Fridae

Moviegoers who keep up with this horror series must be wondering, why is there Saw IV when the principal villain Jigsaw died in Saw III? The answer is: Don't forget the prequel.

Saw IV is partly a prequel, showing in flashbacks how an ordinary man with an ordinary job and an ordinary name of John transformed into a bloodthirsty serial killer with an extraordinarily sick imagination and an ingeniously playful name of Jigsaw.

John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is a simple real estate developer until his lover (Betsy Russell) suffers a tragedy in the hands of an idiotic junkie. Unable to shake off his sorrow, John gradually turns into an avenging angel who is intent on not just killing people, but making them see the error of their ways before he kills them.

Indeed, there is some satisfaction to be found from witnessing his transformation. After all, one of the major strengths of the Saw movies has always been that its characters were more credible and three-dimensional that your average horror movie.

The other major strength is the baroque complexity of the Jigsaw's killing methods and torture devices, which Saw IV exploits to some degree. So for those who can't get enough of Jigsaw's bloodcurdling shenanigans, this is the movie to see.