Saw IV

Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) may be dead and all but chopped up in an autopsy in the opening scenes (all in sick, clinical detail), but when has that ever stopped a franchise from plugging along? And, sure enough, the autopsy digs a microcassette out of his stomach and Bell croaks out, "It's not over. The games have just begun." This time it's SWAT Commander Rigg's (Lyriq Bent) turn to go through the soul-killing obstacle course of torture and murder and gratuitous violence in the name of specious survivalist philosophy. This is the series that rewrites Nietzsche to the effect that: "That which does not kill you makes you pathologically insane." Director Darren Lynn Bousman, helming his third sequel in a row, has plenty of gratuitous style to enhance the gratuitous violence and sadistic torture devices, and there's even more of both on display in the "Unrated Director's Cut." Costas Mandylor plays the lead detective dropped into a trap for Rigg to rescue, Scott Patterson is the FBI agent working his own angle, Betsy Russell is back as Jigsaw's ex-wife, Bell is all over the flashbacks, and the production somehow enticed a number of performers from past installments to make appearances. Available in separate R-rated and unrated editions and in Blu-ray format.

The unrated edition features two commentary tracks: one by producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg and executive producers Jason Constantine and Peter Block (who talk about the relationship of the story and style to the rest of the franchise, including how key elements of "IV" were seeded in "III"); the other by Bousman and Bent, with Bousman pointing out where mechanical glitches forced him to improvise on the set. All versions include three featurettes. "Darren's Video Diary" is a snappy look at the practical aspects of making a genre film in brief clips spanning the process from preproduction meetings to wrap day, with a lot of Bousman arguing with the producers. "We killed three separate characters today, so good times." Also includes "The Traps of Saw IV" and "The Props of Saw IV," two featurettes that are exactly what they appear to be, plus a deleted scene and a music video.