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"SAW III" released on October 27th, 2006
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While investigating the brutal aftermath of another Jigsaw crime scene, Detective's Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) find out that the room's only exit was welded shut, breaking Jigsaw's modus operandi of giving his victims a chance to survive. Kerry, who is guilt-ridden over the disappearance of Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), is abducted later that night and awakens in a harness that is hooked into her ribs. She manages to retrieve the key from a suspended beaker of acid and unlock it before the timer expires, but it tears her rib cage apart anyway, killing her.
Jeff Denlon (Angus Macfadyen), another Jigsaw victim, awakens in a box in an abandoned meatpacking plant and learns from a microcassette recorder that he must undergo tests which will lead him to "the man responsible for the loss of his child". Jeff has become unstable and vengeful in the three years since his son Dylan was killed by a drunk driver, and is now estranged from his wife and neglects his daughter Corbett (Niamh Wilson). Jeff's first test leads him into a meat freezer where he finds Danica Scott (Debra Lynne McCabe), the only witness of Dylan's death, who refused to testify in court; she is naked and chained at the wrists between two poles which begin spraying ice-cold water at random intervals. She manages to convince Jeff to help her, but freezes to death before he can retrieve the key. His second test leads him to a vat, at the bottom of which Judge Halden (Barry Flatman), who gave Dylan's killer six months in jail, is chained at the neck. The vat slowly fills with liquefied pig corpses, but Jeff reluctantly incinerates Dylan's belongings in order to retrieve the key and save Halden. His third test brings him before Timothy Young (Mpho Koaho), Dylan's killer, who is strapped to a machine that will twist his limbs and neck in turn until they break. The key is tied to the trigger of an enclosed shotgun. Jeff eventually tries to free Timothy, but taking the key discharges the shotgun and accidentally kills Halden, and Jeff is unable to stop the machine before Timothy's neck breaks.
Concurrently, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), now bedridden from cancer, has his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) abduct brain surgeon Dr. Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) from her hospital. She is brought to Kramer and instructed to keep him alive until the other victim has completed his game, fitting an explosive collar around her neck that is linked to Kramer's heart monitor - if Kramer's heart stop or Lynn moves out of range, the collar will explode. During an improvised surgery, in which Lynn removes a piece of Kramer's skull with a power drill to relieve pressure on his brain, he hallucinates about another woman - his ex-wife Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) and declares his love out loud, distressing Amanda. She leaves, and flashbacks show her time with Kramer, as well as her abduction of Adam (Leigh Whannell), which left her guilt-ridden to the point she gave him a mercy killing out of guilt some time after his game. Amanda returns with the news that Jeff has completed his tests, but refuses to remove Lynn's collar, revealing that she no longer believes in Kramer's philosophy, and has designed her traps simply to kill, including Kerry's, and also intends to kill Lynn. Kramer repeatedly pleads with Amanda to reconsider, warning her that if she kills Lynn, she will be killing herself - ultimately revealing that Jeff is not the only person being tested, but this is also Amanda's game!
Jeff Denlon (Angus Macfadyen), another Jigsaw victim, awakens in a box in an abandoned meatpacking plant and learns from a microcassette recorder that he must undergo tests which will lead him to "the man responsible for the loss of his child". Jeff has become unstable and vengeful in the three years since his son Dylan was killed by a drunk driver, and is now estranged from his wife and neglects his daughter Corbett (Niamh Wilson). Jeff's first test leads him into a meat freezer where he finds Danica Scott (Debra Lynne McCabe), the only witness of Dylan's death, who refused to testify in court; she is naked and chained at the wrists between two poles which begin spraying ice-cold water at random intervals. She manages to convince Jeff to help her, but freezes to death before he can retrieve the key. His second test leads him to a vat, at the bottom of which Judge Halden (Barry Flatman), who gave Dylan's killer six months in jail, is chained at the neck. The vat slowly fills with liquefied pig corpses, but Jeff reluctantly incinerates Dylan's belongings in order to retrieve the key and save Halden. His third test brings him before Timothy Young (Mpho Koaho), Dylan's killer, who is strapped to a machine that will twist his limbs and neck in turn until they break. The key is tied to the trigger of an enclosed shotgun. Jeff eventually tries to free Timothy, but taking the key discharges the shotgun and accidentally kills Halden, and Jeff is unable to stop the machine before Timothy's neck breaks.
