Spiral (2021) Review

It’s “Meh”

Ambitious but ultimately fails in its execution

A spoiler warning for those who have not seen the movie Spiral.

I have been a long-time SAW series fan. Between the interesting backstory behind the traps (from John Kramer’s terminal cancer to Amanda’s “No one can be fixed” philosophy to Mark Hoffman’s butchering of John’s initial philosophy) as well as the macabre fascination with the grisly traps themselves. Personally, I feel Jigsaw did a good setup. Spiral? It ultimately falls on its face. I’d give the movie a 2.5/5 stars.

Behind the Scenes Setup

The movie came about because Chris Rock is a huge SAW fan. He essentially made a fanfiction of the series (his own custom universe take on the series for those unfamiliar with the idea of fanfiction), and then turned it into a book. Avoiding a copyright strike from the original creators, he decided he wanted to make a full-blown movie out of the said book (which is why we see the tagline “from the book of SAW” on the cover art for the movie). While I can see the seeds of potential this had, it ultimately had a very sloppy execution of the ideas in my personal opinion.

The Traps

The traps are grisly in their execution. They are similar to Amanda’s traps with the minor change of “there is a chance of survival, although extremely slim”. How slim…