Saw IVMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Saw IV."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
No
Avg. Critic Score: 36 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    Director Darren Lynn Bousman, who also helmed the past two installments, doesn't deviate from the stylistic formula, which includes grinding industrial music, frenzied editing and a blue-gray color palette. Read full review

  • 50
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    If an hour and a half of so-called "torture porn" sounds like fun, you'll find Saw IV situated somewhere between the first in the cycle (a solid original with plenty of energy in it) and the last (a gasping copycat willing to do anything to stay alive). Read full review

  • 50
    Austin Chronicle | Marc Savlov

    Torture, you may recall, used to be an unparsable, unpardonable sin. Now it's porn. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis

    Saw IV is bloody proof that Jigsaw may be dead, but his well of corporeal abuses has yet to run dry. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Robert Koehler

    Even by the standards of the recent "Saws," which have enjoyed considerably larger budgets than the first pic, the new edition is more frenetically cut (by editors Kevin Greutert and Brett Sullivan), more dimly lit (by lenser David A. Armstrong), sweatier in terms of perfs by the grimly serious cast, more madly packed with micro-incidents and action, and more brazen in requiring suspension of disbelief. Read full review

  • 42
    The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

    Fans know exactly what they're in for, while everyone else knows to stay far away. Everyone can agree, however, that this is probably the worst date movie ever. For non-sadists, at least. Read full review

  • 40
    L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas

    Like the movie's mysterious Jigsaw doppelgnger, Saw IV is itself a poor substitute for the original. Read full review

  • 33
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    He now imparts so many life lessons via his Rube Goldberg thresher devices that he's starting to turn into the Rod Serling of severed body parts. Now that's torture. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    One more small thing: Every other scene in Saw IV starts and ends with a potential victim pressing "play" on a tape recorder, to the point where it's almost funny. Read full review

  • 12
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Getting to the true root of his evil may necessitate "Saw LX." Read full review

View more reviews for Saw IV on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Another Halloween, another gory torturefest. Yuck.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this fourth bloody Saw movie isn't remotely meant for kids (even though horror-loving teens will probably be interested), and it's hardly worth the time of the series' fans, either. The gory, torture-centric formula is familiar: Villain Jigsaw arranges elaborate "games" by which victims either survive by killing someone else or abusing themselves to near-death, or they die. Frequent over-the-top violence includes stabbing, shooting, hanging, fighting, slicing, and more. A pregnant woman suffers a bloody miscarriage. There's some nonsexual male nudity, a shot or two of cleavage, and reference to prostitution. Also expect the usual bad language, including lots of uses of "f--k."
  • Families can talk about the appeal of "torture porn." Why does this cynical subgenre of horror movies continue to succeed with viewers? Do you think it will ever go too far (and who defines what "too far" is, anyway?)? How is the Saw franchise itself now a kind of "game"? Is it different from the games perpetrated by Jigsaw? And does he become a more sympathetic character when you learn his backstory? Why or why not?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Serial killers get victims to kill other victims in pursuit of "cherishing life," but really, it's all cruel, self-absorbed games.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: The film is packed with gory violence, beginning with Jigsaw/John's autopsy (sawing through skull, slicing through chest, and breaking rib cage open, all with yucky sound effects, in close-up with much blood). Violent acts throughout the film feature hatchets, chains, hanging contraptions, grinding gears, knives, guns, fists, and all manner of piercing traps and cutting gizmos. A man appears with eyes sewn shut, another with mouth sewn shut (bloody effort to open it). Rat eats a corpse. Photos of bloody victims and torturer. Husband and wife are pinned together with rods that she pulls out (bloody and excruciating). An exploding puppet sends shards into a woman's face. A pregnant woman is slammed by a door and miscarries (bloody). Climax involves violence and tension; multiple characters are murdered.
  • sex false3 Sex: John's body appears on a morgue table, naked (nonsexual), with at least two views of his penis (both at some distance). Rigg appears in his boxers (shirtless) as he searches his apartment for an intruder. A woman being tortured shows cleavage. In a flashback, John is solicited by a prostitute; he tells her to go home.
  • language false5 Language: Very frequent use of "f--k," plus occasional uses of "s--t," "c--ksucker," "hell," "a--hole," "damn," and "son of a bitch."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: In a flashback, Jill works in an addicts' clinic -- the clients show the effects of substance abuse, though not actual use; one smokes a cigarette.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

2.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… about as scary as a bite-size Snickers bar. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Saw IV Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook