The Saw Series Died with Jigsaw.

I certainly consider myself a movie buff, and, in my ever-growing collection of movies, I have only one rule: never buy a movie for which I wouldn't go to bat.

This is normally easy. Working backwards on my bottom shelf, I'll see the casually haunting Spotlight, the stylistically stunning Sleepy Hollow, Silence of the Lambs, which needs no qualifier, the underrated Shyamalan film Signs, followed immediately by masterpieces old and new, being The Shining and The Salesman.

But then, you'll see all seven home-media-released Saw movies. At that point, my standard gets challenged more than in any other instance. And, to be clear, these weren't gifts - I bought every single one of these, including a few of them via pre-order. Why? How could I possibly defend this decision beyond the first few movies (the first of which is an unabashed must-see)?

It's a question with which I've wrestled on more than one occasion and offered no truly satisfying answer. Yes, the Saw series hit its height of popularity during my middle- and high-school years, which coincided with my newfound interest in movies. So, not only was the Saw series my introduction to a pulpy genre that cares only about affecting it's audience on a visceral level, it was also my introduction to cinema as a whole.

But still ... so much about the Saw series perfectly embodies what's wrong with the horror movie industry. Someone creates a thrilling and terrifying original idea, and, when it explodes into popularity, the talking suits come in and milk it, usually doubling down on the least interesting parts. The original Saw was a daringly effective quasi-chamber piece about paranoia and desperation under dire circumstances, and the subsequent sequels focused on the backstory. This is the Cardinal Sin of horror movies committed on the backs of even the best, such as Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Blair Witch Project, all three about something greater than its central antagonist, and all three spawned a series of sequels that fail to understand that.

But here's the thing: if you're going to take that route, making the villain the true main character of the story, you probably shouldn't kill him off. Looking at the most prominent example of this in horror cinema, let's consider Friday the 13th. In Part IV: The Final Chapter, in which Jason Voorhees dies. It's actually a great movie that completes a satisfying character arc, but the problem the studios had is that it made enough money to justify a sequel. So they tried out the copycat killer, Roy Burns, in part V, and people hated it - for good reason. Who is this guy? Why should I care? And, because of the need for mystery and intrigue, they have to set up his entire motivation in a matter of minutes in the final reveal. So, no matter how many genuine thrills the movie can provide along the way, the finale is wholly unsatisfying, because we were promised a the killer we knew and loved, but were given Roy Burns.

Which brings me (fucking finally) to this year's entry in the Saw series - Jigsaw. The Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer, has been dead for three movies (I know he died at the end of Saw III, but he technically also died at the end of Saw IV, so I'm counting only the three after), and Jigsaw brings us the latest attempt by the series to survive without him.

And it goes about as well as Friday the 13th: Part V. I'll save you the trouble: no - Jigsaw is not back. They did not resurrect him. And, in the end, one person is revealed to be the new Jigsaw, and we're left to suffer through several minutes of flashback revelations to make us understand why and to make us care, only succeeding at the former.

And while it may sound like I hate this movie, that's not the case. In fact, I think Jigsaw is the best a post-John Kramer Saw movie can hope to be - and that's sad.

While Jigsaw didn't have the balls to resurrect a long-dead character through some shenanigans, I wish it had. The Saw series needs John Kramer like Friday the 13th needs Jason Voorhees.

It's times like these that I wish Hollywood hadn't beaten reboots to death, because that's exactly what Saw needs. I know it's controversial, because the first movie is so good, but this series will wither and die if we have to deal with Jigsaw Follower #5 as the main baddie for another seven movies. For the love of God, reboot Saw, and do it while Tobin Bell is still kicking. That's the only hope the series has to be truly great again.

So, when I say the Saw series died with Jigsaw, I mean it both ways. The series died when John Kramer died, and Jigsaw, the movie, finally revealed that truth. The series has languished in mediocrity since, and will continue to do so, much, much worse.