Spiral: From the Book of Saw
A new game begins.
Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran, brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
Why watch Spiral: From the Book of Saw
Chris Rock trades comedy for genuine menace in this twisted procedural that proves the Saw franchise still has fresh kills left in it. Rock's Detective Banks is a sharp-tongued cop unraveling a serial killer's puzzle box of a case, and watching him navigate genuine dread—no punchlines, no safety net—creates an unsettling friction that elevates the whole enterprise. Samuel L. Jackson as his weathered superior officer grounds the chaos with gravitas.
The film moves with the propulsive logic of a prestige crime thriller (think Zodiac's obsessive atmosphere) while maintaining the franchise's signature torture-puzzle architecture. Director Darren Lynn Bousman keeps the pacing taut and the production design claustrophobic—every grimy precinct hallway and crime scene hums with dread. It's lean at 93 minutes, never dawdling, which makes the reveals land harder.
This is for viewers who want their horror smart and their mysteries genuinely knotty, not jump-scare dependent. You'll spend the runtime hunting for logic in the killer's game, second-guessing every partner and superior, and wrestling with questions the film deliberately leaves unresolved. By the finale, you'll be desperate to untangle what you've just witnessed—and the twist will have you immediately theorizing about what comes next.
— The What2Watch desk · US
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The story
Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran, brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
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Reviews & ratings
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com When it comes to horror, I'm always willing to give any film a shot, even when everything indicates it's probably going to be a massive failure. I'm admittedly not a SAW fanatic, despite quite enjoying the first two movies. After these, I can't even remember which installments I actually watched or not. Not even the m…Show more
The latest entry into the Saw series has a couple okay moments but otherwise this was pretty bad. The acting was probably the worst culprit, chiefly Chris Rock who sprinkles in his comedic rants while Samuel L. Jackson phones it in, not that he's given a whole lot to work with (including a hilariously bad fake mustache for a flashback scene). It's also really predictable as I called who the killer was early on. I'…Show more
Chris Rock acting like Chris Rock with a daddy Samuel l Jackson acting like Samuel l Jackson in a weird twist of a movie that felt like a small short story in the saw series. It's not a bad movie but there's a few things that it lacked including more blood being spilled and more inventive traps. It kind of became more about the characters and less about what the spiral was trying to do which was copy jigsaw.
It was bad. The writing is bad. It could be better tho. Actors are not so great either. I don't know if it's just me or Chris Rock is not really suitable for his character. I just want to say kudos to the cinematographers. Love the cinematography of this film and editors as well!
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