Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) on Netflix
Detective Zeke Banks is distrusted by his fellow officers, and his new partner is a rookie, William Schenk. A killing that recalls the Jigsaw Killer's work becomes their case.
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- IMDb5.2/1078,729 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes37%
Trailer
Plot summary
Detective Marv Bozwick, off duty at a Fourth of July parade, chases a thief into a drain pipe and is attacked from behind by a figure in a pig mask. He wakes suspended by his tongue in a subway tunnel, where a recorded message gives him a choice between tearing out his tongue and waiting for the next train. The next day, Captain Angie Garza gives Detective Zeke Banks a rookie partner, William Schenk. Banks works among colleagues who distrust him, in part because a fellow detective once ignored his call for backup and Banks nearly died. The case the pair takes up follows the methods of the now dead Jigsaw Killer.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tobin Bell, who had played John Kramer / Jigsaw in every previous Saw film, did not return for Spiral, making it the first film in the franchise in which Bell and the Jigsaw character appear only in photographs.
- Director Darren Lynn Bousman considered having Tobin Bell sing a Johnny Cash cover during the ending of Spiral. Bell recorded the cover, but Bousman dropped the idea as too gimmicky.
- According to director Darren Lynn Bousman, Spiral was handed an NC-17 rating by the Motion Picture Association 11 times before the filmmakers cut enough scenes to earn an R rating.
- Marisol Nichols was cast as Captain Angie Garza, a role originally written for a male actor. Though a Saw fan, Nichols skipped the earlier films and watched David Fincher's Seven instead to prepare.
- The filmmakers struggled to find a new voice for the killer to replace Tobin Bell's, testing numerous voices of women, children and men before settling on the computer-generated voice heard in the film only two days before finishing the sound mix.
- Chris Rock rewrote the script while on set and completely overhauled the introduction scene for his character, Detective Zeke Banks.
- Producer Mark Burg acknowledged in 2023 that the reception of Spiral led him and Oren Koules to go back to the Saw sequel they had put on hold for Spiral, which became Saw X.
