Spiral helps Saw horror franchise surpass $1bn milestone

The horror movie franchise Saw has now earned more than $1bn (£706m) in global ticket sales, following the release of the ninth instalment, Spiral.

It earned $4.5m (£3.1m) in the US and $2.67m (£1.8m) overseas at the weekend.

Starring Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson, the newest film in the series follows the police hunt for a copycat inspired by the legacy of the "jigsaw killer" who set traps for his victims.

Saw debuted in 2004, with seven annual releases, before a revival in 2017.

Created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, who also feature as executive producers on Spiral, the series was named the most successful horror movie series in film history by Guinness World Records in 2010.

The original Saw earned a massive $103m (£72m) worldwide from a $1.2m (£847,000) budget. It was advertised with the witty tag line: "Do you dare see Saw?"

Since then, every instalment with the exception of 2009's Saw VI crossed the $100m (£70m) barrier globally, while keeping production budgets below $20m (£14m). Saw III remains the highest-grossing entry, taking in $164m (£115m) worldwide.

Spiral has so far made $15.8m (£11m) in the US and $6.7m (£4.7m) internationally since its 14 May release, building a global haul of $22.5 (15.8m) million according to Box Office Mojo.

This means it has become the first Saw movie to top the US domestic weekend box office in a non-opening weekend.

So what's the secret of its lasting, if gruesome appeal?

"The popularity of Saw is intriguing," Robert McLaughlin, film distribution expert at Birmingham City University, told BBC News.

"It might be that fans of the movie want to tap into the old-school horror franchise model from the heyday of the 1980s and 1990s, when you could expect the return of Freddy on an annual basis.

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"The Nu-Metal aesthetic of the early 2000s has never really left the franchise, and nearly two decades from the original's low-budget beginnings (just as Wan was by 1980s horror) Saw is now a firm part of the horror canon, influencing film-makers, musicians and creatives - from t-Shirts to comics to even characters in the world of wrestling."

'Legitimately frightening' or 'tortuously bad'?

But despite this continued audience appeal, Spiral, directed by series veteran Darren Lynn Bousman, has divided critics.

Produced in partnership with Rock, who suggested the project to Lionsgate bosses, the film aims to reframe the series against the backdrop of police corruption.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman said that while Rock belies his comedy roots to give a "seething, embattled performance" as investigating officer Zeke Banks - the film, fully titled Sprial: From the Book of Saw, offers little new.

"No, the... series hasn't really changed", he wrote. "So depending on whether you're a fan or not, eat up…or throw up."

The latest film reframes the series against a backdrop of police corruption

Gleiberman also questioned its cultural awareness, adding: "Considering that its lead actor is Black and that it's a thriller pegged to the issue of police immorality, the film confronts that theme in a weirdly untopical, almost garishly generic way."

Little White Lies' Hannah Strong was similarly unimpressed. Her two-star review described it as "an earnest, overproduced piece of Saw fanfiction without the cheap thrills". Meanwhile, The Guardian's Benjamin Lee could only muster one star, describing the effort as a "tortuously bad...shoddy disaster".

But others were more forgiving. The Hollywood Reporter's Lovia Gyarkye deemed it "a legitimately frightening, if unevenly paced, detective thriller".

However, she says that it fails to live up to its potential. Jackson plays Banks' father Marcus, the former head of the Metro Police, but the father-son relationship "rich... in dramatic possibility" is discarded in favour of traditional gore.

"That's a shame, because the story's themes, from the unreformable nature of the police department to the cost of integrity in a space that values power above all else, could not be more relevant.

"If the mission was, as Bousman has suggested, to create a Saw film driven by a strong narrative instead of gruesome torture, it hasn't been fully accomplished."

Critic-proof gore

Freelance entertainment journalist Eammon Jacobs, writer for Looper and The Radio Times, says the bad reviews fail to understand the value of Saw to fans - especially as lockdown lifts and cinemas reopen.

"Audiences keep returning for each new Saw film out of sheer curiosity and excitement over how the filmmakers will go bigger and bloodier than the previous chapter," he told BBC News.

"It doesn't matter whether critics hate each new plot twist, the spectacle of every new horrific dilemma will always pull people back in, because the depraved traps force the audience to see the horror from the victims' perspectives. It's an experience that is wholly unique to that person, making it pretty much impossible for critics to sway the opinion of hardcore Saw fans."