previous film in the series, Jigsaw, was released at Halloween 2017, and it’s incredible to think that this is the ninth in the series, the first being unleashed in 2004. Darren Lynn Bousman returns here after his directing of Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV, and he works to a screenplay by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, writers of Jigsaw. The movie is in multiple safe pairs of hands, maybe too much so, chronicling another series of murders where the victims are invited to self-mutilate themselves or die horrifically.

The tweak here is that it’s dirty cops who are getting captured, and it’s up to Detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock, Madagascar) to work out just who is the copycat Jigsaw killer. He’s unpopular with his colleagues because he exposed a dirty cop back in the day, and things are further complicated by his father being the police chief (Samuel L Jackson). Having ruined another undercover bust, he’s saddled with rookie William Schenk (Max Minghella, The Handmaid’s Tale).

Lionsgate’s Blu-ray release features an audio commentary from director Bousman, co-writer Stolberg and composer Charlie Clouser as well as one from producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg. An hour of behind-the-scenes content is joined by illustrated trap breakdowns, trailers and a six-minute featurette on the innovative marketing of the movies.

Verdict: Solid, gory, franchise horror that ticks all the Saw boxes, while adding nothing new to a series that feels like it has ran its course. 6/10

Nick Joy

Spiral is out now on Digital,  DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD