Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

By this point in the gory franchise that is Saw it doesn't need much explanation. The ongoing saga of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his elaborate deathtraps continues in Saw V as five strangers (including the always pleasing to watch Julie Benz) awake with collars connected to rigged chains around their necks that will cause their heads to be sliced off by blades if they don’t cooperate and find a way out. They must then make their way through ever more sadistic and intricately designed traps -- even making choices of who lives and who dies to survive.

The Saw franchise has always had convoluted plots with tangential character development and like all four films preceding it, Saw V is all about the voyeuristic experience and the spilling of gallons of blood. For fans it won’t disappoint, but for those who have never understood the fascination with the series it's not likely to win over any new converts.

The Picture

Lionsgate has done a tremendous job bringing every bit of flying entrails and each oozing ounce of vermillion blood to Blu-ray in Saw V. The AVC/MPEG-4 encoding is detailed with strong black levels allowing viewers to catch all of the action in Jigsaw's traps. Grain structure is sharp, consistent and film-like. The source is pristine and artifacts are nowhere to be found.

The Sound

Wow! Much like the film itself, Saw V's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix is a full-on assault from the very beginning. The sound mixers were obviously not timid in pushing the sound to the limits. Saw V will test your sound system with relentless low frequencies, massive amounts of ambient effects and discrete panning of all manner of sound effects across all the main channels. If you need to show off what your system can do this is certainly a good title to do it with.

The Extras

Saw V's supplements mostly focus on behind-the-scenes looks at the death traps and commentaries. Fans of the series may find it interesting to see how some of the effects are accomplished, but then again, it may just take away from the fright to know all the boring details.

The extras available on this release are:

• MoLog -- Lionsgate's BD-Live feature allows you to add audio, text, animated shapes and other graphics right into the film in in order to create custom blogs to share with friends.
• Director's Commentary
• Producers' Commentary
• The Pendulum Trap; The Cube Trap; The Coffin Trap (1.78:1/standard definition) -- The filmmakers discuss the film's deadly traps and how they work.
• The Fatal Five (1.78:1/standard definition) -- All about the five trapped characters.
• Slicing the Cube: Editing the Cube Trap (1.78:1/standard definition) -- The fillmakers discuss editing the scene with The Cube deathtrap.
• Theatrical Trailer (1.78:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Also From Lionsgate (high definition)
• Digital Copy -- A second disc contains access to a standard definition digital copy which can be downloaded for playback on an iPod,, Mac, PC, or other compatible portable player.

Final Thoughts

The Saw series continues and more people are hacked apart alive -- what more can any fan of these films ask? This Blu-ray release is pure reference quality and will definitely please the senses, if one doesn't mind the bloodfest.

Where to Buy

• Saw V on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, Betsy Russell, Julie Benz
• Director: David Hackl
• Writers: Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton
• Producers: Daniel J. Heffner, James Wan, Jason Constantine, Leigh Whannell, Mark Burg
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Audio/Language: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating:  Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 20, 2009
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• List Price: $39.99
• Extras:
  
  • Audio Commentary with Director David Hackl and First Assistant Director Steve Webb
  • Audio Commentary with Producers
  • The Pendulum Trap
  • The Cube Trap
  • The Coffin Trap
  • The Fatal Five
  • Slicing the Cube: Editing The Cube Trap
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • MoLog