Spiral: From the book of SAW: Neon NZ Film Review

How do you revitalise a franchise like Saw, which had become so reliant on everyone knowing everything about Jigsaw and so convoluted in its own gruesome mythology?

The answer, so Hollywood would have you believe, is engage someone like Chris Rock and start up a new series that has nods to the originals but goes its own way, as a police procedural, mixed with whodunit elements and horror.

Only Spiral: From The Book of Saw is such a stultifyingly awful effort that it would be better if it had succumbed to one of Jigsaw's traps and been killed off immediately.

Rock stars as Detective Zeke Banks, a cop who's angered most of his precinct by doing the right thing in the past, and is alienated from them, and living in the shadow of his father (Jackson) who used to be the department head. When a killer appears during a heatwave (yes, we get the lacklustre nod to the Summer of Sam) who appears to be targeting cops, Zeke is partnered with rookie cop William Schenk (Minghella) despite his protestations.

But as the duo begin to investigate the killer who uses a pig masked doll (Pig-saw, anyone) for his perverted attempts at redemption, Zeke begins to feel the case is a too close to home...

Spiral: From The Book of Saw begins with a decent enough declaration of intent and gore, but quickly follows up with Rock's character delivering what feels like a Chris Rock comedy routine, and which punctures any sense of character or form that's hoping to bubble up. It may be an attempt to puncture the gravity of what's going on, but it heartily distracts from events.

With its mix of NYPD Blue shaky cam, and spiralling circling each time a trap is set and a victim caught within, the movie's ethos takes a bit of adjusting to, and often feels like style over any kind of substance.

It helps little the characters within are largely lightly sketched, that the twist can be seen a mile off, and that the political story of a police department that's corrupt could have been so timely but somehow manages to feel so cliche. Even elements of Se7en rear their head in what could clearly be an homage, if it wasn't surrounded by anything original.

If Spiral: From The Book of Saw deserves to be commended for anything, it's a return to the torture porn genre it patented, as some of the executions are grisly and push it as far as it can go. But there's little else to compliment the film for - its ending is abrupt and feels simply like unwarranted sequel bait.

Sure, there's a nod to the infamous moment from Saw, but thanks to a narrative that's largely full of loathsome characters, this attempt to "play a game with you" is a joke too far on the audience, and a kick in the teeth of any new potential franchise.