When the latest reboot of theSawfranchise was announced, the most interesting tidbit was the involvement of Chris Rock, both starring in the lead role and conceiving the story. Playing a detective on the trail of a mysterious serial killer, Rock is joiningGet Out’s Jordan PeeleandHalloween’s Danny McBride in the growing roster of comedy people transitioning into horror cinema. The Chris RockSawmovie, titledSpiral: From the Book of Saw, has been compared to David Fincher’sSe7enby its director Darren Lynn Bousman.
Bousman, who previously directed the second, third, and fourth entries in the mainlineSawseries, recently told Empire, “Chris came in with a thriller concept. He pitched this very elaborate, dense idea. We wanted it to feel much more likeSe7en. But it has so many ties to the mythos ofSaw.” WhileSe7enisn’t quite as gory as the averageSawmovie,Fincher didn’t pull any punchesin depicting the gruesome Biblical crimes of John Doe.
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Unsurprisingly, Rock is also bringing a healthy dose of humor to theSawfranchise withSpiral. The comedian has drawn comparisons between the jokes he contributed toSpiralto alleviate the terrorand the jokes that Eddie Murphy injected into Sylvester Stallone’s dark,dramaticBeverly Hills Copscriptwhen he was brought on to retool it as a comedy.
Back in 2004, some critics compared the originalSawmovie toSe7en. In fact, in a review forEntertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman called the movie “a blatant imitation ofSe7en.” When screenwriter Leigh Whannell wasasked in anArrowinterviewifSe7enwas a direct influence onSaw, he said, “For me as the writer, definitely. I mean,Se7enis just a very well-constructed film, and if you’re writing a thriller, it can’t hurt to study it. In terms of the story, though,James [Wan, the director]and I never really feltSe7enwas that close to our film.” While the hunt for a psychotic serial killer is a shared plot point in both movies,Se7enis told from the cops’ perspective andSawis told from the perspective of two of the killer’s victims.Spiral, it seems, will be more of a police procedural, hence the parallels withSe7en.
Originally,Spiralwas slated to be released on June 12, 2025, to coincide with Halloween, but the studio later moved it up to July 17, 2025. Then,thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed way back to August 02, 2025, the release date that Lionsgate had previously earmarked forJohn Wick: Chapter 4. Hopefully, with the vaccine making its way across the world,Spiralwill finally be able to meet one of its release dates.
