A mere six years ago James Wan and Leigh Whannel started a steam rolling franchise with their low budget and inventive SAW. Each Halloween a new sequel has been released building a backstory to the contraption led plan of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) beyond anything his creators could have imagined. Even as the events in each sequel have become increasingly unlikely and over complicated the SAW franchise inhabits its own world with now familiar rules that allow for certain contrivinces in order to feed our fan lust for blood, torture and the fiendish life lessons of the screens most popular franchise killer in decades.

The story is furthered this time focusing on a current topical issue of health care and the insurers who deny sick persons claims. Jigsaw's final grand scheme is focused on those who would not help him seek a cure for his cancer and along the way reveals a little more about his two accomplacies, his wives views and her unsuprisingly morally questionable involvement. The traps are styled after Saw III set in an abandoned zoo complex and so technically bewildering and impossibly convient it is more likely that Jigsaw was a psychic than psycho to predict the exact timings of his contraptions and the behavour if his subjects.

There are claims abound that SAW VI answers the series open questions. Instead it further extrapolates some of the conundrums and tries to claim back Jigsaws position as mastermind but leaves the viewer wondering just how the hell even three people could kidnap so many people and build so many complex traps never mind one. There are new loose ends left untied for the inevitable, and now 3D, SAW VII.

Perhaps it's too late in the game to pick at the series flaws but simply aquesing to the formula is only going to encourage a further downturn in quality. It is now being carried forward with TV level actors who are not strong enough to withstand the gravity of the Saw series. The regurgitation of sets is getting tedious and how often can the outside of that Vancouver studio be used as a street, a drug clinic, a trap lair etc?

There has been a positive reaction to SAW VI amongst the genre critics and the audiences (mainstream press will always look down their nose at sequelitis no matter how successful) where IV and V recieved knee jerk dissapointed reactions but opnions seem to swither on repeat viewings. Maybe not so much for V but that is where I think think my personal opinion differs. From my review last year you will find I did not have as big and issue with the fifth entry as others an hence why my reaction to VI is marginal. It remains to be seen if VI will retain its popularity after its transfer to optical media and warrant revisitation.

The franchise is not hampered by SAW VI but is not really furthered from the stalled position it found itself at with the departure of Darren Lynn Bousman.