Saw IV: Critic Reviews

The reports of torture porn's demise may have been greatly exaggerated, but this fourth entry in the mutilate-yourself-or-die series joins what may be the worst genre of the decade: the lamely ''sympathetic'' serial-killer backstory.

Over the course of [its] sequels, the Saw franchise took a novel, if distasteful, idea and basically tortured it to death.

Saw IV is no Saw III. Just as Saw III is no Saw II. But neither Lionsgate, the Saw distributor, nor the North American box office seems to care.

This death trap may be rusty, but as long as it keeps generating fresh blood, it's unlikely to slam shut anytime soon.

A film as edgy as a rubber knife.

Even fans of good, old-fashioned, onscreen torture will find themselves rolling their eyes at the twists and turns in this impossibly convoluted story.

Just as Jigsaw tests his victims, the franchise's own test will be whether such suspension can be maintained, or if matters lapse into a torture chamber of self-parody.

After two solid entries and an OK one, the franchise is getting long in the tooth: This one is Saw It Be-IV.

It's somewhat better put together than Saw II or III, though there isn't a scare in it.

An incomprehensible cacophony of screams, shock cuts, dour pseudo-philosophizing, heavy metal mutilation and low-rent TV-standard performances.

The original Saw was crafted with thought and precision. Saw IV is an orgy of blood.

Easily the worst and most pointless episode of the gore-saturated quadrology.

The famously inventive torture sequences here seem depleted of imagination.

We now find ourselves in the downward slope of the Saw series as Saw IV stretches credibility to the breaking point.

Jigsaw is an interesting character with an interesting worldview and an interesting way of carrying out his will. It's too bad the movies themselves aren't worthy of him.

I do wish that these movies were well made, because I actually think the premises are quite clever, but unless a veteran who is more confident in his abilities takes over, we are left with what could have been...

Poor Jigsaw. The architect of the most deadly traps ever committed to celluloid has endured inoperable cancer, a debilitating car crash and even the premature death of his son, but nothing as painful or degrading as 'Saw IV.'

... any serious consideration of the killer's fascination with violence is superseded by the director's (and the returning viewers') own sadistic pleasures.

Outro tipico exemplar da serie: o final, como de habito, e ate engenhoso, mas a formula cada vez mais desgastada exige paciencia ate que cheguemos a ele.

Whereas the first Saw and the third met the right balance, the second film and now the fourth push things a little too far and end up being less effective as a result.

Were it not for the saving grace of Tobin Bell's mere presence, there's little doubt that Saw IV would come off about as well as a typical straight-to-video horror sequel.