The Jigsaw Killer, finally known as Jigsaw, is now big news. A huge police task force is trying to track him down and succeeds in locating his latest hideout. He runs two games at once. In one game, the son of a corrupt detective is placed in a house with seven falsely convicted drug offenders. The house is locked off and slowly filling with nerve gas. There is enough antidote hidden throughout the house for everyone to survive, but they must work together to do it. In the second game, Jigsaw wants to talk one on one with the detective whose son is in danger. If they have a conversation, the son will make it out alive. If they don't, Jigsaw's giving up nothing. The only thing stopping the immediate abuse and arrest of Jigsaw is his poor health, marked by an oxygen tank, an IV in his arm, and an office filled with medical equipment.

The strangest part of Saw II is how it came about at all. It was not written as a Saw film. Darren Lynn Bousman sold a thriller screenplay to Lionsgate and Lionsgate asked him to rework it into the Saw universe. He did in exchange for the director's chair on Saw II and III.

Saw II is the most cohesive sequel in the series. It actually makes sense as a continuation of the first story. It helps to have that beautiful, disturbing synchronicity of the bear trap to open the film. A man finds a bear trap bolted to his neck, the same way Amanda found herself with the reverse bear trap on her jaw. This man has one minute to slice into his eye socket and remove the key to stop the trap from crushing his head, iron maiden-style.

Speaking of legitimate continuity, Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda for the second film and winds up a repeat victim of Jigsaw's traps. She's the last of the eight to wake up and immediately realizes what must be going on. She serves as the guide to Jigsaw's world. The news is finally covering Jigsaw, but he's not a household name yet. Amanda finds the tape, Amanda explains the rules, and Amanda pleads with the victims to actually play the game.

The feel of Saw II can also partly be attributed to Leigh Whannell. He was brought back in to help rework the script into a Saw sequel. So we get a nice blend of the intentions of the original writer and the vision of the writer who developed the basis of the sequel. However the contributions line up, they play well together and make a compelling horror film.

Saw II does get a little sloppy in the b-plot with the police officer, but the main plot with the victims is excellent. I still cringe when I think about the pit of needles and the glass box traps. The makeup does wonders to establish the stakes, as well; these characters start looking real ragged real fast from the nerve gas.

If the rest of the series played with the original concepts like this, Saw could still be releasing a new film every year today. Instead, Saw II marks the last time that subtlety in acting, story, and scares means anything in the series.

The entire Saw series received a beautiful Blu-ray release. Otherwise, Saw II can be rented from all the major digital platforms.