Concurrently, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), now bedridden from cancer, has his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) abduct brain surgeon Dr. Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) from her hospital. She is brought to Kramer and instructed to keep him alive until the other victim has completed his game, fitting an explosive collar around her neck that is linked to Kramer's heart monitor - if Kramer's heart stop or Lynn moves out of range, the collar will explode. During an improvised surgery, in which Lynn removes a piece of Kramer's skull with a power drill to relieve pressure on his brain, he hallucinates about another woman - his ex-wife Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) and declares his love out loud, distressing Amanda. She leaves, and flashbacks show her time with Kramer, as well as her abduction of Adam (Leigh Whannell), which left her guilt-ridden to the point she gave him a mercy killing out of guilt some time after his game. Amanda returns with the news that Jeff has completed his tests, but refuses to remove Lynn's collar, revealing that she no longer believes in Kramer's philosophy, and has designed her traps simply to kill, including Kerry's, and also intends to kill Lynn. Kramer repeatedly pleads with Amanda to reconsider, warning her that if she kills Lynn, she will be killing herself - ultimately revealing that Jeff is not the only person being tested, but this is also Amanda's game!
TRIVIA: In the few short months in between completing Saw II and starting Saw III, Shawnee Smith had had a baby. (She was pregnant during the making of the second film.)
Top: Now bedridden from cancer, John Kramer (Tobin Bell) tasks his apprentice (Above) Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) to run his "games"
Initially, Darren Lynn Bousman, director and co-writer of Saw II, James Wan, director of Saw, and Leigh Whannell, screenwriter on both, turned down the opportunity to work on Saw III. However, when Saw series producer Gregg Hoffman unexpectedly died just after the release of Saw II, Bousman, Wan and Whannell got together to have lunch the day they heard of Hoffman's passing and came to conclusion that Saw III was going to be made with or without them, so they decided to make the film in dedication to Hoffman - naming Costas mandylor's character Detective Mark Hoffman in their friend's honor. Whannell aimed to make Saw III more emotional than the previous entries in the series, describing the plot as essentially a "love story" between Jigsaw and Amanda, "We have Jigsaw, this character who's been so cold and clinical, he's been presented throughout the previous two films as someone who's very much in control. He's more like a reptile than a human being. In Saw III he becomes a human being. You see him crack. His veneer cracks and that was what was most important to us far and above any sort of gimmick or twist". Whannell also answered questions from previous films that were brought up by fans on the official Saw message board. The final shooting draft of the script was written in under a week in Toronto, and, as with the previous films, the ending was only given to the actors who appeared in the final scene at the time it was filmed.
Tobin Bell would again reprise his role of John Kramer aka Jigsaw, with Shawnee Smith also returning as his apprentice Amanda Young. Bell and Smith would actually spent several weeks before filming getting to know each other personally so the relationship between their characters would appear believable and real. Donnie Wahlberg - who briefly returns as Detective Eric Matthews - went to great lengths to let on that he would not be appearing in the film, even to the extent of issuing a press release. This of course was just a smokescreen to make his appearance in Saw III all the more surprising. In addition to the appearance of Donnie Wahlberg, Leigh Whannell's cameo was also kept a secret. Whannell was uncredited and there was not publicity of any kind about his character Adam appearing in the film. Dina Meyer would also cameo in Saw III as Detective Allison Kerry, although her character was killed off very early in the script.
New cast members included Angus Macfadyen and Bahar Soomekh as tested married couple Jeff and Lynn Denlon. Soomekh had became close with Lionsgate after appearing in their film Crash (2004) and they wanted her in their next big film, but Soomekh wavered over committing to Saw III as she was not a fan of horror movies (she claimed to have nightmares for the first month that she was on set). And director Bousman didn't even meet Macfadyen until the day the actor walked onto the set for his first day of shooting! Saw III also introduced two (initially minor) characters, Mark Hoffman and Jill Tuck - played by Costas Mandylor and Betsy Russell - who would go on to become major characters later on in the series. Lyriq Bent's character Lieutenant Daniel Rigg would also debut in this film.
Tobin Bell would again reprise his role of John Kramer aka Jigsaw, with Shawnee Smith also returning as his apprentice Amanda Young. Bell and Smith would actually spent several weeks before filming getting to know each other personally so the relationship between their characters would appear believable and real. Donnie Wahlberg - who briefly returns as Detective Eric Matthews - went to great lengths to let on that he would not be appearing in the film, even to the extent of issuing a press release. This of course was just a smokescreen to make his appearance in Saw III all the more surprising. In addition to the appearance of Donnie Wahlberg, Leigh Whannell's cameo was also kept a secret. Whannell was uncredited and there was not publicity of any kind about his character Adam appearing in the film. Dina Meyer would also cameo in Saw III as Detective Allison Kerry, although her character was killed off very early in the script.
