Saw V (2008) – What Happened to This Horror Movie?

Like the movies in this series, we will continue to release fairly regularly and find out what happened to the Saw franchise. Saw V was already planned well before Saw IV even came out as the new creators had a whole storyline that needed multiple movies to pull off. When would the revenue stop coming in for this series? How would they bring back Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw yet again after he had now been dead for a full movie and the timeline had caught up to the present? It’s time to play another game as we find out what happened to Saw V.

After the massive 140-million-dollar success of Saw IV, Saw V would be a similar experience. Why change things around too much if the formula was working so well. It had a similar budget to its predecessor, going from 10 million to 10.8 million and brought back many of the principal people from the previous film with one big gap. While Whannell and Wan had stepped away and been listed as executive producers only for 4 and 5, Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed the previous 3 movies was out and went on to do his passion project of Repo! The Genetic Opera. The man that would step into the directors’ chair was the same man who was originally supposed to take the helm for part 4. David Hackl could have been the director on the writers and creative leads entire trilogy but stepped away from part 4 for personal reasons and while he was in the running for part 6, it was ultimately given to the editor of the entire series Kevin Greutert. Hackl has worn a lot of hats in his professional career but to date has only directed three more films including the old fashioned when animals attack movie Into the Grizzly Maze from 2013.

The writers who I mentioned previously, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, came back as the credited writers for this movie and would be right back the next year to close out their Hoffman trilogy with Saw VI. They would both come back to write Saw 3D which was envisioned as a final installment to the series and Dunstan was a writer on the possibly cancelled Saw XI. The movie opens and pivots slightly from the last installment by bringing back one of the trademark traps to open the film. We see a convicted murderer named Seth Baxter who is in an Edgar Allan Poe inspired trap. He is told that he will be let go if he willingly crushes both of his hands but when he follows through, he is still killed by the oncoming pendulum blade. While the previous films autopsy scene was just as graphic as some of the traps we had seen before, coming back to the opening scene of a trap was a welcome sight to fans.

Actor Joris Jarsky was placed on a table that was an actual functioning pendulum that had a real blade. It worked exactly as it was designed to but had simple replacements made to protect the actor. When Jarsky was on the table, the blade was switched out for a foam one but still allowed to swing. His hands being crushed were done in a similar way with foam inserts being placed to protect his hands from actually being crushed. Baxter dies and we see someone watching through a hole in the wall. The movie then jumps directly to the end of Saw IV with FBI agent Strahm escaping from the room that Hoffman locked him in. while he has escaped the room, he will still be tested as he is attacked by someone wearing the trademark pig mask and then awakens to a test of his own. Strahm awakens with his head sealed in a box as water slowly fills the chamber. This isn’t a normal test though as he is not designed to be able to save himself nor is there any kind of tape explaining why he is here.

Actor Scott Patterson was slightly apprehensive about jumping in this trap as his head would be fully submerged in water and it was a trap designed to kill after all. What didn’t help his trepidations was multiple practice attempts didn’t go well. The glass walls that seal the cube could be lifted off by stagehands which would drain all the water. While a stuntman was offered, Patterson ultimately decided to do it himself even though it took multiple takes. Patterson would also record his lines for the rest of the movie with a deeper voice through ADR as he felt that someone recovering from a self-inflicted tracheotomy would have a much gruffer sounding voice. Patterson was also excited to be a part of a trilogy when he was cast along with Costas Mandalor, Tobin Bell, and Betsy Russell to reprise their roles from part 4. There was a lot of speculation for Pattersons character though as he stated that he had been signed on for three movies, but it was up to the creators to ask him back and decide what they want to do with the character.

There were also reports that he had become unavailable for filming and was now relegated to a cameo which made fans speculate on Strahm’s fate within the movie. Much of the advertising for the movie centered on the water box scene and the thought was that Strahm would die early to move the story along. According to director Hackl, the script was to be outlined in a matter of one week with the final product being done by the end of the month they started on it. Even with ideas that would last for 3 or more movies, there was always room to change things and that’s exactly what happened. Hackl explained that while they always tried to work off the original scripts for the series, there were constant tweaks and changes that were made to make the overall product better and this was no different with him in the directors’ chair in part 5. He said they added and changed things right up until the last day of shooting.

While the movie is certainly about a distraught Strahm trying to uncover and prove that Detective Hoffman is the hidden apprentice, Saw V also gives us their bread and butter since the second film with a group of people beset by traps. Megan Good and Julie Benz are among the 5 trying to get out of the traps and both were originally supposed to lose their shirts after the first trap and remain in their bras for the remainder of the film. When production saw how into the roles and committed both women were, they changed it as it was felt as a disservice to the actresses. Benz, for her role, was terrified and even had nightmares during the production of the movie. She stated that she hated her character and had never really been in a horror movie before. She went on to explain that she may not even watch the movie. While horror wasn’t her favorite genre by any stretch, she really appreciated how the director worked including his use of storyboards on set.

While we get the typical traps and evasion, the movie primarily follows the story of Hoffman and Strahm. While the characters in the movie are led to believe that Strahm is the secret apprentice, the audience learns about halfway through that it’s actually Hoffman. It was he that killed Baxter because Baxter killed his sister years earlier and got off on a technicality. Jigsaw kidnaps Hoffman after the slaying is blamed on him and forces Hoffman into doing these traps the right way, something we know he didn’t. Bouncing back and forth between the two narratives we finally get to the final room where the remaining survivors of Brit and Mallick are. The goal is to fill a beaker with 10 pints of blood to open the door. Producers elected to go with animal blood in this final room which is something they would regret later once the entire set started to smell.

Strahm hunts for Hoffman inside the house used in Saw II and when he gets to the final area, a tape instructs him to get in a coffin full of glass, a coffin that we actually briefly see in Jigsaw’s workshop in the previous film. Hoffman enters the room and after a struggle he is thrown into the glass coffin where he lives, Strahm dies, and Hoffman is free of suspicion as a Jigsaw apprentice. The death scene of Strahm being crushed by walls closing in was actually suggested by the director’s son and the entire event was news to actor Scott Patterson. The effects team approached him to make casts of his arms and Patterson asked what the reason was. Bemused, the special effects lead told Patterson that his character was getting killed off at the end of the movie.

Saw V was filmed in Toronto over the course of 41 days in March and April of 2008 for a late October release that same year. It was critically panned but still got the job done with audiences pulling in over 118 million dollars on its 10 .8-million-dollar budget. Home video sales would add another 28.8 million dollars on DVD and Blu-ray sales with a 3 minute longer directors cut available and a soundtrack from composer Charlie Clouser. Some of the lowest scores in the series to date wouldn’t stop the juggernaut of a series from releasing another entry the very next year and that is what happened to Saw V.

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