Film Preview: Jigsaw (2017)

Page Revisions:

(July 23, 2017) Original
(October 22, 2017) New Posters (#9-#26)

Release Date:

October 27, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one man: John Kramer. But how can this be? The man known as Jigsaw has been dead for over a decade.”

Poster Rating: C / C (6) / C- / C- / D / C+ (5) / C / A (8) / B+ / B-

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Review: (#1) If you haven’t seen the trailer, the pig wig doesn’t make any sense. After seeing the trailer, the pig wig doesn’t make any sense. (#2-#7) Playing on the “He is everyone” and “Become Jigsaw” motifs, these seemingly every day people put on the masks to become Jigsaw. It’s a decent concept executed poorly. (#8) A clever turn of phrase does not make up for a shoddy poster design.

(#9) Is Jigsaw actually back? This poster, using his likeness is either a crude marketing ploy to remind everyone why the original films were so fascinating with Jigsaw in play, but it also serves to highlight the potential problems of the sequel. (#10) Once again, using an element of the previous Saw films will breed familiarity, but the blurry aspect doesn’t feel that interesting. (#11-#15) The cracked makeup of the tricycle-riding doll is an interesting concept being applied to humans and borrows on the first series of “character” posters they previously did, except more adequately attaching itself to the film itself.

(#16) This is just an closer-up look at one of the character posters. The concept is solid, except when isolated and larger. (#17-#24) The Saw franchise has tackled blood draws before as a source of advertising, but this time, they are attempting to highlight the unjust rules surrounding blood donations of anyone other than straight donors. That courageous conceit informs this poster set and makes it a daring and compassionate choice, one that strangely mirrors the ideals the original Jigsaw set forth to push. (#25) I’ve never been a fan of this style of art, but reminding us of the traps of prior films only helps elevate this poster to one that might do better selling the film than the myriad others have. (#26) Here we have the torture device motif used a little more interestingly, having been taken from the film itself, but it’s a bit too stark and dull in places to be worth much.

Trailer Rating: C

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Review: They try very hard to reference back to the original films, but what they present isn’t nearly as frightening or compelling as those first films. You cannot recapture the magic.