Spiral: Chris Rock featured in new image, director compares film to Seven

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

When the first Saw (watch it HERE) was released in 2004, the film drew a lot of comparisons to David Fincher's Seven, the crime thriller released nine years earlier. While writer/star Leigh Whannell could see the similarities, he said he and director James Wan "never really felt Seven was that close to our film". On May 21st, we're supposed to be getting a new entry in the Saw franchise with Spiral: From the Book of Saw, and this time around director Darren Lynn Bousman is openly saying he wanted his movie to be like Seven.

Speaking with Empire, Bousman said that Spiral star/executive producer Chris Rock came to Lionsgate with 

a thriller concept. He pitched this very elaborate, dense idea. We wanted it to feel much more like Seven. But it has so many ties to the mythos of Saw."

Bousman previously directed Saw II, III, and IV. Jigsaw writers Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg fleshed Rock's story idea out into a screenplay. The film's synopsis: 

A sadistic mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in SPIRAL, the terrifying new chapter from the book of SAW. Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran (Samuel L. Jackson), brash Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner William Schenk (Max Minghella) take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.

Bousman went on to tell Empire that Rock did bring some comic relief into the mix, and that Spiral isn't going to be as gory as some of his earlier Saw movies.

I was a younger person. Gore and violence was the gimmick, I think. Gore and violence is no longer a gimmick – it just serves the story. This is much more about character, tension and fear."

Even with that element toned down, Spiral was still given an R rating for "sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, pervasive language, some sexual references, and brief drug use."

In addition to Samuel L. Jackson and Max Minghella, Rock is joined in the cast by Nazneen Contractor as a coroner who works closely with Zeke, and Marisol Nichols as his boss, Captain Angie Garza.

Mark Burg and Oren Koules produced Spiral, while Daniel Heffner earned an executive producer credit alongside Rock, Whannell, and Wan. Whannell has said that he and Wan didn't have any involvement with the production, they only have credits because they created the franchise.

Empire got their hands on a new image from Spiral: From the Book of Saw, and you can see it right here: