The Atlantic
In the new
Spiral: From the Book of Saw
.
Saw, that undying paean to torture porn, finally started running out of stamina when its eighth
eighth! entry hit theaters in 2017. The once-popular Lionsgate series had gotten predictable; the death traps were rusty, the box-office returns waning. Even B-listers hadn’t joined the cast in years. It needed a new star and a new purpose.
As it turned out, the studio could kill two birds with one Chris Rock. Joe Drake, a Lionsgate executive, says he bumped into Rock at a wedding, where the comedian lobbied “in chilling detail” for a reimagined take on the franchise. Rock would star as a detective chasing a serial killer known as “Spiral,” who targets only corrupt cops. Whereas the original villain, Jigsaw, hunted an array of prey, this copycat would focus on weeding out the “bad apples” of law enforcement. “We were all in,” Drake gushed in 2019. “Chris conceived this idea, and it will be completely reveren