Saw IV 2007

Scott Schueller, Chicago Tribune: A film as edgy as a rubber knife. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: A commercially savvy though ultimately empty combination of warped morality tale, mystery, gore-fest, and torture porn. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Saw IV is no Saw III. Just as Saw III is no Saw II. But neither Lionsgate, the Saw distributor, nor the North American box office seems to care. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Even fans of good, old-fashioned, onscreen torture will find themselves rolling their eyes at the twists and turns in this impossibly convoluted story. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The reports of torture porn's demise may have been greatly exaggerated, but this fourth entry in the mutilate-yourself-or-die series joins what may be the worst genre of the decade: the lamely ''sympathetic'' serial-killer backstory. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The dullest Saw in the shed. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Like the movie's mysterious Jigsaw doppelganger, Saw IV is itself a poor substitute for the original (or even the first two sequels). Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: This death trap may be rusty, but as long as it keeps generating fresh blood, it's unlikely to slam shut anytime soon. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: After two solid entries and an OK one, the franchise is getting long in the tooth: This one is Saw It Be-IV. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's somewhat better put together than Saw II or III, though there isn't a scare in it. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Easily the worst and most pointless episode of the gore-saturated quadrology. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The Syriana of slasher films, so complicated and circuitous that your only hope of understanding everything is to eat lots of fish the night before and then watch each of the previous films, in order, right before you enter the theater. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: The original Saw was crafted with thought and precision. Saw IV is an orgy of blood. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: An incomprehensible cacophony of screams, shock cuts, dour pseudo-philosophizing, heavy metal mutilation and low-rent TV-standard performances. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: The need to incorporate familiar characters and icons from the earlier films, together with flashbacks that flesh out Jigsaw's pre-'puppet master' past, simply leads to an irritating series of creative dead ends. Truly, a hack-Saw. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Just as Jigsaw tests his victims, the franchise's own test will be whether such suspension can be maintained, or if matters lapse into a torture chamber of self-parody. Read more