Lionsgate releases the seventh and allegedly final installment in the popular torture porn franchise – which, they promise, saves the best for last. Tobin Bell is back as Jigsaw, along with Cary Elwes, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flaner, Gina Holden, and Tanedra Howard. Kevin Greutert directs from a screenplay by Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton.
Last year, SAW VI underperformed, perhaps because Paramount’s release of the indie horror hit PARANORMAL ACTIVITY offered audiences a welcome change of pace in the horror genre. This year, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 is hitting theatres on October 29; SAW 3-D will arrive one week sooner.
Release date: October 29.
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Tag: SAW 3-D
Saw franchise ending?
Scott Bowles of USA TODAY reports that the upcoming SAW 3-D, scheduled for release on October 29, will be the last installment in the popular torture porn franchise. The official announcement is supposed to come Friday, when the film’s producers and series star Tobin Bell screen footage at Comic-Con in San Diego.
“It’s time to stop,” says Oren Koules, a producer on all the SAW movies. “We have told the story we wanted to tell, and this is going to be a great farewell.”
SAW 3-D promises nearly double the usual number of booby-traps, lovingly offered in 3-D. It took six passes through the MPAA’s ratings board to get an NC-17 trimmed down to an R. No doubt gore fans will buy tickets anyway, then shell out for the unrated cut on DVD and Blu-ray six weeks later.
An equally important factor in announcing the end of the franchise has to be SAW VI, which earned only $28-million last year, indicating a waning interest in the antics of the serial killer Jigsaw and the acolytes who have continued his work since his demise. Of course, if SAW 3-D reverse the box office fortunes, it be that the reports of the franchise’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Don’t be surprised to hear announcements of SAW VIII: A NEW BEGINNING.
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