Every Saw Movie Ranked Worst To Best

6. Spiral: From The Book Of Saw

Saw III
Lionsgate

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a strange ol' movie.

On one hand, there was plentiful excitement ahead of Spiral's release, with Saw II, III, and IV director Darren Lynn Bousman returning to the franchise, and the promise of a new direction for a series that had clearly long become stale by this point. With Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson announced to lead the charge as father and son, hope was high for this one.

Spiral was just about okay, and part of the problem with the feature was how it still felt a little too bogged down by the traditional tropes of the franchise. It was trying to present itself as new and fresh, yet couldn't fully be new and fresh due to how much it fell back on the familiar clichés of the series.

For once, though, we didn't have Jigsaw or one of his apprentices at play, and instead the villain here was a Jigsaw copycat as Spiral brought an element of whodunnit mystery to the table. That mystery had Rock's Zeke Banks as a detective who has plentiful ties to the victims of his new killer, which in turn frames him as a prime suspect.

While the setup of Spiral largely works, the big reveal sadly falls flat and is almost comedic at times as we see Banks' rookie partner Schenk revealed as this new Jigsaw. Also, the underutilisation of Samuel L. Jackson in Spiral is borderline criminal in and of itself.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.