Saw III

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. There was also a full moon. If this does not scream for a horror film night, I don't know what does.

In my continuous quest to see the entire Saw series a friend and I moved on to part III (and, as you will see, part IV right after).

Our favorite psychopath, Jigsaw aka John, is on his deathbed. To finalize the initiation of his very eager pupil Amanda, he has one more elaborate game that she orchestrated on his behalf. A female doctor was kidnapped and is forced to keep John alive for as long as it takes another player, Jeff, to complete a very special series of tests. She is also outfitted with a nifty collar that will explode upon John's death.

Jeff is a sad sack, that has lost his son in a car accident and has been neglecting his wife and daughter ever since. What made things even worse for him is that the driver got off with a mere 6 months sentence. What he is being tested for is whether or not he is able to forgive the people involved in his son's death - the only witness, the judge and the driver himself.

At the same time, Amanda is being tested by John. Apparently, she has not been doing as well as he expected, as she has been mingling with the players (killing, maiming) even after they won their particular games. 

In the end, the doctor wins but Amanda fails and kills her (which was basically her failure). Jeff makes it through the tests without any of the three board pieces surviving. But then we learn that the doctor is his wife and she falls into his arms after she was shot. While she is fighting for her life, Jeff kills both Amanda and John, signing his wife's death sentence. The last he learns from John is that the couple's daughter has been kidnapped and, well, too bad, now John cannot help Jeff find her. Tough luck.

Whereas the story is not as straight forward as parts I and II, what makes this interesting is the flashbacks and parallels that first confuse you but really only gives you the strings tying it all together.

7/10