Spiral: From the Book of Saw
Lionsgate | Release Date: May 14, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
21
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfMay 13, 2021
Spiral embodies the franchise James Wan and Leigh Whannell built, while being totally refurbished for a new generation. Read full review
80
Total FilmJordan FarleyMay 12, 2021
That a formula as well-trodden as Saw’s can still surprise, delight, and make you feel like you need a quick shower after is impressive. Read full review
67
Original-CinThom ErnstJun 2, 2021
Spiral is locked in a formula that has not budged in nearly two decades. That is likely to read as good news for fans of the franchise. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRob RectorMay 17, 2021
As we all creep back into the theaters from our COVID cocoons, it serves up just the right amount of cinematic comfort food to keep us coming back for another serving. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMay 12, 2021
It’s not a waste of a concept, exactly, but it’s not the reinvention that the franchise needs, either. Rock’s involvement brings some new blood to Spiral, but after a promising start it ends up becoming a pretty okay Saw movie with some bigger names than usual. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 12, 2021
Less of a soft reboot than an emergency root canal for a series at risk of being removed from the release slate forever, this dogeared new chapter “from the Book of Saw” might lack the discipline to escape from the same traps that have always shackled its franchise to the grindhouse floor, but it still manages to squeeze a few drops of fresh milk out of Lionsgate’s oldest surviving cash cow with a back to basics approach and some unexpected political bite. Read full review
55
PolygonDeirdre CrimminsMay 13, 2021
Spiral lacks depth and nuance, and by avoiding irony or camp, it’s asking to be taken seriously. This is not a fun romp through a field of bloodied mayhem, or a self-referential metatext filled with winks at the audience. Read full review
53
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiMay 12, 2021
The screenplay captures the grizzled-cop-movie tone and draws some memorable characters, but the storyline is rote, the mystery is frustratingly predictable, and the imaginative deaths are less imaginative than ever. Spiral sacrifices entertainment value for respectability and in the process doesn’t quite achieve either. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 13, 2021
It spirals downward into a ludicrous, dumbed-down horror story more concerned with grossing out the audience than in providing any compelling reason for this long-running franchise to keep chugging along, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 12, 2021
Along the way there is some really gory violence and some really cliched cop-drama dialogue, with acting to match. But as long as Rock is on the screen, which is almost constantly, it at least keeps your interest. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 12, 2021
This thriller sits on the gory edge of the blade, teetering between “not all that” and “not that bad.” Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 12, 2021
Spiral, which involves the hunt for a serial killer by the police force of a nameless metropolis, is a thriller, a mystery, a police drama, but it hews closely to “Saw’s” grisly curriculum. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 12, 2021
Aside from the disgusting parts, Spiral is a fairly decent thriller. Read full review
46
Paste MagazineJacob OllerMay 12, 2021
Spiral might have rhetorical wrinkles that set it apart from its predecessors, but this franchise is still going around in circles. Read full review
46
Paste MagazineJacob OllerMay 12, 2021
Spiral might have rhetorical wrinkles that set it apart from its predecessors, but this franchise is still going around in circles. Read full review
45
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaMay 12, 2021
Spiral blunders through its central mystery without grace or style, or even much thought. Even the death traps are weirdly uninspired. Read full review
42
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMay 12, 2021
Spiral is a frustrating animal: In its first half, it styles itself as a prestige sequel/revamp of a cult horror series, lifting it from its nu-metal origins into a moodier, Se7en-styled police thriller. But despite its promising start, the latter half of Spiral succumbs to formula, like a bloodied Jigsaw victim fainting from their wounds so the blades can finish the job. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNick AllenMay 12, 2021
There turns out to be no actual book in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, but it does define what makes an intricately bad movie, with flaws that can sometimes be earnest, unintentionally hilarious, or disappointing. Read full review
40
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackMay 27, 2021
Spiral too often gets in its own way and reveals its internal machinations before they’re due. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 20, 2021
If the original films owed a blatant debt to David Fincher’s Se7en, this one remortgages from the same lender. Read full review
40
EmpireJohn NugentMay 13, 2021
Spiral makes an admirable stab at defibrillating an old franchise — but ultimately wastes its stars, caught in the same bear-trap of a formula that befell earlier sequels. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 13, 2021
Spiral: From the Book of Saw, delivers mildly on the torture-porn front, but its tone and focus are decidedly different. It resolves to fix this series’ clichés with a different set of clichés. It does have star power, however, which is refreshing. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 12, 2021
No, the “Saw” series hasn’t really changed. So depending on whether you’re a fan or not, eat up…or throw up. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeMay 12, 2021
Spiral delivers when it comes to gore, if that’s your thing, and appropriately dour aesthetics — but not much else. That’s a shame, because the story’s themes, from the unreformable nature of the police department to the cost of integrity in a space that values power above all else, could not be more relevant. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMay 14, 2021
Spiral: From the Book of Saw is more frustrating than the average mediocre horror sequel because you can easily decipher the wasted opportunity up there on the screen. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 14, 2021
Although Spiral pretends to mine the trope of one good cop investigating department corruption, that’s really just an excuse to present long, lovingly-filmed instances of sadism and torture. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonMay 12, 2021
The film doesn’t reset the Saw template in any marked way. It seems primed to explore the present-day fight against police brutality, but it never lives up to that promise. Read full review
30
CNNBrian LowryMay 14, 2021
Spiral, however, doesn't chart its own course as much as simply try to have it both ways. And if the title implies a certain motion, the main direction the movie heads is essentially down the drain. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert DanielsMay 13, 2021
If Spiral hoped to reinvent the franchise, the dull installment merely amounts to bad fan fiction. Read full review
30
The New York TimesLena WilsonMay 13, 2021
The premise is disingenuous at best and, in a moment where scores of citizens are calling for widespread police reform, fearmongering at worst. Like Jigsaw offering one of his facile riddles, this film is not as clever as it thinks it is. Read full review
30
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaMay 12, 2021
A sequel that hopes to court Saw fans and mainstream audiences alike, Spiral: From the Book of Saw is likely to alienate them both. It’s a hollow imitation of the series, unable to meet its most basic visual and narrative expectations. It’s also a bad film in general, which tries to tell a socially relevant story that it can’t seem to handle. Read full review
20
Rolling StoneDavid FearMay 12, 2021
This is the final game: Do you recommend this to your friends out of brand loyalty, knowing that they’re Saw completists and hey, you endured this, so why shouldn’t they? Or should you take mercy on them and let them know that Spiral should be avoided at all costs, regardless of its slasher-flick pedigree. Read full review
20
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 12, 2021
It’s all so rushed and half-assed, like it was cobbled together on the fly rather than intricately plotted out, stupidly written and worst of all increasingly dull, a fitting end to a rotten pile of guts that’s less book of Saw and more novelisation. Game over. Read full review
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