By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) — The blood flood continues in the predictably gruesome horror sequel “Saw VI” (Lionsgate), director Kevin Greutert’s needless extension of a noisome franchise.
This attempt at social relevance would be laughable if the results were not so grisly.
The latest victims in the sadistic life-or-death games initiated by the deceased psychopath Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), and now being secretly carried on by police detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) — even as he pretends to investigate the crimes — include two predatory real estate lenders and William (Peter Outerbridge), a coldhearted health insurance executive.
For the bulk of the 90-minute running time, we witness William enduring a gauntlet of torturous tests by which his bones are crushed, his hands mangled and his body scalded. In between, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan’s script resurrects Jigsaw via a series of flashbacks and at least one hallucination so he can engage in ponderous moral mutterings about teaching people to value life by forcing them to confront death.
But such philosophical window dressing can hardly disguise the true nature of this callous descent into gratuitous cruelty.
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Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
The film contains pervasive gory violence, including graphic torture and mutilation, a half-dozen profanities, at least 40 uses of the F-word, and some crude and crass language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
