Spiral (subtitled From the Book of Saw) is a 2021 American horror thriller film[1] directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger.

The film stars Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, and Samuel L. Jackson, and follows police efforts to stop a Jigsaw copycat killer.

Talks of another Saw installment began after the release of the previous film, with Chris Rock wanting to branch out into the horror genre.

The next day, police Captain Angie Garza assigns Detective Zeke Banks a new partner, idealistic rookie William Schenk.

Shortly afterwards, Garza is kidnapped, and placed in a trap in the precinct's cold storage where she has to sever her spinal cord on a blade to stop boiling wax flowing from a pipe onto her face.

Moving to another room, Banks then finds Schenk, who is revealed to have faked his own death by using the skinned corpse of the thief who lured Bozwick into the tunnels, and has been the copycat all along.

He also reveals that Marcus, during his time as chief, deliberately protected corrupt officers to "clean" the streets of crime more efficiently under Article 8.

Believing that Banks can be an ally, Emmerson presents him with a final test, revealing Marcus suspended above the floor and slowly being drained of blood.

Banks shoots the target to save his father, causing his restraints to loosen and lowering him to the ground, and then begins to fight Emmerson.

According to Chris Rock, the origins of Spiral came from a chance meeting with the vice chairman of Lionsgate, Michael Burns, at a friend's wedding in Brazil, and he felt doing something in the horror genre would be a new avenue to take in his career, though he planned to include some comedic elements in the film.

[4] Lionsgate's CEO Joe Drake said that Rock's idea was "completely reverential to the legacy of the material while reinvigorating the brand with his wit, creative vision and passion for this classic horror franchise".

[5] In April 2018, Twisted Pictures was beginning development of a sequel with Jigsaw writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger.

[6] Following the release of Jigsaw, Stolberg and Goldfinger had been pitching a new Saw film focused solely on John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than on any of his established apprentices to series veterans Mark Burg and Oren Koules, but then Burg and Koules called the duo to inform them about Rock's ideas for a new film, with Rock contacting them shortly afterwards to discuss his concept.

Stolberg and Goldfinger did so, and their pitch was approved by both Lionsgate and Rock, leading them to write their first draft, which was greenlit a week after being turned in.

Stolberg also felt that due to the franchise's timeline, any possible connection between John Kramer and William Schenk/the Spiral Killer would have been when the latter was still a child.

Stolberg and Goldfinger proposed a post-credits scene in which Kramer bonds with a young Schenk after the murder of the latter's father, possibly giving him the puppet he later uses as the Spiral Killer.

The original Saw creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell, along with Daniel Heffner, joined Rock as executive producers.

[18] Stolberg also confirmed that the ninth installment would exist in the same canon as the previous eight films, and would not be a reboot or a direct sequel to Jigsaw.

[7] Samuel L. Jackson agreed to play Chief Marcus Banks out of interest in performing a situation he had never done before, like the climactic scene where his character is hung up like a marionette.

[30] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's release was delayed to May 21, 2021, taking the spot previously scheduled for John Wick: Chapter 4.

[40] In the United States and Canada, Spiral was released against Those Who Wish Me Dead, Profile, and Finding You, and was projected to gross $10–15 million from 2,811 theaters in its opening weekend.

It went on to debut to $8.8 million, topping the box office (the sixth time for the series) but marking the lowest opening weekend of the franchise.

"[48] From The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarkye found Spiral to be "a legitimately frightening, if unevenly paced, detective thriller" while also criticizing its screenplay for failing to convey the "potential tensions" between the father-and-son relationship of its main characters.

[49] The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle gave praise to the acting and Spiral's "straightforward but compelling premise," but commented that the voice of the mysterious killer sounded like Kermit the Frog.

"[50] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film one star out of five and criticized its ending, writing that he felt it was "rushed and half-assed" and "stupidly written and worst of all increasingly dull".

[51] Brian Tallerico, in his one-and-a-half-star review for RogerEbert.com, praised the cast but gave the film negative marks for its tone and Darren Lynn Bousman's direction, calling it "downright illegible" for its lack of tension, story, and progression in the plot.

[52] Lena Wilson, of The New York Times, praised the opening scene but found it to be the only good part of the film, concluding "the premise is disingenuous at best and [...] fearmongering at worst.

Rock's involvement brings some new blood to Spiral, but after a promising start, the film just becomes a pretty okay Saw movie with some bigger names than usual—one whose jaundiced lighting and procedural storytelling recall David Fincher's Se7en more than anything.

"[55] Chris Evangelista of /Film gave the film a negative review, stating that "Spiral blunders through its central mystery without grace or style, or even much thought.

He acknowledged the film had potential, saying that "The most frustrating thing about Spiral is that there is a better, smarter movie lurking beneath all the nonsense here; all the quick cuts and speed ramping scenes; all the terrible dialogue that's shouted at full volume.