Put this into perspective for a moment; the original Saw cost a mere $1.2 million to make and grossed over $18 million opening weekend. When you have that kind of profit, any studio would want a sequel, and Saw definitely left the doors wide open for just such a thing. Thus, a small, low-budget horror film has proved that like many others before it, it has everything it needs to become a successful franchise, though even low box office figures haven’t kept some films down.

Saw II marks the return of John Kramer (Tobin bell), better known to the media and his victims as the Jigsaw killer, and he has his eyes on another series of victims who have the potential to redeem their worthless lives or die in the process. Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) has been called in to see the latest handiwork of Jigaws, but this is merely the beginning. From one minor clue, he has determined where authorities might find the elusive “killer” and his hunch is right, but there’s something he’s not counting on. Jigsaw has been waiting, more specifically, for Detective Matthews. On a series of monitors, Matthews and his fellow officers are about to witness a series of horrific events. In a house, somewhere, Jigsaw has placed a group of individuals together with a toxic gas slowly seeping into its rooms. In two hours, all of them will be dead, though there are antidotes hidden within the house and the new victims must come to understand their connection to one another if they want to survive. Even worse for Matthews however is the realization that one of the people trapped in the house is his own son, Daniel (Erik Knudsen.)

The John Kramer character is proven here to be a little different from the other horror villains in the past. In the first movie, he was revealed as a man dying of cancer, and this remains true to his character, When Matthews and the SWAT team arrive, Kramer is actually waiting for them without hiding behind anything and the only thing he wants is to talk with Matthews. If the detective will grant him that and just patiently wait the two hours, he guarantees that he will in fact see his son. The film however establishes quite early that the relationship between father and son is strained. Daniel has been arrested, the two have argued, and it seems that his son is destined to follow the wrong path. However, the one thing that we’ve also learned about Jigsaw is how much he loves to manipulate his victims and those close to them, and Saw II is no different.

Among the latest group of victims is Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) who was seen n the first film and is the only person to have survived Jigsaw’s little game. But, why is she back. Apparently she has gone astray; at least that’s her claim. The inclusion of a group instead of two chained individuals brings a new element into the film. Initially they try and work together, but that doesn’t work so well. Many of them have criminal backgrounds, and perhaps the most devious of them is Xavier (Franky G) a drug dealer who isn’t about making others suffer so that he can survive. There are also the ties seen in the first movie, such as the cassette tapes which offer cryptic clues to “help” Jigsaw’s new playthings and someone connected to him, Obi (Tim Burd) in this case, but there are other mysteries to be untangled.

Saw II works in two parts, the first being Jigsaw and his verbal games with Matthews. The decorated detective is revealed to be anything but the model officer and Jigsaw knows this. He’s the type of officer not above abusing those he’s arrested, or even questioning as the case may be, and planting evidence on someone to gain an arrest. The rest of course takes place in the Nerve Gas House. Like the single room in the first movie, this house is dilapidated and the type of nightmarish location that no one would want to be trapped inside. Escape proves to be impossible save for playing Jigsaw’s game. There are also those nasty traps that Jigsaw has setup, each one containing and antidote, but at a very high price.

As I mentioned with the first Saw film however, I once again feel that the series works primarily as a thriller. Don’t get me wrong, there is a great deal of gore found in the movie, but it’s not the essential workings of the movie. Instead, it’s the mind games, and Jigsaw plays these with his victims, with Matthews, and the police finding the captives as well as the captives themselves finding a way out is the primary goal of the movie. This of course gives the viewer the chance to try and solve the clues for themselves, but like with the first movie, there is another surprise twist at the end that catches you off guard, and that’s part of why the film works.

The problem is that aside from the ending, if you understand how Jigsaw operated in the original film, it’s easy to use that knowledge here. It is very clear that his primary objective is to toy with Matthews mind and get him to reveal his true colors. The connection between the new group of victims becomes very clear as well, at least if you once again pay attention to what it unfolding. Despite some formulaic approaches though, there are still things that keep Saw II interesting, and much of that is the struggle as well as discerning what the clues actually are.

The DVD includes a few bonus features. Jigsaw’s Game is a short look at the premise of the movie, though if you’re watching this after seeing the movie, you’re already well aware of what the deadly game is. You will get a behind the scenes look at the traps featured in the movie as well as a short examining the characters involved in Saw II. There is also a look at the storyboards, some conceptual art, and the theatrical trailer. It’s definitely not one of the best collections of bonus features that I’ve seen on a release, but it’s at least something including coomentary.

Saw II isn’t a bad follow-up, but having seen the first movie, there are definite tell-tale signs of what to expect. Saw II isn’t completely predictable, but in many ways it’s more or less thee same film as the first one, just slightly repackaged and tweaked. Still, there have been much worse sequels in recent years, and Saw II definitely doesn’t fit the bill in that regard. While it’s probably not a movie for the squeamish, it’s also not something that us seasoned horror vets are going to find too over the top.

-mike-