"...the premise of the second is hackneyed, its acting weak, its score thudding and its direction and production values low rent" Laura Clifford REELING REVIEWS "Essentially, this is one more movie that, regardless of its setting or even planet, exists to knock off its cast members one by one." Mike Clark USA TODAY "The film's one-note dialogue, insufferable characters and lack of scares make Saw II just a tedious exercise in explicit violence." Timothy Knight REEL.COM "Think gore, gore and more gore. That's all the filmmakers can deliver from a concept that's already broken its teeth." Jackie Loohauis MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL "As it was in the first Saw, audiences are faced with insane leaps in logic that sabotage the last part of the film." Peter Hartlaub SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "Cooking up new Rube Goldberg torture contraptions isn't enough to get Saw II out of the shadow of its unnerving predecessor." Robert Koehler VARIETY

"You'll be hard-pressed to find a shred of the perverse ingenuity that made Saw so effectively unnerving." Jeff Shannon SEATTLE TIMES "A seriously nasty opening and clever ending can’t make up for what feels like wasted celluloid in the second act, sadly. Saw had the makings of a decent horror franchise. Maybe they’ll lift their game if given a third chapter… but this Saw feels a bit blunt." Tony O'Connor FILMINK "Unfortunately there isn’t a great deal of the kind of nail-chewing innovation that rumbled through Saw, although the experience this time around remains enjoyably grotesque anyhow." LUKE BUCKMASTER INFILM "Saw II is bound to give fans of the original a real buzz." Alex Sandell JUICY CEREBELLUM "It never really builds much in the way of tension, and its scenes of confrontation are often flabby or predictable: the only energy in the film is around Jigsaw's nasty contraptions, with their fiendish, punitive inevitability." Philippa Hawker THE AGE

The Inside Story Taking on a big budget hasn't had the effect many thought it would have on this sequel to the original serial killer flick "Saw" and it shows. The original just had an air about it. It was fresh, not all that professional, a bit silly, a bit corny and yet for all its faults it gave cinemagoers a real adrenalin rush. When "Saw" did so well overseas everyone assumed that a sequel would have all the hallmarks of a good Hollywood slasher, a 'killa dilla' serial killer flick yet retain that stamp of innocence. If you get what I mean. While this sequel "SAW II" is still worth seeing, its nowhere in the league of the cheapie two young Melbourne filmmakers, Leigh Whannell and James Wan gave us. Hell, the guys were all over that original. At the time I wrote: "Considering the budget they had to work with Wan and Whanell have produced a gritty, terrifying film that will make its mark in a genre which of late has been dominated by big budget production. Cleverly twisted, crude and definately 'sick', "Saw" terrorizes it's audience right from the opening scenes." That is definately not the case with the sequel. And of course I'm not telling you anything you don't already know when I say everyone knows it's a dead set trap [in nearly every case] to even contemplate a sequel to a successful film. No matter how successful it is. But there was hope in the case of "SAW II", after all, the first one had a very small budget by Hollywood standards and except for Danny Glover and Tobin Bell it was pretty much a no-name cast. But if the truth must be known, the reason there was a sequel is because so many people wanted one. We all did. So really, it's our fault. Don't believe me? "Saw was one of those movies where people begged for a sequel because there were so many questions that were left at the end of the film," producer Oren Koules explains . "We were on the fence about whether or not we wanted to do it," adds co-producer Mark Burg. "But we got so many e-mails from people wanting to know what happened with Jigsaw that we couldn’t not do it." Making a sequel would bring changes, including a new Director, Darren Lynn Bousman. How did that come about? It seems that "Bousman was impressed by the camerawork of cinematographer Armstrong and wanted him to collaborate on a SAW-like thriller he had written called "The Desperate", he recalled. "Armstrong was floored by Bousman’s script and rushed it to SAW’s producers, Gregg Hoffman and Oren Koules." And what effect did the script have on the two producers? "We didn’t have any idea this would be a sequel to SAW", says Oren Koules. "But when Gregg pitched it to me on the phone, I listened and I said, That’s SAW II." Having the virtually unknown Bousman at the helm may have proved risky but the producers were convinced he was the man for the job. "We had seen his commercials", Hoffman remembers , "and I thought if we took a chance on James Wan based on an eight-minute teaser he made on his own, then we should take that chance again for the sequel. We absolutely made the right decision." "Darren Bousman is great", producer Mark Burg declared. "He’s slick. He’s smart. And he’s shooting a hell of a movie." Returning for the sequel are some familiar faces or should I say in the case of Jigsaw, an unfamiliar face. Back in that role again is Tobin Bell. "Jigsaw’s mind is perhaps the most complicated and dangerous trap in the movie", Bell says. "Because Jigsaw, in his mind, doesn’t kill people – he leaves all of the decisions up to them. He believes that people don’t appreciate their lives, and they can only learn to appreciate their lives by being forced to fight for survival." Another familiar face is that of Shawnee Smith who returns as Amanda. When it comes to "Saw", Smith said; "It’s become a phenomenon, and I really love working with the production company and the producers. When they asked me to do the second one, I was thrilled – even though I still don’t like to be scared." Also returning for the sequel is Dina Meyer as Kerry, the "intrepid police detective determined to find the man responsible for the jigsaw murders." With Danny Glover and Ken Leung bumped off in the first edition Donnie Wahlberg [yes, he's the brother of "Four Brothers" star Mark Wahlberg] was given the task of playing Det Eric Mathews. "Donnie was amazing from the beginning" says an enthusiastic Bousman. "He came right to the table with ideas, and it was great being able to go through the script with him and have him say "Hey, what if we tried this?" Everything from specific lines to the color of his tie. And the ideas were always right on." Not surprisingly, Wahlberg and his son were big fans of the original. "The first movie had a lot of balls", the actor says. "For a million dollar budget, they got a lot done, and it really surprised people. They’ve reinvented the genre a little bit, and I think that’s very inspiring." So will you be on the edge of your seat? Will you have the crap scared out of you? Director Bousman says "This is the kind of movie that will scare people even though it's not about blood and violence. Yes, we have plenty of blood and violence in this movie; but I think the characters and the story are compelling in their own right." And what about the comparrisons with the original? I mean, come on, we're all going to make them, right? Bousman says he "is bracing himself for the inevitable comparisons to the first SAW" but quickly adds, "We've got a couple of tricks up our sleeve that are going to leave the audience the same way. They’re really going to dig it". Cast & Crew Bytes "SAW II" was .......
directed by Darren Lynn Bousman ["Butterfly Dreams" and "Identity Lost"]; written by Darren Lynn Bousman ["Butterfly Dreams" and "Identity Lost"] and Leigh Whannell ["Saw"]; costume design by Alex Kavanagh ["The Undertaker's Wedding", "The Wishing Tree", "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and "George A Romero's Land of the Dead"]; edited by Kevin Greutert ["The Shot", "Love for Love", "Saw" and "Cry for Help"]; cinematography by David A Armstrong ["P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" and "Saw"]; original music by Charlie Clouser ["End of Days", "Saw" and "Deepwater"].
"SAW II" stars .......
Donnie Wahlberg ["Ransom", "Body Count", "The Sixth Sense" and "Dreamcatcher"]; Shawnee Smith ["Leaving Las Vegas", "Dead Men Can't Dance", "Saw" and "The Island"]; Frankie G ["Manito", "Confidence", "The Italian Job" and "Wonderland"]; Glenn Plummer ["Who's That Girl?", "Frankie and Johnny", "Speed", "The Salton Sea" and "The Day After Tomorrow"]; Dina Meyer ["Johnny Mnemonic", "Starship Troopers", "Star Trek: Nemesis" and "The Storyteller"]; Emmanuelle Vaugier ["Hysteria", "The Fear: Resurrection", "40 Days & 40 Nights" and "Secondhand Lions"]; Beverley Mitchell ["Killing Obsession", "The Crow: City of Angels" and "Mean People Suck"]; Erik Knudsen ["Tribulation"]; Noam Jenkins ["Moving Target", "The Safety Of Objects", "John Q" and "Trouser Accidents"] and Tobin Bell ["Mississippi Burning", "Goodfellas", "In the Line of Fire", "Serial Killer" and "The Killer Next Door"] as Jigsaw. What It's All About Detective Eric Mason has been called to the scene of a hideous murder. The body displays all the signs of someone who has become the victim of the serial killer Jigsaw. The assumption is correct but there is more.Jigsaw has left a message for Mason. Always one step ahead of the game Jigsaw gives himself up. Wheelchair-bound, he is terminally ill with cancer. He wants Mason to watch his latest game of survival, live with him. It's a murderous game. Eight victims breathing a deadly nerve gas, each in a race to find a syringe containing the antidote or a safe way out of the house. But there's a twist. One of the players is Masons son Daniel. On the edge of losing it, Mason is invited by Jigsaw to sit down and talk with him. If he does, his son will turn up in a safe place. Meantime, back in the house, one person has found what he thinks is the key to getting out and he's prepared to murder anyone who gets in the way. The Verdict "In the wash "Saw II" isn't anywhere near as good as the original which had a real freshness about it. It's a hard fact of movie making life that rarely does a sequel work as well as the original did and "Saw II" proves that point. If you saw the original there's no harm done in seeing the sequel, just don't expect a whole lot of inovation. Its pretty predictable this time round. "Saw II" lacks teeth but it's worth a look at." The Cast

Donnie Wahlberg Shawnee Smith Tobin Bell Franky G Glenn Plummer Dina Meyer Emmanuelle Vaugier Beverley Mitchell Erik Knudsen Tim Burd Lyriq Bent Noam Jenkins Tony Nappo John Fallon Ho Chow Kelly Jones

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Eric Matthews Amanda Jigsaw Xavier Jonas Kerry Addison Laura Daniel Obi Rigg Michael Gus Video Techie Security Officer SWAT Member

The Crew Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman Written by Darren Lynn Bousman & Leigh Whannell Produced by Mark Burg/Gregg Hoffman/Oren Koules Original Music by Charlie Clouser Cinematography by David A Armstrong Film Editing by Kevin Greutert Casting by Stephanie Gorin & Amy Lippens Production Design by David Hackl Art Direction by Michele Brady Costume Design by Alex Kavanagh Run Time minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Lions Gate Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved