Synopsis

Jigsaw has disappeared. With his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detectives scramble to locate Jigsaw, Doctor Lynn Denlon a highly talented trauma surgeon working in the city hospital, is unaware that she is about to become a pawn on his vicious chessboard. After finishing a shift at her hospital, Lynn is kidnapped and taken to an abandoned warehouse where she meets Jigsaw who is bedridden and on the verge of death. She is told that she must keep the madman alive for as long as it takes Jeff, another of his victims, to complete a game of his own. Racing against the ticking clock of Jigsaw's own heartbeat, Lynn and Jeff struggle to make it through each of their vicious tests, unaware the evil Jigsaw has a much bigger plan for both of them.

What The Critics Say

"What was once the novel idea of Melbourne film graduates James Wan and Leigh Whannell continues through territory that is all-too familiar. From what the Australian lads have said, this could be their last involvement in the slice-and-dice franchise they created. Which is good news, because by now the whole idea is going from neat to just nauseating." Rod Chester DAILY TELEGRAPH "It induces squirming not because the filmmakers are good at creating suspense, but because they are expert sadists with a $12 million budget." Mark Collette TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH TEXAS "Makes the first two look about as intimidating as a child's six piece jigsaw puzzle. This is for the hardcore horror fan and for the hardcore horror fan only." Alex Sandell JUICY CEREBELLUM "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw. And if it's Saw, it must be God awful." Brian Orndorf DVDTALK.COM "Death traps, exploding heads, mutilated corpses, grisly surgical procedures - it must be time for another "Saw" movie! How "Saw 3" escaped an R rating is perhaps a bigger mystery than any of Jigsaw's elaborate schemes. The blood and gore factor is almost unbearable and the flick takes cinema violence to a new level." Mark Beirne YOURMOVIES

"What started out as a good idea and a pretty scary debut has slowly degenerated into a dull, senseless and to be totally honest, boring franchise. Here's a challenge for the James Wan and Leigh Whannell. If you really believe you have the talent, take on a tough assignment, such as writing a first class comedy. I like many former fans are sick of feeling like I am being bludgeoned around the head by a freshly hacked off leg of lamb. My biggest concern is the inconsistency of the OFLC who must have been off there 'rockers' when they failed to give this an R18+ rating. "Saw III" is like a blunt saw. It just can't cut it anymore. 2 STARS." Richard Surfield THE MOVIE PAGES "Hardcore Saw fans will be more than pleased with this film from its shocking beginning to its explosive ending." Staci Layne Wilson ABOUT.COM "Peddles gruesomeness of a disgusting rather than frightening order." Nick Schager SLANT MAGAZINE "More gruesome deathtraps, more blood and more gore, but shows signs of losing steam." Edward Douglas COMINGSOON.NET "The "Saw" franchise rasps on with "Saw III", a deadening barrage of grungy rooms, mortified flesh and elaborate torture. The most depressing thing about this series is not the creativity of the bloodletting but the bleak view of human nature, specifically our talent for ruining the present to avenge the past." Jeannette Catsoulis NEW YORK TIMES

The Inside Story "In SAW III, we learn much more about Jigsaw than we have before," explains SAW II director Darren Lynn Bousman. "This time he has a much grander plan, but his health is failing. So he has enlisted the help of some unlucky victims to make sure he survives and his plan is carried through." "SAW III is a major rollercoaster ride," says "Bull Durham" , "John Q" and "SAW III" producer Mark Burg. "There are amazing traps and more of Jigsaw in a way that we haven't seen him. I don't think anybody who sits down in the theatre will see the ending coming." While that may be the case, I'm betting that there will be plenty wishing the film would hurry up an finish. The big problem for "SAW III" is that the writers have to come up with more extreme, violent scenario's each time. "There was a lot of pressure after the popularity of the first two, and I didn’t want to let the fans down," Bousman admits. "But James, Leigh and I knew that they were going to hand the "SAW" films off to somebody else, and we wanted to make sure that the integrity was preserved. On top of that, I really liked the new story. The hardest thing is trying to give the audience something they haven't seen before. We have to make it more violent, more intense, more horrific, but also stay true to the story and the characters." Oren Koules, producer of "Lockdown", "Diary Of A Sex Addict", "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" and "SAW III" confirmed my worst fears. "I think this year we're particularly aware of meeting and surpassing the audience’s expectations. We've worked incredibly hard to make it as exciting as we possibly can." It's here that I start to differ greatly from the team bringing us another dumbed down "SAW" film which dulls the senses with an unimaginative storyline coupled to a barrage of mindnumbing, sensless, despicable scenes of inhuman acts being perpetrated upon its hapless victims. That doesn't mean I don't have a lot of admiration for James Wan and Leigh Whannell. I do! What I would like to see is the boys from Melbourne use their writing and producing talents to venture out into a wider genre of productions because eventually, like "Rocky" did, the attraction will fade. And that would be a real pity. But back to the making of "SAW III". Fans will be happy to know that "almost ninety-five percent of the SAW II crew returned to the new production, including director of photography David Armstrong and production designer David Hackl. The crew was housed in the same hotel and many of the same locations in Toronto were used. It was like reuniting a family," reports Koules. "It was as if we never went away." And what about the storyline? "This movie is a horror film for a much smarter audience," says Bousman. "It’s non-linear like the first two films. There are flashbacks within flashbacks. It shows a series of events throughout time, and the audience has to piece them together." Those flashbacks fill in parts missing from the previous two "SAW" productions giving us an insight into how Amanda's involvement came about and progressed. Tobin Bell is back for "SAW III" playing a bedridden terminally ill John Cramer a.k.a 'Jigsaw'. The twisted mother-fucker is pretty crook with brain cancer, but not ill enough to cook up another nightmarish treat for his victims which include Dr Lynn Denlon, Judge Halden, Rigg, Denica Scott and Jeff, a family man haunted by the death of his son in a hit and run accident. Tobin Bell makes no secret of the fact that he anticipated with pleasure, the opportunity to once again take on the role of 'Jigsaw' whom he describes as a sort of philosopher and more. "He's a philosopher of sorts, a bit of a scientist, a bit of an artist," says Bell of Jigsaw. "He also must view himself as somewhat of a therapist, because he says to his victims repeatedly, You'll thank me one day for this." Playing 'Jigsaw' for a third time involved a lot of research for Bell. "As soon as you begin to answer one question about a particular scene or a particular moment, that question opens up two more questions," says Bell. "And those two questions pose four new questions. And it just becomes a doubling factor. There's a lot of work to be done." Joining 'Jigsaw" for the third edition is another sick fuck, Amanda, once again played by Shawnee Smith, who most will remember as the zany receptionist in the hit comedy TV series "Becker". "It's exciting to have so long to flesh out a character," says Smith. "With this franchise, we have arcs that just keep on giving, not only forwards, but backwards." Bell adds, "There's definitely a certain intimacy that has been established over the past three years since Shawnee and I have been working together." Bahar Soomekh who plays the gifted brain surgeon Dr Lynn Denlon says she was impressed with the Wan and Whannell script. "This script is really smart and there's depth to it," says Soomekh. "We've dissected it and analyzed it, and Leigh and Darren and the