Saw III (2006 film)

Suffering?  You haven't seen anything yet. - Jigsaw

So, Day 3 of our October coverage and we're getting deeper into the Saw saga.  This time around, we're following two stories, plus continuing the ongoing story from the previous film.  Who lives?  Who dies?  That's up to Jigsaw's players, now, isn't it?

After briefly touching up on what happened at the end of the second film and afterwards, we meet a somewhat jaded doctor, Lynn, who seems to just be going through the motions of her job.  We also meet Jeff, the father of a boy who was killed in a traffic accident.  Both are abducted by the series' iconic figure, the Pigface, and awaken elsewhere: Lynn in Jigsaw's workshop, where he and his apprentice want her to operate to relieve the pressure on his brain and Jeff in a maze where he'll encounter people related to his son's accident.  Will Lynn save Jigsaw's life (and her own)?  Will the father be able to sort out his feelings and grief?  Tests like this have rarely been so bloody!

This film goes for a little more minimalism.  Its kills are reduced, but what it lacks in deaths it makes up for in both imagination and gore.  There are some unique traps used in this film, though none quite as cringe-inducing for me as the syringe pit from Saw II.  Probably the most disgusting is the pig pit, where the intended victim is chained in a chamber and being slowly covered in the juices and entrails from rotting pig carcasses falling into a grinder.  Drowning in pig parts is NOT how I would choose to go.

Returning from Saw II, either for a more notable part or a cameo, are Donnie Wahlberg (Detective Williams), Shawnee Smith (Amanda), Dina Meyer (Detective Kerry), and Lyriq Bent (SWAT Lieutenant Rigg).  Besides the Saw series, Lyriq Bent also played in Four Brothers, Skinwalkers, and the 2010 Mother's Day remake.  Costas Mandylor plays Detective Mark Hoffman here.  Mr. Mandylor has had a long career in acting, all the way back to 1989, and has been in such movies as Virtuosity, Dinocroc, Immortally Yours, and is rumored (on Wikipedia) to be playing Needles Kane, driver of Sweet Tooth, in an upcoming Twisted Metal Hollywood adaptation.  And, playing Jigsaw in his third film, is the great Tobin Bell.  He has a large number of scenes in this film, and he does extremely well with the role.  He's also had a long career, with movies like Tootsie, Ruby, Goodfellas, The Quick and the Dead, and Boogeyman 2, among a host of others under his belt.

Darren Lynn Bousman did it again with another great entry into the series.  My opinionated rating gives the film a 5 out of 5, definitely a recommended viewing (with the caveat being that you enjoy and/or can stomach these types of movies, of course).  Tune in tomorrow for our next entry into the series.  There's only four left to go!  As always, until then, this is Red Hawk signing out!