Fans of the Horror movie genre know one thing for certain: it’s never really over. Whether it’s a remake, reboot, or just another sequel, horror franchises always find a way to come back after their “final” installment. This trend has proved itself to to continue with one of the more modern additions to the genre: The Saw franchise. Despite 2010’s Saw 3D being billed as the final chapter, it appears we’ll soon be seeing twisty the clown and an unnecessary amount of gore in the near future.
The Tracking Board is reporting that the next movie, Saw: Legacy is moving forward and now has writers attached to the project. Co-writers Josh Stolberg and Steve Goldfinger have been tapped to write the newest addition to the Saw franchise. While not household names, the pair of writers have worked together in the genre before, writing slashers like Sorority Row and Piranha 3D. While the first film was critically panned, Piranha 3D’s mixture of comedy and horror was well received.
Although Josh Stolberg and Steve Goldfinger will be penning Saw: Legacy, part of the team behind the original film will be attached. Original director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell will both executive produce. Wan’s involvement in particular brings a bit of hope to news of another Saw film, as his work in the genre has brought some of the most terrifying films in recent memory such as Insidious and The Conjuring. Perhaps Wan’s horror sensibility, combined with Stolberg and Goldfinger’s comedic tone from Piranha 3D will be able to bring something fresh and exciting to a franchise that grew rather stale as time went on.
The Saw franchise is known for bringing the “torture-porn” genre of horror to the mainstream. Each Saw movie would put Jigsaw’s victims in horrifying tests which would they could only escape by subjecting themselves to extreme physical pain, thus illustrating their will to survive. Both survivors and victims alike were shown to be ripped up in gruesome ways that had the audience watching through their fingers.
While the first few Saw films were effective in terrifying audiences and following a relatively straightforward story, things quickly got confusing and convoluted, with each film needing to heavily recap the previous installments in order to finish the story. That being said, I definitely saw all seven of them, and did a marathon of the first six before I saw the “final chapter” in the theater.
It should be interesting to see how the writers continue the story laid out through the first seven films; the ending to Saw 3D perfectly left itself open for another chapter. Detective Hoffman seemed to finally get what was coming to him, as Dr. Lawrence Gordon made a glorious return and revealed himself to be the secret Jigsaw protegee after being absent since the first film.
While this seems hopeful in theory, it will all depend on if production will be able to land actor Cary Elwes as Dr. Gordon. If not, they might have Hoffman somehow make it out of his trap and continue his reign of terror, although personally I was ready to see him go. Besides that, there aren’t a ton of characters who could return: everyone pretty much died by Saw 3D except for minor survivors from the earlier films who were seen in the support group.
We’ll continue to update you as details about Saw: Legacy become public.
