Jigsaw 2017

The cinematic ride begins with a heart-pumping chase between law enforcement and Edgar Munsen (Josiah Black), a cunning criminal who’s hell-bent on causing chaos. His high-speed pursuit culminates in a dramatic showdown on a rooftop, where Edgar finds himself surrounded by police, his hand grasping the trigger of a device that holds the power to alter the fate of those around him. As Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) arrives on the scene, Edgar presents him with an impossible choice: decide who will meet their maker, or risk being killed himself. The tension is palpable as Halloran hesitates, his gun poised, just as Edgar pulls the trigger. The ensuing chaos sees the police blow off Edgar’s hand and destroy the trigger device, but a sniper’s bullet strikes Edgar in the chest, leaving him weakened and struggling to breathe. As he utters the ominous phrase “the game has begun,” the stage is set for a thrilling ride.

The scene shifts to a dimly lit chamber where five seemingly unrelated individuals - Anna (Laura Vandervoort), Ryan (Paul Braunstein), Mitch (Mandela Van Peebles), Carly (Brittany Allen), and an anonymous fifth participant - are shackled to the wall, their vision obscured by buckets that seem to hold more than just air. A cryptic message from John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) crackles through a recording device, decreeing that survival hinges on the shedding of blood. As the chains begin to tighten, drawing the group inexorably toward the deadly buzz saws embedded in the wall, Anna seizes the initiative, slicing her own arm and freeing herself from her restraints. She implores her companions to follow suit, and though Ryan and Mitch comply, Carly meets a grisly fate at the hands of an unseen force. The fifth individual, oblivious to the impending doom, is brutally silenced as the group’s desperate attempts to escape prove futile.

In a jarring juxtaposition, a jogger stumbles upon a gruesome discovery in a park: a lifeless body suspended from a bridge by the neck, its visage obscured by a bucket. As forensic pathologists Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) and Eleanor Bonneville (Hannah Emily Anderson) begin their gruesome examination at the morgue, Halloran and his partner Hunt (Cle Bennett) arrive, bearing tragic news of their own. The discovery of a severed head and a jigsaw puzzle carved into the victim’s neck serves as a chilling reminder that this is no ordinary crime scene. A small audio file is extracted from the neck, and Kramer’s haunting voice whispers a sinister message: there are now only four left to play out the twisted game.

In this gripping sequence, the four victims find themselves trapped in a rustic barn, their necks still shackled with heavy chains. As they’re inexorably drawn towards an uncertain fate, Mitch’s quick thinking intervenes when he grabs a nearby tape and plays it back, revealing another cryptic message from Kramer. The audio recording reveals that one of the group has been unwittingly injected with a deadly poison, and three syringes lie before them - each containing a distinct substance: the antidote, saline solution, and hydrochloric acid. As Kramer personally addresses one of the group members, it becomes clear that Carly is the culprit responsible for stealing a purse from a woman who later succumbed to an asthma attack while unable to access her inhaler. The number 3.53 on one of the syringes holds a morbid significance, corresponding to the exact amount stolen and the value Kramer places on Carly’s own life.

As the chains continue to pull the group towards their impending doom, Ryan - ever vigilant - urges Carly to take a needle, but she remains frozen in indecision. In a shocking turn of events, Ryan seizes the initiative, plunging all three syringes into Carly’s neck. The sudden release of tension lifts the chains from her neck and those of the others, but it comes at a terrible cost: Carly’s agonizing, bloody, and burning demise.

Meanwhile, Detective Halloran is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery - a woman whose face has been melted away by some unknown agent, lying outside a building. As Logan and Eleanor investigate the body, they’re struck by the familiar shape of another jigsaw puzzle piece missing from her flesh, leaving no doubt as to the culprit behind this latest atrocity: the mastermind known only as Jigsaw.

As the trio of unwitting participants continues to navigate the gruesome game devised by Kramer (the voice on their tapes), they begin to grasp the gravity of their situation. Each individual becomes fixated on unearthing the root cause of their confinement, convinced that their presence is a direct result of some moral transgression or past wrongdoing. Ryan’s litany of confessed misdeeds includes infidelity towards both his primary and secondary partners. Mitch, meanwhile, is wracked with guilt over selling a motorcycle to a young man who ultimately met a tragic demise in a subsequent accident. Anna, haunted by the memory of her baby’s untimely passing, recalls being present during that fateful moment when her husband’s lapse in attention resulted in their child’s suffocation.

As they inch closer to the next stage of Kramer’s twisted experiment, Ryan’s attempt to escape through a door emblazoned with a “no exit” sign is thwarted by his foot getting stuck in razor-sharp wires that tighten around his leg like a vice. In desperation, Anna and Mitch strive to reach a lever that might aid Ryan’s release, only to find themselves trapped in a silo as it begins to fill with an endless torrent of grain. The flow of grain ceases, giving way to a hail of sharp objects – a rake, knives, needles, and buzz saws – which rattle down upon them like a deadly storm.

In a separate thread, Edgar’s medical coma at the hospital comes to an end, but his physical absence goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Suspicion that Jigsaw may still be operational prompts Halloran to order Kramer’s grave exhumed. When authorities lift the coffin lid, they’re met with a gruesome discovery: Edgar’s lifeless form has taken up residence in the open casket.

Meanwhile, Logan encounters Eleanor at a dimly lit bar, where he expresses his distrust of Halloran and speculates that the detective might have deliberately shot Edgar during their initial rooftop confrontation. Later, Eleanor invites Logan to her studio, a veritable museum of gruesome contraptions inspired by Jigsaw’s deadly games. As she confesses her morbid fascination with the serial killer’s work, she also harbors concerns about being inadvertently implicated in the recent murders. Hunt, who has been tracking their movements, snaps incriminating photos and plans to present them as evidence to Halloran – but Logan attempts to persuade him that the true culprit lies not with Jigsaw, but rather within the corrupt ranks of law enforcement.

As Mitch’s ordeal continues at the rustic outbuilding, he’s subjected to a gruesome test of wills. A series of wires suspends him from his foot, slowly drawing him towards a mechanized device designed to render his body into confetti. Meanwhile, Kramer’s sinister tape reveals the shocking truth: the young man he sold the motorcycle to was actually his own nephew, and Mitch’s decision to take possession of the faulty bike knowing the brakes were compromised ultimately led to the nephew’s tragic demise. As Mitch hangs precariously close to the shredding mechanism, Anna’s desperate efforts to intervene prove futile, despite her attempts to stall the machine by disrupting its power source - a revving motorcycle engine. Although she manages to delay the process long enough for Mitch to release himself, the device ultimately regains momentum and reduces him to a pile of bloody scraps.

Anna’s own fate takes a dark turn as she flees through an open door only to be caught in a trap. Her awakening finds her chained to a wall alongside Ryan, whose leg is precariously bound with some sort of makeshift tourniquet. The pair is confronted by their captor, John Kramer, now revealed behind a pig mask. His unmasked visage serves as a stark reminder that these two individuals have both perpetuated horrific deeds. Ryan’s reckless youth led to the tragic demise of his best friend in a fatal car accident, while Anna’s heinous crime involved suffocating her own child and framing her husband for the murder. The guilt-ridden husband would later take his own life in prison.

As Kramer departs, leaving behind a shotgun with a single shell, Anna becomes consumed by a singular desire: to eliminate Ryan from the equation. She seizes the weapon and pulls the trigger, but the gun backfires, splattering her brains across the cold concrete floor. Ryan is left alone, his eyes welling up with tears as he realizes the cruel fate that awaits him - the destroyed key, once hidden in the shotgun’s chamber, now lies beyond his grasp, rendering their chains unbreakable.

Meanwhile, Logan and Eleanor find themselves drawn to the same rustic outbuilding, only to be confronted by Halloran. While Eleanor manages a daring escape, Logan falls prey to an unseen assailant lurking in the shadows.

As reality sets in, Logan and Halloran find themselves trapped in a dimly lit basement, surrounded by an eerie silence. The air is thick with tension as they gaze upon the ominous devices strapped around their necks - sleek contraptions rigged with deadly laser cutters. Two buttons stand before them, tauntingly simple in their brutality: kill or save the other. Halloran takes the first step, his finger hesitating momentarily before he chooses to condemn Logan’s fate. The lasers spring into action, and as the red beams slice through the air, Logan reveals a crushing secret: he was the doctor responsible for mixing up Kramer’s X-rays with those of another patient, potentially dooming Kramer to an untimely demise.

As the lights flicker back to life, Logan lies motionless on the cold floor. Halloran, believing himself free from the torment, is shocked when the lasers suddenly activate around his own device. Panicked and desperate, he pleads for mercy, confessing to a lifetime of letting innocent lives slip away as real criminals walked free. But just as all hope seems lost, Logan stirs back to life, his eyes blazing with a fierce determination.

With a calculated calm, Logan removes the device from around his neck and strides purposefully across the room. A sheet is pulled back, revealing the long-decomposed bodies of Anna and Ryan - haunting reminders of the past. Halloran’s world begins to unravel as he realizes that Logan was the fifth victim in an initial trap, set ten years prior. Kramer, it seems, had spared Logan’s life not out of mercy, but because his mistake had been a simple one. Instead, Kramer took Logan under his wing, mentoring him and guiding him towards a path of vengeance.

As the truth begins to sink in, Halloran’s horror grows. He learns that the identical bodies discovered earlier - those of Carly and Mitch - were not victims at all, but rather criminals he had set free. One such criminal was Edgar, responsible for Logan’s wife’s tragic demise. Eleanor, another individual Halloran had let go, had cleverly established an alibi to avoid suspicion.

With Halloran’s confession recorded, Logan departs the scene, leaving behind a trail of devastation and justice served. As he shuts the door behind him, his parting words echo through the darkness: “I speak for the dead.” The sound of Halloran’s screams and the whirring of the lasers fade into the distance, a grim reminder that some secrets are better left buried.