Did you really think Hollywood could stay away from a successful franchise? Despite 2010’s seventh Saw film being sub-titled The Final Chapter (or Saw 3D in some cases, as if to highlight how oddly long ago 2010 feels), we all knew the franchise would likely make a swift return.
The Final Chapter made $136 million on just a $17 million budget, that’s easy money that Hollywood doesn’t leave on the table.
The eighth instalment of the series has been in development for a while but very little has been revealed, until now. It was being produced under the working title, Saw: Legacy, but the film will now be simply titled Jigsaw. Jigsaw is of course the villainous mastermind of the series, but interestingly was also the original title of James Wan and Leigh Whannel‘s Saw.
The announcement of the new title also came with a new synopsis: “Bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one man: John Kramer. But how can this be? The man known as Jigsaw has been dead for over a decade. Or has an apprentice picked up the mantle of Jigsaw, perhaps even someone inside the investigation?”
Whether audiences are interested in another Saw instalment is up for debate, as the torture porn genre that Saw was often at the forefront of has dried up in recent years. All we can hope for is an interesting, scary film that doesn’t simply feel like a rehash of the previous seven.
Fortunately, the film will be directed by Peter and Michael Spierig, the duo behind the excellent Predestination, and co-written by original directors Wan and Whannel alongside Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg.
Will Jigsaw ensnarl audiences in its traps and successfully update the franchise for an inevitable new set of films? We’ll find out Friday, October 27.
#Peace.Love.Jigsaw
