Last year a grisly little horror movie called Saw came out of nowhere to win over the box office (it made over 50 million) and horror fans alike with its creative take on serial killer movies and outright brutality. It kicked-off with a gripping opening scene and took the viewer on an at times cringe inducing ride (be it one with a few glaring plot holes, so-so acting, and way too much emphasis on Danny Glover's detective character). Now, a year later, we look upon the sequel that also opens with an effectively gruesome scene and like it's predecessor preys on the audiences primal fears, but the biggest surprise is how it turns out to be a better movie than the original.

Seems our mind games playing serial killer, "Jigsaw", has returned and after making short work of a police informant in the opening sequence we're introduced to gruff homicide detective Eric Mason (Donnie Wahlberg, brother of Mark and former member of insanely popular 80's boy band New Kids On The Block) who gets into a fight with his teenage son. Not too long after that he's called in to the murder scene and despite being hesitant to get involved he does and they manage to track down "Jigsaw" to his home base within an abandoned steel mill.

"Jigsaw" actually turns out to be a crippled cancer patient going by the name of John (Tobin Bell) who has set up a special new game for our detective as it turns out he's kidnapped Eric's son and locked him in an abandoned house somewhere along with a handful of people who the not-so-law abiding detective had framed (and gotten convicted) in the past.

From there it's Wahlberg's character racing against time and the people trapped within the game getting caught up in various traps (many gruesome and cringe worthy scenes such as when one person has to find a key amongst a pit of syringes) as he has two hours to try and save the people in the house before the nerve gas they've been breathing chokes them to death.

Maintaining the gritty look of the first film and co-written by the original's co-writer/co-star Leigh Whannell, Saw II isn't a pleasant movie going experience (not that it's meant to be) and it works much better than it has any right to considering that it's been dismissed amongst the horror community as a "rush job" sequel. Wahlberg doesn't make much of an impression in his first starring role, but the cast is generally solid and there's plenty of twisted set pieces on hand (some of which are genuinely hard to sit through). Plus director/co-writer Darren Lynn Bousman and Whannel have brought a lot more backstory to the proceedings.

And don't worry about many scenes midway through where logic rears it's ugly head - it's all explained perfectly in the brilliantly twisty finale that not only manages to tie in the first movie quite nicely, but also manages to make a seasoned movie fan like myself smile with glee. (Chris Hartley, 10/30/05)

Directed By: Darren Lynn Bousman.
Written By: Darren Lynn Bousman, Leigh Whannell.

Starring: Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Erik Knudsen.