New cast members included Angus Macfadyen and Bahar Soomekh as tested married couple Jeff and Lynn Denlon. Soomekh had became close with Lionsgate after appearing in their film Crash (2004) and they wanted her in their next big film, but Soomekh wavered over committing to Saw III as she was not a fan of horror movies (she claimed to have nightmares for the first month that she was on set). And director Bousman didn't even meet Macfadyen until the day the actor walked onto the set for his first day of shooting! Saw III also introduced two (initially minor) characters, Mark Hoffman and Jill Tuck - played by Costas Mandylor and Betsy Russell - who would go on to become major characters later on in the series. Lyriq Bent's character Lieutenant Daniel Rigg would also debut in this film.
[last lines]
Jigsaw: Hello, Jeff. I made this tape as an insurance policy, if you will. And if you're listening to it, then it's time to collect. I was your final test of forgiveness and if you're listening to this, then you've failed. Now you must pay the price. The price for living for nothing but vengeance. Now I will give you something to live for. I told you that you couldn't kill me, Jeff, but I didn't tell you why. The answer is simple. I am the person responsible for the loss of your child. I am the only person who knows where your daughter is. She only has a limited supply of air, Jeff, and if you want to get her back, you'll have to play a game.
Jeff: No!
Dr. Lynn Denlon: Jeff!
[Lynn's collar detonates]
Top and Above: Jigsaw's latest "test subjects", estranged married couple Lynn and Jeff Denlon (Bahar Soomekh and Angus Macfadyen), still grieving over the loss of the son to a drunk driver
Given a budget of $10 million, more than double Saw II's, principal photography began at Toronto's Cinespace Film Studios on May 8, 2006, with production expected to last 32-days. Amazingly, Bousmann and his crew filmed 40 set-ups in four different locations on the very first day of shooting! Almost all the transitions from one place to another were not made using digital effects; the transitions were shot on the spot. For example, when the camera moves from Troy's crime scene to Kerry being in the bathtub, Meyer had to run, take off all her clothes, and jump into the tub. Bousman described the hardest scene to film was the Pig Scene, explaining that they had to rush and it involved filming "so many moving parts". The pig carcasses were made out of foam, rubber and latex though the pig props were filled with real live disinfected maggots, attracted to the honey coating smeared on the carcasses (Tobin Bell later said that this was his favorite trap in the entire series).
The script was being constantly added to during production, with Whannell remaining on set throughout filming so he could keep working on it. One climactic scene between Smith and Soomekh was scribbled down on napkins only five minutes before it was shot. Soomekh also had difficulty filming the brain surgery sequence, with scene prop master James R. Murray having to hold Soomekh's arms still for the close up shots because she was unable to steady herself and keep the tool under control.
For The Rack Trap, Whannell originally conceived it as a trap that would fold a person into a box, though it eventually morphed into the twisting of body parts. Bousman wanted to have a trap that involved freezing someone to death since the films have already touched on burning to death, bleeding to death and being cut to death. A body cast was made of actress Debra Lynn McCabe for The Freezer Room trap, but because of safety regulations a person cannot be entombed, so only a front or back body cast could be on the actress at any given time. The scene was made even more difficult as the script called for McCabe to be (almost) completely naked. For the Classroom Trap, J. Larose's character, one of Amanda's first victims Troy, was originally going to be hanged from the ceiling by meat hooks, but it was decided against since he would not have been able to rip the chains out himself (as the script calls for). It proved to be a challenge since it is done with prosthetics and practical effects.
The script was being constantly added to during production, with Whannell remaining on set throughout filming so he could keep working on it. One climactic scene between Smith and Soomekh was scribbled down on napkins only five minutes before it was shot. Soomekh also had difficulty filming the brain surgery sequence, with scene prop master James R. Murray having to hold Soomekh's arms still for the close up shots because she was unable to steady herself and keep the tool under control.
For The Rack Trap, Whannell originally conceived it as a trap that would fold a person into a box, though it eventually morphed into the twisting of body parts. Bousman wanted to have a trap that involved freezing someone to death since the films have already touched on burning to death, bleeding to death and being cut to death. A body cast was made of actress Debra Lynn McCabe for The Freezer Room trap, but because of safety regulations a person cannot be entombed, so only a front or back body cast could be on the actress at any given time. The scene was made even more difficult as the script called for McCabe to be (almost) completely naked. For the Classroom Trap, J. Larose's character, one of Amanda's first victims Troy, was originally going to be hanged from the ceiling by meat hooks, but it was decided against since he would not have been able to rip the chains out himself (as the script calls for). It proved to be a challenge since it is done with prosthetics and practical effects.
[opening lines]
Jigsaw: Hello, Troy. I want to play a game. This game will take place in a room not much bigger than the room you spent most of your life in. A prison cell. Despite all of the advantages and privileges that you were given at birth, you have returned to prison again and again. More comfortable in chains than you are in freedom. Tonight, we will see how far you are willing to go to break those chains once and for all. Live or die, Troy. Make your choice.
Top: Director Darren Lynn Bousman on set with Angus Macfadyen;
Above: Bousman composing a shot on location
Surprisingly, the film's most graphic scene - Jigsaw's wide-awake brain surgery scene - remained completely uncut by the MPAA. The filmmakers argued that it was no different from the kind of thing people could catch on any medical documentary on TV, but still had to resubmit Saw III to the ratings board several times before obtaining the "R" rating, receiving the "NC-17" rating every previous time. Even then, Whannell was reportedly physically sick from watching some of the scenes that were shot!
Nevertheless, Saw III was so anticipated by the fans, that the teaser trailer that was placed in front of the film The Descent was bootlegged and published online on the day of release, on August 4th 2006. On October 10, 2006 Bell, Smith and Bousman appeared at Spike TV's Scream Awards to promote the film and the clip of Troy's trap was shown, the clip having already premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21, 2006. When Saw III opened at number one on 4,700 screens at 3,167 theaters grossing $33.6 million on its opening weekend, the film had the biggest Halloween weekend debut of all time. Eventually, Saw III would gross over $80 million in the US and canada, and another $85 million worldwide, making Saw III's total gross of $165 million the most financially successful film of the entire Saw franchise.
Despite it's box office success, Saw III met mostly mixed reviews from critics. Variety's Robert Koehler criticized the use of several flashbacks in the film, saying that it "[...] hinder[ed] the movie, ratcheting down its tension and pace". He explained, "A bigger problem lies with Leigh Whannell's script, which utilizes so many flashbacks and explanatory inserts that the tension, a defining feature of the first Saw, is lost". He praised Smith's performance and called MacFadyen's performance "a strong, almost silent performance that conveys a pained father's dark night of the soul", and Soomekh as "reasonably convincing as the surgeon". The San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub gave the film a negative review, writing, "It doesn't go much of anywhere until the infuriating last 10 minutes, when everything is sort of tied together while still producing more unanswered questions. The movie seems at times to be told in random order, often with flashbacks, and the closest thing to a plot is a weak story about the father who keeps confronting the people responsible for his son's drunken-driving death". He pointed out the lack of realism in the script, saying "One incredibly large and intricate torture device in this movie couldn't have been made without four or five subcontractors, but we're supposed to believe a mentally unbalanced ex-junkie who weighs 100 pounds put it together in, at most, a few months".
For IHdb's review of the remaining films in the Saw franchise - as well as video extras, trailers, and much, much more - be sure to Follow Us on our Facebook Page during our exclusive Saw Week on IHdb!
Nevertheless, Saw III was so anticipated by the fans, that the teaser trailer that was placed in front of the film The Descent was bootlegged and published online on the day of release, on August 4th 2006. On October 10, 2006 Bell, Smith and Bousman appeared at Spike TV's Scream Awards to promote the film and the clip of Troy's trap was shown, the clip having already premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21, 2006. When Saw III opened at number one on 4,700 screens at 3,167 theaters grossing $33.6 million on its opening weekend, the film had the biggest Halloween weekend debut of all time. Eventually, Saw III would gross over $80 million in the US and canada, and another $85 million worldwide, making Saw III's total gross of $165 million the most financially successful film of the entire Saw franchise.
Despite it's box office success, Saw III met mostly mixed reviews from critics. Variety's Robert Koehler criticized the use of several flashbacks in the film, saying that it "[...] hinder[ed] the movie, ratcheting down its tension and pace". He explained, "A bigger problem lies with Leigh Whannell's script, which utilizes so many flashbacks and explanatory inserts that the tension, a defining feature of the first Saw, is lost". He praised Smith's performance and called MacFadyen's performance "a strong, almost silent performance that conveys a pained father's dark night of the soul", and Soomekh as "reasonably convincing as the surgeon". The San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub gave the film a negative review, writing, "It doesn't go much of anywhere until the infuriating last 10 minutes, when everything is sort of tied together while still producing more unanswered questions. The movie seems at times to be told in random order, often with flashbacks, and the closest thing to a plot is a weak story about the father who keeps confronting the people responsible for his son's drunken-driving death". He pointed out the lack of realism in the script, saying "One incredibly large and intricate torture device in this movie couldn't have been made without four or five subcontractors, but we're supposed to believe a mentally unbalanced ex-junkie who weighs 100 pounds put it together in, at most, a few months".
For IHdb's review of the remaining films in the Saw franchise - as well as video extras, trailers, and much, much more - be sure to Follow Us on our Facebook Page during our exclusive Saw Week on IHdb!
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 28%
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