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I defended the Saw franchise long past the point where most self-respecting cinephiles and even genre geeks abandoned it. It was only after the moronic, baffling Saw IV that I got off the bandwagon. But as someone who thinks the franchise has (had?) something to offer beyond the admittedly questionable thrills of what smug know-nothings call "torture porn," I'm anticipating this month's annual installment with an ever-so-slight glimmer of hope. The first three films took a gimmicky serial killer concept and expanded it to something big and increasingly baroque, piling on twist after twist that, to me, consistently seemed bold rather than (merely) ludicrous. They were gruesome, yes, but they were also moody and visually exciting; Darren Lynn Bousman, in particular, seemed to take painstaking care in the second and third films to construct a cruel, self-contained universe around the crazy-ass story.

So here, briefly, are three things Saw V -- which sees the franchise's production designer David Hackl take over directing duties from Bousman -- could do to avoid the pitfalls of its immediate predecessor and restore my faith in the series.

If it's Halloween, it must be Saw. And it is. So it must be. Cinematical attended a press junket this week for Saw IV. It consisted of three interviews, with reporters from various outlets throwing out questions. The first was with Jigsaw himself, Tobin Bell (phoning in because he lives in Malibu, so wish him and his family well). The second was with Lyriq Bent (Rigg), Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm), and franchise producer Mark Burg. The third was with Costas Mandylor (Hoffman), Betsy Russell (Jill -- Mrs. Jigsaw), and franchise producer Oren Koules. Lionsgate hadn't screened the movie for critics (or even the actors!) as of this junket, as the representatives are extremely secretive about its plot, particularly a final twist. All we know is, despite having seemingly died at the end of Saw III, Jigsaw is back. Oh yes, and we know that there will be blood. Lotsa blood. We discussed what makes the franchise so popular, the phrase "torture porn," and the future of the Saw series.

Can you tell us what attracted you to the role yet again?

Tobin Bell: He's a big character. There could be nothing better for an actor than to have an opportunity to play a role where the character is sort of a multi-faceted guy. I mean, he is a scientist and a very well read guy and a man of conviction and passionate about what he does. There is something Shakespearean about him in a way. And there is a lot more story to be told. I feel like the Saw story doesn't play out in a linear way. It doesn't happen in sequence, necessarily. Whenever you have the opportunity to develop a guy like this, it's a blessing. It's what actors become actors for.

It's interesting to hear you talk about the thought process that goes into creating his back-story. Because if you ask an audience after they see a Saw film, they were there for the gore. They want to see someone's guts spill out on the floor. Are you rationalizing the character for yourself? Or do you really care about the characters in these films?

TB: I think that anybody who goes to one of these films wants to care about the characters. I think you can accomplish the same thing in the horror genre that you can accomplish in any other genre, whether it's a period piece, or a romantic comedy. I think there is an opportunity in a drama of any kind for the viewer to get involved with the characters. If you sell out completely on that, and I think that is what the horror genre has done for many years, people will not think of it very highly as a genre. Many genre films of the fifties and sixties were interested in the special effects, or interested in the scare factor, or the sci-fi factor. Jacob's Ladder is a very smart, well-crafted script. It is very scary. The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken. On its face, you have a man that looks at things and lights them on fire with his eyes. Look at the film. Christopher Walken draws you in. He makes you care about him. That's what makes the film work.

Outside of the Baby Geniuses pictures, I can't think of a more joyless, humorless, lifeless movie series than the Saw films. I watched the previous three alone at home, and each just sucked the life right out of me. But since I'd be seeing Saw IV with an audience, I expected to finally understand why people love these grisly flicks so much. I thought I'd hear yelling, cheering, people shouting "Gross!". I thought it would be fun. But the crowd remained completely silent until the credits rolled. Then everyone quietly got up, quietly walked to the doors, and quietly headed for their cars. How has this become the most successful horror franchise of all time?

Jigsaw is dead, and the film opens with his naked corpse laid out on a slab. Yes folks, I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned more in the marketing, but you do get to see 65 year-old Tobin Bell's genitals. That oughta sell some more tickets! What follows is an autopsy scene so astonishingly graphic that I removed the organ donor sticker from my driver's license. Seriously, if you had trouble with the brain surgery sequence in Saw III, get to Saw IV 15 minutes late. A new cassette recording is found in Jigsaw's stomach, and the games begin all over again. Two FBI profilers (played by Scott Patterson and Athena Karkanis) join Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) to put together the Jigsaw puzzle (nice little play on words there, if I don't say so myself). SWAT Commander Rigg (Lyriq Bent) is abducted and has 90 minutes to overcome the usual series of traps and save an ex-New Kid on the Block (Donnie Wahlberg). In other words, it's exactly like the other Saw flicks.

What looks to be the only successful horror franchise at the moment (box office wise) has apparently just wrapped production on its latest entry, and entered the editing phase. Over on his MySpace blog, director Darren Lynn Bousman proclaims, "Saw IV shot - and onto editing!!! HELL YEAH!!!!" Based on all the capital letters and exclamation points, I take it the dude is just a tad excited about the whole thing. And why wouldn't he be? After helping kick-start this whole "torture phase" that the horror genre has been in as of late, it's the only franchise still alive and capable of making a killing at the box office. So much so that most horror flicks now have to steer clear of Halloween (the holiday) because they're afraid Saw (insert number here) will demolish them. Could this be why Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween is coming out on, um, August 31? Probably.

Not only are the films successful, but they're also pretty good ... according to those friends of mine who actually had the guts to sit through Saw II and Saw III. That's right, after enjoying the original, I stayed away from the sequels because I'm not crazy about throwing up after I watch a film. I know, I'm a sissy -- blame my parents. Anyway, they're successful, they're entertaining and the filmmakers are somehow able to shoot and edit these suckers faster than it takes to figure out the plot of the previous installment. Written by Project Greenlight boys Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton (Feast), Saw IV will have something to do with the serial killer Jigsaw screwing with people who are locked in a room. (Although I haven't seen the last two flicks, I speculate that plot description is right on.) Saw IV is currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 26.

Well there's a reason why the Saw franchise keeps churning out sequel after sequel -- on Friday alone, the bloody thing took home $14 million. That's up from the $12.1 million Saw II took in on its opening day. Damn, is it just me or are people really into this Jigsaw dude?

And it's not just audiences who are scared of the clown-faced serial killer, no one was down with releasing any of this fall's top box office contenders anywhere near Saw III. Both The Departed and The Prestige (less than $3 million each on Friday) were left to duke it out for second place, but their final numbers will come nowhere near the horror sequel, and Catch a Fire (the only other film going wide this weekend) couldn't catch this puppy even if Saw had its weekend gross sawed in half. When it's all said and done, Saw III will most likely double the original's opening with somewhere in the neighborhood of $36 million. With a fourth installment already in the works, just how many of these do you think we'll see?

A good parody is hard to spin beyond the here and now. Take "Weird Al" Yankovic, for example. The pop-music jokester has put out 11 regular albums since 1983, when the accordian-playing nice guy's spoof of The Knack's "My Sharona" (titled "My Bologna" and recorded in the men's room of his college radio station) started his career as a musician, comedic icon and food fetishist when it blew up on The Dr. Demento Show. However, every hilarious and unforgettable cut like "Eat It", "Like A Surgeon" and "Smells Like Nirvana" that hit was matched by fade-away tracks like the New Kids jape "The White Stuff" (an ode to Oreos), the Rocky III goof "Theme From Rocky XIII (The Rye Or The Kaiser)" or the misjudgment "Taco Grande" (a riff on Latin rough-boy Gerardo's only hit, "Rico Suave"). The secret to a successful parody is complex, involving a careful balance of picking a song that is big enough, worthy of a good-natured dressing down and most important, funny. The same is true with movies, and the latest in the popular Scary Movie series is a great example of what can go right and wrong with such an attempt.
 

Editor's Note: When it came time to assign the year-end "Worst Of" list, Cinematical writers Erik Davis and Robert Newton both jumped at the chance. Rather than put them in the steel cage and let them fight to the death (something which parent company AOL frowns upon), we are letting them tag-team with this "Wurst Movies Of 2005" feature:

Erik Davis: I'm probably not going to be very popular for this choice (especially among Scientologists), but I have to start off with…

10. War of the Worlds – Okay, so Tom Cruise didn’t defeat the Aliens by giving them a computer virus (with a Macintosh) à la Independence Day, but that still doesn’t excuse this film from sucking up the hype and spewing it all over our faces as we left the theater.

Robert Newton: I'm a big sci-fi fan, and am always pained to see a fetid floater like Snore Of The Worlds or Aeon Flux or The Island, but for me, the most leaden of all genre turds was…