The original Saw has one heck of an opening scene. A man suddenly awakens in a bathtub. He appears to be in a basement, with his ankle chained to the pipe. He shares the room with another prisoner — and a corpse holding a gun and a recorder. I remember watching Saw in a theater in 2004, and being immediately hooked. Every film in the long-running horror franchise since has tried to match the intensity and mystery of the original, including the upcoming Spiral: From the Book of Saw. It succeeds.
In the opening scene, which you can watch above, a crooked detective is told by a Jigsaw copycat (not this one) in a pig mask that he has two options: rip his tongue out of his mouth, or be hit by a train. “Live or die. Make your choice.”
Here’s the official plot summary:
A criminal mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in Spiral, the terrifying new chapter from the book of Saw. Working in the shadow of his father, an esteemed police veteran (Samuel L. Jackson), brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner (Max Minghella) take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw, which stars Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson, opens on May 14.