Saw 3D
Saw 3D is a 2010 American 3D horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. A sequel to Saw VI and the seventh installment in the Saw film series, it stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Cary Elwes.
The plot follows author Bobby Dagen, who, after falsely claiming to be a survivor of one of the games perpetrated by the Jigsaw Killer in order to become a local celebrity, finds himself part of a real game where he must save his wife. Meanwhile, John Kramer's ex-wife Jill Tuck informs internal affairs that rogue detective Mark Hoffman is the man responsible for the recent Jigsaw games.
Two sequels to Saw VI were originally planned, but due to the decline in box office success for the film, Saw 3D was instead made as the final installment in the series. The plot for the originally planned Saw VIII was instead included in Saw 3D. David Hackl, director of Saw V, was originally set to direct Saw 3D, but two weeks before filming, Greutert, who previously directed Saw VI, took over. The film was shot in Toronto, Ontario from February to April 2010 and was filmed in RealD 3D.
The film opened on October 29, 2010 in the United States and Canada. It received largely negative reviews, but was a box office success, grossing $136.2 million worldwide. It was followed by an eighth film, Jigsaw, in 2017.
Plot
Dr. Lawrence Gordon is revealed to have survived the bathroom trap years earlier, using a steam pipe to cauterize his ankle nub after escaping. Some time later, another game takes place in a home improvement storefront at a shopping center. Brad and Ryan are chained to opposite sides of a worktable secured to a sliding carriage with power saws while their mutual lover Dina is suspended above a third saw. The men have 60 seconds to shove the saws into their opponent to save Dina, who had manipulated both of them into fulfilling her needs by committing crimes. Realizing her betrayal, Ryan and Brad reach a truce and allow Dina to be bisected. Meanwhile, Jill Tuck witnesses Mark Hoffman's escape from his trap and seeks help from internal affairs detective Matt Gibson; she offers to incriminate Hoffman in exchange for protection and immunity.Meanwhile, Hoffman abducts a gang of white supremacists and places them in a trap at an abandoned junkyard that kills all of them. He also abducts Bobby Dagen, a self-help guru who achieved fame and fortune by fabricating a story of his own survival of a Jigsaw trap. Bobby awakens in an abandoned psychiatric hospital and is informed that he has one hour to save his wife, Joyce, who is chained to a steel platform that gradually pulls her down as she watches Bobby's progress. After escaping from a cage hanging over a floor of spikes, Bobby navigates his way through the asylum, attempting to complete his other tests and to rescue Nina, his publicist; Suzanne, his lawyer; and Cale, his best friend, all of whom knew about Bobby's lies and aided him in fabricating his story. Despite his efforts, all of them are killed in their respective traps. Bobby reunites with Joyce after pulling out two of his own teeth to obtain the combination for the lock on the door to her room. Gibson discovers the location of Bobby's game and sends a SWAT team, who are sealed in another room and killed by toxic gas.
Finding Hoffman's command center, Gibson realizes that he gained access to the police station during the games, having been brought into the morgue in a body bag with the intention of finding Jill. Before Gibson can warn the station, he and the officers accompanying him are killed by an automatic turret gun. Hoffman infiltrates the police station, killing everyone in his path.
For his final test, Bobby must re-enact the test he claimed to have survived, by driving two hooks through his pectoral muscles and hoisting himself above the ceiling to deactivate Joyce's trap, but the hooks tear through his flesh and he falls to the floor. The timer then goes off, causing a capsule resembling a brazen bull to close around Joyce and incinerate her.
After reaching Jill and executing her with the original reverse bear trap, Hoffman destroys his workshop and begins to leave town but is subdued by three pig-masked figures. The leader reveals himself to be Dr. Gordon, who became Jigsaw's apprentice after surviving his test. Fulfilling a request from John to take immediate action if Jill were to be harmed, Gordon shackles Hoffman in the same bathroom where he was tested before throwing away the hacksaw he had used to escape and sealing the door.
Cast
Production
Development
Variety reported in July 2009 that Lionsgate greenlit Saw VII and announced David Hackl would return to direct, his last film being Saw V. Producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, and writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan also returned. Brian Gedge replaced series' cinematographer David A. Armstrong. Pre-production began on September 14, 2009. According to Melton, there were plans to title the film Saw: Endgame. Originally two sequels were planned after the sixth, but in December 2009, Melton stated in a podcast interview with the UK radio station Demon FM that Saw VII was the final installment and would address unanswered questions from previous Saw films, such as the fate of the first film's protagonist Dr. Lawrence Gordon and other John Kramer / Jigsaw survivors from previous films, while bringing a final resolution to the series. The storyline for a Saw VIII was combined into Saw VII; this decision was primarily due to Saw VI below average box office performance. On July 22, 2010, in an interview with USA Today the producers confirmed that Saw VII would officially end the film series. Burg told Reuters that, "In every Saw movie, we left questions open and in Saw VII we answer every question the audience has ever had". He added that, "even new viewers will be able to follow and get caught up to speed". Saw 3D was originally intended to be two separate films. According to Melton and Dunstan, "It was our original intention to make the final Saw in two parts, but when VI didn't do so well, the studio got nervous and we were only allowed to make one more".In January 2010, Kevin Greutert, who made his directorial debut with the sixth film, was about to begin work on Paramount's Paranormal Activity 2 when Twisted Pictures suddenly dismissed Hackl and forced Greutert on the project by exercising a "contractual clause" in his contract, much to Greutert's dismay. When Greutert arrived on set two weeks before filming began, he performed a "compressive re-write" of the script. Melton explained that, "He has a lot of ideas, but it's a bit hard and extreme to implement all of these ideas because sets have been built, people have been cast, props have been bought or created, and with the Saw films they are so specific in set design because of the traps. It becomes very problematic and difficult to change things a whole bunch right in the middle of it".
Casting
Casting began in mid-December 2009. Cary Elwes reprised of the role of Dr. Lawrence Gordon, last seen in the first film. The filmmakers wanted to bring Elwes back earlier, but Elwes wanted to wait until the last film. His character was planned to return by Greutert in Saw VI, but Elwes was unavailable. Elwes described his character as having Stockholm syndrome. Tobin Bell returned once more to reprise his role as John Kramer / Jigsaw, even though he had originally signed on to appear in five Saw sequels as he previously stated prior to the release of Saw III. Chad Donella appeared in the film as Internal Affairs detective Gibson, who was also Detective Hoffman's former partner.Gabby West was cast as Kara after winning the second season of Scream Queens. Tanedra Howard, the previous winner of Scream Queens, who appeared as Simone in Saw VI, reprised her role in the film. Chester Bennington, the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park, has a role in the film playing Evan, a white power skinhead. Bennington met with an acting coach to prepare for his role. He said, "It was actually a little more difficult than I expected because it took a lot for me to figure out how to portray this guy and what exactly his motives were going to be throughout. I thought maybe I was overthinking it, and I met with this really great acting coach who helped me walk through and make sense of the, 'Motivation' ". Devon Bostick was offered to reprise his role as Brent Abbott from Saw VI, but turned the offer down due to scheduling conflicts with Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Filming in 3D
Saw 3D was shot entirely in RealD 3D, using the SI-3D digital camera system, rather than filming on set traditionally and later transferring the footage to 3D. Before choosing 3D, Burg and others viewed a minute of the original Saw film rendered in 3D and were pleased, which led to them choosing 3D for the seventh film. The sets and traps were designed to take advantage of 3D. To continue the fast pace of the previous films, the SI-3D cameras' light weight allowed three-quarters of film to be shot handheld. Saw 3D was Greutert's first time directing a 3D film. He said in an interview with Popular Mechanics that composing a shot in 3D was tricky compared to 2D; he explained, "If you've got both cameras looking at a subject and there's a very bright sheen on the side of the person's arm that only one camera can see, there's a good chance that when you look at a composite of the two images that sheen will not register in 3D space. It looks like a mistake. These things aren't an issue at all in 2D but in 3D are obsessively problematic". Given the cost of filming in 3D, Greutert said the budget was $17 million, the most expensive of the series up to that point. Principal photography began on February 8, 2010, in Toronto, Ontario, and wrapped on April 12, 2010. Filming took place mostly at Toronto's Cinespace Film Studios.When determining the style of 3D shooting they wanted to use, Burg felt that the audience would want several moments where objects move into the audience, comparing this to My Bloody Valentine 3D. He acknowledged that this method would be used, but expressed an interest in shooting from the victim's perspective, similar to that of first-person shooter video games being rendered in 3D. Dunstan added that "It adds a whole new layer of discipline and criteria to creating these moments. We've had a very flat surface to try to get a reaction out of you. Now, we get to push out a bit and envelop the viewer, still maintaining the patterns that have worked and been successful, but also to raise it up a notch." Commenting on the change to filming in 3D, Bell stated it would not affect his performance or methods of acting, noting that it would be an "interesting experience". Mandylor called the 3D shoot "more tedious and longer". Flannery described the 3D aspect as being " shot in 3D so that you can, per se, see blood coming directly at you. It's in 3D for the texture and the depth, for the architecture, to get a sense that you're in the scene but there's no 'we want to see blood coming at the lens' it's nothing like that. But I think we made a good movie." Post-production services were provided by Deluxe Media.