How Chris Rock restored Saw’s edge
After years of diminishing returns, the horror franchise finds an unlikely saviour
A FUNERAL MIGHT have made more sense. But in fact, the story behind the latest instalment in a grisly horror franchise began at a wedding. After the nuptials of a friend, comedian Chris Rock spotted the head of Lionsgate — the studio which owns the Saw films — and spied an opportunity to offer his two cents on the series. “Chris is like, ‘If Saw had had a joke or two, it would have landed much, much better,’” says director Darren Lynn Bousman, as it was told to him. “‘Add a joke and you got yourself a bigger hit than you already have!’ So it started there.”
This chance encounter led to Spiral: From The Book Of Saw: a fresh revival of a horror series that had been written off. After 16 years of increasingly silly torture porn — including six sequels in as many years, plus the now very incorrectly titled Saw: The Final Chapter — the series gets a full reboot treatment. And Rock is spearheading it, the latest comedian — after Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Danny Mcbride (Halloween) — to move into full-blown scaremongering.
“It’s completely Chris’ idea,” says Bousman, the director who oversaw the franchise between Saw II, III and IV, and who is returning to direct Spiral: From The Book Of Saw. Even Bousman admits that the series had become formulaic. “One main reason I left the Saw franchise is that it was such a well-oiled machine,” he says. “I felt like I could have stepped outside and the movies still would have continued. It stopped being a challenge to me. It was such a juggernaut.”
With Rock on board, that’s all changed. “Chris came in with a thriller concept,” Bousman says. “He pitched this very elaborate, dense idea. We wanted it to feel much more like Seven. But it has so many ties to the mythos of Saw.” The script was written by series regulars Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger, but Rock, with an executive producer credit, took a hands-on role, spending “days and days in a hotel” with the filmmakers, “combing through every line and making it better”.
Rock also lends the normally B-movie-esque franchise some A-list shine, taking the lead role as Detective Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Banks, investigating a series of grisly cop killings with his partner Detective William Schenk (played by The Handmaid’s Tale star Max Minghella) — and Samuel L. Jackson also stars, as the father of Rock’s character. “Pardon my language, but he’s a badass motherfucker,” notes Bousman of Jackson. “He stepped on set and he was bigger than life. His presence is so big and intense. He knew the world he was playing in. He had fun with it.”
Rock had fun with it, too, keeping true to his original idea that a lighter touch was needed. But while Spiral will have “outrageously hilarious” moments, Bousman says, it’s not a comedy. Rock was keen to stay faithful to the saga’s intense vibe. “Chris is the real deal,” he says. “He not only got the genre, he was kind of an expert in it. He would make these obscure references and I’d be like, ‘How the fuck do you know that?’”
Ultimately Rock wanted to move away from the B-movie cheapness. There will still be the bloodshed, but it’s no longer torture for torture’s sake. “I was a younger person, making [the earlier Saw films],” Bousman says. “Gore and violence was the gimmick, I think. Gore and violence is no longer a gimmick — it just serves the story. This is much more about character, tension and fear.” Get ready to play a different kind of game.
SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW IS IN CINEMAS FROM 21 MAY