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Franky G, left, Emmanuelle Vaugier and Timothy Burd in "Saw II."Review
'Saw II' sequel has all the blood -- but not enough guts
Serial killer thriller has its moments, but overall it can't surpass twists of last year's horror flick.
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Not surprisingly, "Saw II" lacks quite a bit of the cutting edge that made the original such a guilty, grisly pleasure last year.
It does, on the other hand, offer some solid tips on how to make sure you will indeed be killed if captured by a psychotic serial killer. Those include:
• If you are given an audio tape that offers clues to the way you might escape, ignore every one of those clues and instead run around screaming hysterically.
• When captured along with a number of other people, be sure to turn on one another immediately, drawing actual blood whenever possible.
• Lastly, spend as much energy as you can trying to yank open doors that are obviously bolted shut. This will give your lats a good workout and get your adrenaline pumping so you'll be able to continue to scream hysterically.
Most of us, unfortunately, will never be captured by a psychotic serial killer, so we'll have to learn these lessons vicariously by watching "Saw II," the quickie Halloween follow-up to last year's Halloween fright success.
The original had some nice things going for it -- subtle acting not being among them -- including maniacal contraptions and terrible puzzles that had to be solved for self-preservation. Most folks did not end up preserving themselves.
With "Saw II," though, we get a far more typical "Ten Little Indians" slasher plot, in which a bundle of people are trapped in a house and die one by one. Jason from "Friday the 13th" might as well be walking around with a machete.
That's not to say the movie completely lacks surprises. There are a few near the end, and they're even moderately nifty. But you have to sit through a lot of standard fare to get to them.
Tobin Bell returns as the serial killer Jigsaw. Not to say this is typecasting, but in 1995 he starred as the title character in a movie called "Serial Killer." You wonder if he's married.
Donnie Wahlberg plays the cop who's out to bust Jigsaw. This is partly because he just likes to bust serial killers but also, because Donnie's son is one of those hysterical screaming people trapped in the house, which has, of course, been masterminded by Jigsaw.
Shawnee Smith also returns, being the only person to escape one of Jigsaw's traps in the original movie. Despite this accomplishment, she, too, somehow forgets to follow the clues provided. Oh, well. Nobody's perfect.
Everything is absurdly far-fetched, stretched and gory in "Saw II," which may make it a major hit among horror fans. There are certainly buckets of blood to be enjoyed as well as all that screaming. But overall, this is precisely the quickie grab-the-cash sequel you expect it to be.
You can reach Tom Long at (313) 222-8879 or tlong@detnews.com.
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