Saw IV

A microcassette is found in John Kramer's stomach during his autopsy, and reveals to Detective Mark Hoffman that he will be tested. Elsewhere, two men – one with his eyes sewn shut, the other with his mouth sewn shut – awaken in a mausoleum, chained at the neck to a winch. The muted man is able to kill the blinded man to get a key from his collar to free himself.

After Allison Kerry's death in the previous film, a SWAT team led by Hoffman and Officer Daniel Rigg and Kerry's FBI contacts Peter Strahm and Lindsey Perez are at the crime scene. Noting John and Amanda Young's physical limitations, Strahm speculates that a third accomplice was involved and becomes suspicious of Rigg, who has developed an obsession with saving people since the disappearance of detective Eric Matthews. That night, Rigg is attacked in his home; a video from Jigsaw informs he must play a game to overcome his obsession, and that Eric is alive playing a game along with Hoffman.

Rigg finds a pimp named Brenda bound to a chair in his living room, and accidentally activates a trap, which tears her scalp off. He manages to free her, but kills her in self-defense when she attacks him with a knife in order to evade arrest. Rigg is instructed to abduct a motel owner and serial rapist, Ivan Landsness. He forces Ivan into a trap, which requires Ivan to blind both of his eyes in order to escape. Ivan only blinds one of his eyes, and the trap dismembers him. Next, Rigg is led to a school where he once investigated the abuse of a young student, committed by her father. Rigg finds that the student's parents are impaled by metal spikes: Rex, who has already died from blood loss, and his also abused wife Morgan, who has remained alive at his expense by pulling the spikes from both of their bodies. Rigg gives her a key to free herself then turns on a fire alarm and goes to the location of his final test.

Investigating Rigg's apartment, the agents find a clue that leads them to Jill Tuck, John's ex-wife, who reveals that she miscarried her son Gideon when Cecil Adams, a drug addict, slammed a door into her stomach while robbing her rehab clinic. The loss of their son destroyed their marriage and made John become insane. At the motel, the agents learn that the room was rented out to the lawyer Art Blank, John's partner from his previous work and the survivor of the mausoleum trap from the beginning of the film. Art is revealed to be the man overseeing the current game when he hands Eric a gun. At the school, Strahm and Perez find a puppet, whose face explodes and sends shrapnel into Perez' face. After she is hospitalized, Strahm questions Jill and learns how John ended his work with Art after falling into his depression, and that Cecil became the first victim of John's "games". Strahm connects her story and a prior clue to the Gideon Meatpacking Plant, the location of Rigg's final test.

Strahm arrives after Rigg, but ends up following Jeff Denlon, the protagonist in Saw III. He finds him in the sickroom from the previous film, with the dead corpses of John, Amanda and others lying around, and kills Jeff. Meanwhile, Art pulls out a device which will free him, Eric, and Hoffman once the timer expires; if used before then, a pair of pincers will sever his spine. Rigg finds them and is yelled at and ultimately shot by Eric to prevent him from entering the room too early, but as he breaks in, two ice blocks crush Eric's head. Rigg shoots and kills Art, believing he is responsible for the game, only to learn from Art's tape recorder that his interference and continued obsession to save people, while they should have saved themselves, caused Eric's death. Hoffman, the actual accomplice, releases himself from the chair, but leaves Rigg to bleed to death. He then seals Strahm in the sickroom, and leaves the plant. The scene then cuts to Hoffman at the morgue, revealing that John's autopsy took place after the events of the film.

Saw IV’s writers were Thomas Fenton, Marcus Dunstan, and Patrick Melton.[3] There was also a hunt for a director before it was officially stated that Darren Lynn Bousman, who had originally passed on it, would again direct the fourth installment, with creators and executive producers James Wan and Leigh Whannell also returning.[4][5] Principal photography took from April 16, 2007[6] to May 3, 2007.[7] The filming location was Toronto, Ontario;[8] the same place where both Saw II[9] and Saw III[10] were filmed. The post-production period began on 19 May.[11]

In an interview with Bousman, he stated that the last work on Saw IV would happen in August to be able to have prints made.[5] At Comic Con Intermeational 2007, it was revealed by Bousman and producer Mark Burg that the MPAA had given the film an NC-17 rating. They would have to figure out whether or not to cut the film to achieve an R rating or release it as an NC-17 film,[12] the former of which they accomplished.[13]

Lionsgate held its fourth annual “Give Til It Hurts” blood drive for the Red Cross.[14]

The Unrated Director's Cut was released on January 22, 2008 in America and March 3, 2008 in the UK, on DVD and Blu-ray. An "Extreme Edition" was released in the United Kingdom only, before the release of Saw V in October 2008,[25][26] and features a 95-minute running time of the film. This version of the film matches the unrated version released in the United States[27] (since the BBFC have to classify every film by law, the term 'unrated' is not permitted on UK home video releases).

The soundtrack was released on October 23, 2007 by WEA/Warner Bros. Records. The film's theme song "I.V." was written by Yoshiki and performed by the rock group X Japan.[28]

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