Saw III is a 2006 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Leigh Whannell and a story by Whannell and James Wan. It is the third installment in the Saw film series. The film stars Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh and Dina Meyer. The plot follows Jeff, a man whose son was killed by a drunk driver and is put through a series of tests by Jigsaw meant to help him overcome his anger towards his son's killer. Meanwhile, a bed-ridden John Kramer has his apprentice Amanda Young kidnap Dr. Lynn Denlon, who is tasked with keeping John alive for one final test before he dies.
Much like its predecessor, Saw II, the film was immediately green-lit after the successful opening weekend of the prior film. Filming took place in Toronto from May to June 2006. Whannell aimed to make the story more emotional than previous installments, particularly with the Amanda and Jigsaw storyline. The film is dedicated to producer Gregg Hoffman who died on December 4, 2005.
Saw III was released in the United States on October 27, 2006, by Lionsgate. It was a financial success, opening to $33.6 million and grossing $80.2 million in the United States and Canada. It is the highest-grossing film of the series in the international market with $84.6 million and the highest-grossing film in the series overall with $164.9 million worldwide. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Bell was nominated for "Best Villain" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards and the film received nominations for a Saturn Award as "Best Horror Film". The film was released to DVD and Blu-ray on January 23, 2007, and topped the charts selling 2.5 million units in its first week. A sequel, titled Saw IV, was released in 2007.
Plot[]
After being left in the bathroom to die, Detective Eric Matthews breaks his foot with a toilet lid to escape his shackle. Six months later, the aftermath of a Jigsaw game is discovered by Officer Daniel Rigg's SWAT team. The victim Troy had to rip chains from his body to escape a bomb. Detective Allison Kerry points out that the room's exit was welded shut, breaking Jigsaw's modus operandi of giving his victims a chance to survive. While reviewing the videotape, Kerry is abducted and awakens in a harness hooked into her ribs. Despite her retrieving the key from a beaker of acid and unlocking it, the trap inevitably kills her.
Dr. Lynn Denlon is abducted from the hospital she works at and brought to the bedridden John Kramer. His apprentice, Amanda Young, locks a collar armed with five shotgun shells around Lynn's neck that is connected to John's heart rate monitor and will detonate if she moves out of range or John dies. Lynn is instructed by Amanda to keep him alive until another test subject has completed his game; the victim Jeff, a grief-stricken father consumed with vengeance after the death of his son Dylan in a drunk driving accident, must undergo a series of tests around the abandoned meatpacking plant to confront those involved in the incident.
Jeff's first test leads him into a meat freezer where he finds Danica Scott, the only witness to the accident, who refused to testify in court; she is stripped naked and chained inside a metal frame, which begins spraying her with ice-cold water. Jeff retrieves the key after Danica persuades him to help her, but she freezes to death before he can do so. In his next test, Judge Halden, who presided the court trial of the accident, is chained at the neck to the bottom of a vat. Rotting pig carcasses are dropped into a grinder that slowly fill the pit. Jeff saves him by burning away his son's memorabilia in an incinerator to retrieve a key. His third test involves Timothy Young, the driver who accidentally killed Dylan, who is strapped to a machine that will twist his limbs and head. The key is tied to the trigger of an enclosed shotgun that goes off after Jeff retrieves it, accidentally killing Halden. Jeff fails to save Timothy in time when the machine snaps his neck.
Lynn is forced to perform an improvised surgery to relieve pressure on John's brain. The surgery is successful and Lynn convinces John to order Amanda to remove the collar. However, Amanda refuses and threatens Lynn's life, having become jealous of her interactions with John. John pleads with Amanda, who admits that she no longer believes in his philosophy and had been manipulating her traps to Troy and Kerry. Refusing to listen to John's warnings, Amanda shoots Lynn just as Jeff arrives. Jeff, who is revealed to be Lynn's husband, retaliates by shooting Amanda with a gun provided by John after his tests. As Amanda dies, John reveals that Lynn's test was actually hers: John was aware of her motives and unwilling to allow a murderer to continue his legacy. He then addresses Jeff, offering to call an ambulance for Lynn if he had learned everything from his ordeal, and accept one last test: either killing John or forgiving him. In response, Jeff slashes John's throat with a power saw, activating Lynn's collar as the room is sealed shut. Before dying, John takes out a tape recorder to inform Jeff that his daughter, Corbett was also captured and he must face another test to save her.