producers have been so receptive to the actors input. This story gets to the rawest of emotions. It’s really terrifying." Co-founder of Evolution Entertainment and Twisted Pictures, producer Mark Burg agrees. "Leigh is a very talented writer. This script shows that he’s adept with complex plotting, but he can also write characters with real psychological depth." It's fair to say that visually, "SAW III" is another dose of the previous two editions with snappy flashbacks. "SAW has a signature style. We’re using a lot of whip-pans and flash-frames to create a dynamic feel," says Bousman. "I really don’t like to cut away from the gore. I’m a big fan of actually showing the audience what they want to see." Bousman revealled he has kept the needs of the fans in mind throughout the creative process. "We’ve littered this movie with nods to the first two films, with clues and puzzles, everything the fans love. More traps, more blood, more twists, more turns. So this, really, is a movie for them. Burg obviously had a lot of faith in the films director. "Darren knows better than anyone what our audience wants, and his goal is to deliver that to them every time," he said. "He’s always thinking three steps ahead of everybody else." Co-founder of Evolution Entertainment and "SAW III" producer Oren Koules agrees noting, "Everyone here, in every department, feels a loyalty to the fans. We truly relish them. They’ve been so great and so supportive of us that it makes us work harder to make each "SAW" film bigger and better." Finally many have asked me "will there be another "SAW" movie." The answer to that question is yes. In fact Wan and Whannell have two films for 2007. The first is "Dead Silence" which is also directed by Whannell. Lionsgate Films have announced there will be a "SAW IV". Let's face it, why wouldn't there be. The franchise has been a massive profit maker due to extremely low budgets. On a sadder note, there is one missing member of the production team. "SAW" producer Greg Hoffman, died unexpectedly last year, only six weeks after the release of "SAW II". Hoffman, with producers Mark Burg, Oren Koules and executive producer Dan Heffner, was responsible for recognizing the potential in "SAW" when it was only a script, and for giving talented newcomers James Wan, Leigh Whannell and Darren Bousman their first career-making opportunities. "Greg had faith in all of us even though we were all unknowns. He said, 'Come with me,' and we did and he made it happen. He was passionate and he cared, and that's not something you see a lot of in Hollywood," Mark Burg said. The Verdict "What started out with a lot of promise slowly degenerates into a sickening and hideous example of brutalization. It also shows how the O.F.L.C has lost the plot in recent times with its classification of films. Many people in the community are shaking their heads in disbelief at some of the decisions they have made. In the case of "SAW III" they are rightfully questioning why it didn't receive an R18+ rating. Perhaps it is time to for a big shakeup on the board. It's also fair to say that the "SAW" franchises appeal, is to a select section of the cinemagoing community, and that the larger segment has little interest in this style of so-called cinema 'entertainment'. Unfortunately the frachise has now become like a blunt "SAW". It just can't cut it! 2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "SAW 3" stars .......
Shawnee Smith ["Leaving Las Vegas", "Dogtown", "The Island" and "Saw I & II"]; Angus Macfadyen ["Braveheart", "Cradle Will Rock", "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and "The Virgin of Juarez"]; Bahar Soomekh ["Intermission", "Crash" and "Mission: Impossible III"]; Barry Flatman ["Terminal Justice", "My Name Is Tanino", "The Last Sign" and "Just Friends"], Dina Meyer ["Starship Troopers", "Star Trek: Nemesis", "The Storyteller" and "Saw II"] and Tobin Bell ["Mississippi Burning", "False Identity", "Goodfellas", "Serial Killer" and "Saw I & II"] as Jigsaw.
"SAW 3" was .......
directed by Darren Lynn Bousman ["Butterfly Dreams", "Identity Lost" and "Saw II"]; screenplay by Leigh Whannell ["Saw", "Saw II" and "Dead Silence"]; original story by 2004 Greg Tepper Award winner James Wan ["Stygian", "Saw" and "Dead Silence"] and Leigh Whannell ["Saw", "Saw II", "Saw III" and "Dead Silence"]; cinematography by David A Armstrong ["P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!", "Fear of Feathers", "Saw" and "Saw II"]; original music by Charlie Clouser ["Saw", "Deepwater" and "Saw II"] production design by David Hackl ["Jerry and Tom" and "Saw II"] with costume design by Alex Kavanagh ["The Undertaker's Wedding", "The Wishing Tree", "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle", "Saw II" and "George A. Romero's Land of the Dead"]. Run Time 108 minutes Rated MA 15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Twisted Pictures & Lionsgate - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved