Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) Facts

Spiral is a 2021 horror film written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Josh Stolberg, and Peter Goldfinger. The ninth entry in the Saw film franchise. Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson feature in this thriller about police attempts to arrest a copycat Jigsaw murderer. Executive producers include the series' original creators, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as Rock and series veteran Kevin Greutert.

After the success of Jigsaw in 2017, Chris Rock expressed interest in returning to the horror genre with a sequel to Saw. Jigsaw's directors, the Spierig Brothers, were considering returning for a sequel but ultimately decided against it. Rock is polishing a screenplay by Stolberg and Goldfinger, which was formally unveiled in May 2019. The remainder of the actors arrived in July, and shooting took place in Toronto in July and August.

When the COVID-19 epidemic delayed the release of Spiral, it was released theatrically in the United States on May 14, 2021 by Lionsgate. Critics gave the movie mixed reviews, praising its fresh approach but disagreeing on whether it was successful in revamping the brand.

What happens in Spiral: From the Book of Saw?



Off-duty Detective Marv Bozwick pursues a burglar through a sewage drainage pipe during a Fourth of July parade. In the aftermath of an attack from behind by a masked assailant, Bozwick wakes up hanging by his tongue in a subway tunnel and is offered the option of tearing out his tongue and escaping death, or remaining suspended until the next train comes, which would kill him. Bozwick gets struck by the train and killed as a result of his inability to get out of the trap in time. Detective Zeke Banks is assigned a new partner, idealistic rookie William Schenk, by police Captain Angie Garza the next day. As Banks and Schenk examine Bozwick's killing, they find that this is akin to the Jigsaw Killer's method of operation, which is now defunct.

A murder investigator, Fitch, was kidnapped and put in a trap where he had to tear his fingers off to prevent electrocution in a filling water basin; he also fails to escape and dies. Due of Banks' past association with Fitch, several police believe he may be the perpetrator of the crime. Schenk's tattooed skin is found inside a pig puppet in a package sent to the station. In the box, there is a little vial that leads the police to a butcher shop, where Banks and his father, former police chief Marcus Banks, used to frequent. They find a recording recorder and the skinned body of Schenk upon arrival. Marcus heads to a warehouse, where he is kidnapped by the murderer. When Garza is abducted and taken to the cold storage of the precinct, she is forced to cut her own spinal chord in order to prevent hot wax from running into her face. If she does not, she will die from her injuries as soon as Banks comes across her corpse and the wax has boiled over.

Banks is caught and wakes up in a warehouse chained to a pipe with a hacksaw nearby. He contemplates chopping off his arm but escapes with a bobby pin. Peter Dunleavy, his former partner who was sacked and jailed after Banks disclosed a murder he committed, is chained up. In front of him is a gigantic glass-crushing machine that hurls shrapnel. A recording recorder says Banks may liberate him or let him die. Banks can't rescue Dunleavy since he lacks the key. Schenk staged his own death using the skinned body of the thief who lured Bozwick into the tunnels. He was the copycat all along. He says that his last name is Emmerson, the son of Charlie Emmerson, who Dunleavy shot and executed for testifying against a crooked officer. He also states that Marcus, as chief, shielded dishonest cops to clean the streets faster under Article 8.

Emmerson, believing that Banks may be an ally, administers a last test, displaying Marcus restrained in the air and slowly being drained of blood. Emmerson dials 9-1-1 and pretends to be a civilian being chased by a gunman, prompting the operator to deploy a SWAT squad to his position. He provides Banks a handgun with one cartridge and gives him the option of shooting a target that would rescue Marcus but enable Emmerson to escape, or killing Emmerson and letting Marcus bleed to death. To rescue his father, Banks fires the target, forcing his shackles to loosen and dropping him to the ground, and then starts fighting Emmerson. Shortly later, the SWAT squad comes and accidentally trips a tripwire, forcing Marcus' handcuffs to tug him upward once again. Marcus' arm displays a pistol, prompting the SWAT squad to mistake him for the gunman and murder him. Banks shouts in sorrow as Emmerson flees.

Who starred in the film Spiral: From the Book of Saw?



Chris Rock played Zeke Banks.

The character of Detective William Schenk / Emmerson was played by Max Minghella. Leonidas Castrounis was William. Marcus Banks was played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Captain Angie Garza was played by Marisol Nichols.

Detective Marv Bozwick was played by Daniel Petronijevic.

Detective Fitch was played by Richard Zeppieri.

Peter Dunleavy was played by Patrick McManus.

Actress Ali Johnson played Officer Jeannie Lewis in the film.

She played Kara Bozwick. Sergeant Morgey Silva was acted by Dylan Roberts.

K. C. Collins was the actor who played the role of Detective Drury. Detective Deborah Kraus was played by Edie Inksetter.

Coroner Chada was played by Nazneen Contractor.

Officer Tim O'Brien was played by Thomas Mitchell. Chad Camilleri is Benny Wrights.

Ramsay played Speez.

Licari depicted Emmerson. Lisa Banks was played by Genelle Williams.

Gretzky played Officer Jones.

Spiral (2021) is the only film in the Saw series that does not physically star Tobin Bell or depict the Jigsaw persona onscreen beyond images. Bell portrayed John Kramer / Jigsaw in all of the other Saw films, but he did not return for this installment. Bousman said that he did not want to replace Bell in the famous role of Jigsaw and emphasized that the murderer in the film is not the real Jigsaw but rather a copycat of the character. Bell has said that he would be interested in reprising his role as Jigsaw provided the plot explored the background of Billy the Puppet.

Chris Rock in Spiral (2021)



Chris Rock pitched Lionsgate Spiral: From the Book of Saw to revive the Saw franchise and his career.

Chris Rock met Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns at a friend's wedding in Brazil and believed shooting a horror film would be a fresh direction for his career. He wanted to integrate humorous aspects in the picture. Lionsgate was interested in Rock's plan to prolong the series. Lionsgate CEO Joe Drake said Rock's approach was respectful to the material while reinvigorating the brand with his humour, creativity, and enthusiasm for the iconic horror property. By January 2018, reports suggested Lionsgate was planning a ninth Saw picture without the Spierig Brothers. The filmmakers told Screen Rant that their picture sets up sequels. By April 2018, Twisted Pictures was developing a Jigsaw sequel with Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger.

Stolberg and Goldfinger had been pitching a new Saw film centered on John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than any of his established apprentices to series veterans Mark Burg and Oren Koules following the release of Jigsaw, but Burg and Koules informed the pair of Rock's ideas for a new film, with Rock contacting them shortly thereafter to discuss his concept. Prior to then, various writers had presented their ideas for the next Saw film to Lionsgate, but none had been accepted. Stolberg and Goldfinger, on the other hand, had created eight distinct versions of the picture before Rock came and blended his concept with theirs. The pair was directed by Burg and Koules to create a proposal for Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger did so, and their proposal was accepted by both Lionsgate and Rock, prompting them to compose their first draft, which was given the go-ahead a week after it was submitted. Rock assisted Stolberg and Goldfinger with the reworking of the tale throughout the writing process.

In an early version of the script, Rock's character was related to David Tapp, who was played by Danny Glover in the first movie. Stolberg and Goldfinger decided not to go this way because it didn't make sense. In May 2021, Bousman said that he and Costas Mandylor had talked about bringing Mark Hoffman back in a future movie. Bousman and the rest of the crew talked a lot about having Tobin Bell play Jigsaw in the movie until the last day of filming. However, they thought that if they brought Bell back, the movie would feel more like the ninth installment of the Saw series than like a separate movie, which is what it was meant to be. Since Jigsaw died in the third movie, Bousman thought that the previous movies did not do Jigsaw justice by using flashbacks to bring him into the story. He didn't want to make the same mistake in Spiral: From the Book of Saw or disrespect Bell's iconic performance. Bousman thought about having Bell sing a Johnny Cash cover during the ending sequence of Spiral, but he decided against it because he thought it was too gimmicky.

Tobin Bell didn't appear in Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) for whatever reason.



Tobin Bell didn't play Jigsaw in Spiral (2021), making it the first Saw film without him.

Despite discussions occurring after the first test screening and throughout post-production, Stolberg stated in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that Jigsaw was never included in any draft for the screenplay of Spiral because they felt that including Jigsaw would change the foundation of the story they were trying to achieve, not to diminish the character but to move the franchise in a new direction. Because of the franchise's timeline, Stolberg and Goldfinger proposed an after-credits sequence in which Kramer met a young Schenk after the murder of the latter's father and bonded with him, maybe giving him the puppet he later uses as the Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) Killer.

As the film's murderer is a Jigsaw copycat, Billy the Puppet was substituted with Mr. Snuggles so the new killer couldn't be compared to the original. Reusing Bell's voice for Mr. Snuggles could have created questions about the relationship between both killers; an early draft featured Jigsaw's voice only to be revealed a digitally altered version of his voice; the story originally had all the speeches as past recordings of Jigsaw's voice using words in a different order to show that the Spiral (2021) Killer had digitally rearranged the words. Filmmakers tried to replicate Bell's lethal voice. Bousman tried several women's, children's, and men's voices before choosing the computer-generated voice. Two days before the sound mix, the final voice was chosen.

Take a look behind the scenes of Spiral.



The film officially began pre-production on May 16, 2019. Former series director Darren Lynn Bousman will direct the feature, which will be produced by Burg and Koules. In addition to developing the plot proposal, Rock was engaged as an executive producer.

James Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Daniel Heffner, who made the original Saw, are now executive producers for Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger were confirmed as screenwriters.

Rock said that he's been a fan of Saw since the original film came out in 2004 when the news was made official. To him, this was a chance to push the boundaries of what was possible.

After refusing to make another Saw film when Saw IV, Bousman turned down the opportunity to helm a Broadway production in New York City after Rock insisted on directing the picture.

Burg and Koules stated Rock's Saw treatment was like Eddie Murphy's in 48 Hrs., giving the series a unique viewpoint. Bousman said that compared to previous entries, Spiral: From the Book of Saw has less violence and gore. He said that gore and violence were his gimmick when he began working on the Saw films, but that these components now serve the plot, which focuses more on character, suspense, and terror.

Stolberg also indicated that the ninth film would be part of the same canon as the previous eight and will neither be a reboot or a straight sequel to Jigsaw.

Options for roles in the Spiral production



Detective Zeke Banks was played by Rock. Rock, Stolberg, and Goldfinger came up with the idea for the character during conversations they had before writing the screenplay. Rock wondered what he would do if he were the original Saw protagonist, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, and had to cut off his own foot. They thought it would be interesting for Rock to play a cop who is looked down upon by his fellow officers.

When Samuel L. Jackson was asked to portray the role of Chief Marcus Banks in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, he decided to take on the role since it was something new for him to do. Even though the part was initially intended for a man, filmmakers decided to cast Marisol Nichols as Captain Angie Garza instead. Nichols, a huge admirer of the Saw movies, only saw David Fincher's Seven in preparation for the role. Patrick McManus initially auditioned for the part of Detective Marv Bozwick, but was called back to portray Peter Dunleavy while Dan Petronijevic was cast as Bozwick in the film.

Max Minghella, a lover of horror and buddy-cop films, took on the part of William Schenk / The Spiral (2021) Killer because he wanted to feature in a movie with straightforward story-telling like 48 Hrs. and Saw.

How was the experience of shooting Spiral?



The main filming started on July 8, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario. The working title was The Organ Donor, and Jordan Oram was the cinematographer. It was announced that Rock, Jackson, Minghella, and Nichols would be in the movie. Joe Drake, the CEO of Lionsgate, said that Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols would make this film unique in the Saw series, and they couldn't wait to show fans of this franchise this unexpected and scary new story. This was the next level of Saw playing at full speed. Rock had made changes to the script on set and rewrote the scene where his character first appears. Bousman says that a scene with a trap had to be taken out of the movie because it was too scary.

The last day of shooting was on August 28, 2019, bringing an end to production. Dev Singh was in charge of the editing work that was done in post-production.

How did Spiral (2021) get sold?



The film was titled The Organ Donor until January 22, 2020, when the name Spiral (2021) and the Canadian distributor were disclosed. The first poster and trailer for Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) were published on February 5, 2020.

Spiral (2021) came out in theaters and on streaming services.



Spiral: From the Book of Saw, a film distributed by Lionsgate Films in the United States, was slated for release on October 23, 2020. The date was pushed forward in July 2019 to May 15, 2020. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's release date was pushed back to May 21, 2021, displacing John Wick: Chapter 4. Later, it was rescheduled for a week-earlier release on May 14, 2021, when cinemas resumed operations.

Lionsgate announced on May 25th, 2021, that Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) will be available exclusively on Starz beginning October 8th, 2021. Canada's PVOD service launched Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) on June 1, 2021.

What was the rating for Spiral: From the Book of Saw?



When the Motion Picture Association gave the picture an NC-17 classification 11 times, director Darren Lynn Bousman ultimately trimmed enough sequences to achieve a R rating.

How much did Spiral (2021) earn?



Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) has grossed $40.6 million globally as of March 3, 2022, including $23.2 million in the United States and Canada and $17.3 million in other regions.

In the U.S. and Canada, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) opened with Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You and was expected to earn $10–15 million from 2,811 theaters. The picture generated $3.7 million on first day (including $750,000 from Thursday night screenings), dropping forecasts to $9 million. It topped the box office (the sixth time for the series), but had the lowest opening weekend of the franchise. Audiences were 56% male and 75% under 35, with favorable responses more common on the East Coast. The next weekend, it dropped 48% to $4.6 million.

What did people who review movies say about Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)?



Film critics praised Spiral for its attempts to change up the formula of the franchise, but ultimately said that it does not succeed in providing Saw with the significant boost it required to regain relevance.

On Rotten Tomatoes, a website that collects reviews, 37 percent of the 221 reviews are positive, giving the movie an average rating of 5.1/10. The general opinion of the site's critics was that Spiral (2021) suggests an interesting new direction for the Saw series, even though the gory whole is not as good as its parts.

According to Metacritic, which uses a weighted average of 33 reviewers, the film received a score of 40 out of 100.

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore awarded the picture an average grade of B- on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak claimed 63 percent of audience members gave it a good review, with 43 percent indicating they would definitely recommend it.

According to one reviewer, the film has an unexpected twist or two, but given that it's a thriller about police immorality, it approaches the subject in an oddly offtopic, even garishly generic manner.

A separate film reviewer said the script captures the grizzled-cop-movie tone and sketches interesting characters, but the narrative is repetitive, the mystery is hopelessly foreseeable, and the inventive deaths are fewer than before. Spiral traded fun for respectability and didn't accomplish either.

Many film reviews thought Spiral: From the Book of Saw to be a truly scary, albeit unevenly paced, detective thriller, but criticized its writing for failing to communicate the father-and-son bond of its key protagonists.

Some film critics praised the acting and Spiral (2021)'s straightforward but compelling premise, but they also commented on the voice of the mysterious killer, saying that he sounded like Kermit the Frog, and they stated that for this movie's real audience, the screams and the gore aren't things that need to be endured. [Citation needed] They are the primary selling point.

A film reviewer awarded the film one star out of five and criticized its finale, noting that he believed it was hurried and half-assed and clumsily written and worst of all progressively uninteresting. He completed his evaluation by proclaiming game over.

In a one-and-a-half-star review, another reviewer criticized the film's tone and Darren Lynn Bousman's directing, calling it "illegible" for its lack of suspense, plotline, and plot advancement.

Another reviewer enjoyed the opening sequence but called the film's concept dishonest and fear-mongering. This flick isn't as brilliant as Jigsaw's easy puzzles.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is a sequel that intends to attract Saw enthusiasts and mainstream viewers both, but Spiral: From the Book of Saw: From the Book of Saw is likely to turn them both away, therefore one film reviewer rated the movie just three out of ten possible points and gave it a score of three. It is a poor facsimile of the series since it is unable to live up to even its most fundamental requirements in terms of presentation and story. It is also a lousy picture in general, and it attempts to present a narrative that is socially important but it isn't able to manage it very well. In addition, he critiqued the movie for its lack of connection to the Saw franchise. He said that Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is "barely" a Saw movie since it only delivers momentarily on the "visceral pleasure of mutilation" and does not adhere to any of the other concepts of the Saw series. Additionally, it is the most artless and tactless form of what it plays like instead, which is an unaired pilot episode for a generic police procedural.

Spiral (2021) by Decker Shado. Chris Rock's newest Saw film, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), came released in 2021. After an SUMMER OF SAW, you should know the drill: a murderer is on the run who doesn't kill his target but rather tests them with innovative and unsettling machines. That's the idea. The mechanism and objective of many of these traps leave much to be desired. His video explains more.



According to the opinion of one more film critic, the idea does not go to waste in this case. However, what the franchise really needs is not an innovative twist on anything. After a promising start, the film just becomes a pretty okay Saw movie with some bigger names than usual; one whose jaundiced lighting and procedural storytelling recall David Fincher's Se7en the most. The involvement of Rock in Spiral (2021) brings some new blood to the project, but after that, the movie just becomes a pretty okay Saw movie. Consider the game to be over if the objective was to determine whether or not a new perspective on a long-running series could survive being hacked and diced by the sequel machine.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw blunders through its central mystery without grace, style, or even much thought, according to a film critic. Even the death traps are unimaginative. He acknowledged the film's potential, stating that the most frustrating aspect of Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) is that there is a better, smarter film underneath all of the nonsense. There are far too many quick cuts and scene transitions. The grating dialogue, which is shouted at full volume, is irritating. Spiral is ultimately a film about corrupt, even murderous cops who face a reckoning, and that kind of material has the potential to be both subversive and timely for a Hollywood film, but it's been said that Spiral: From the Book of Saw is almost maddening in how little it seems to care about any of this. It only wants to bleed a lot, which it does.

Will there be another game in the Spiral (2021) series?



In April 2021, Twisted Pictures announced production on Saw X. Bousman said the news startled him and the film's producers. He claimed that making Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) doesn't imply Saw is over. Spiral (2021) doesn't mean Saw IX won't happen. Not the ninth Saw film. A Saw IX might follow Jigsaw. I suppose they're waiting to see how Spiral does and how viewers react. Josh Stolberg said the script was done in December.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) TV series?



Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs announced in an April 2021 interview with Deadline Hollywood that Lionsgate TV is in early talks to develop a television series based on Spiral alongside Mark Burg and Oren Koules' Twisted Television productions.

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