A new image from Spiral: From The Book of Saw shows Chris Rock's lead detective investigating a familiar-looking symbol in an alley. The ninth entry in the long-running franchise is something of a reboot, using the established lore of the Saw universe to tell a new story connected to the previous films. In a surprising development for the comedian, Rock came up with the idea for the story and helped get the film developed as a passion project.

Rock stars as the lead of Spiral: From The Book of Saw, a detective named Zeke Banks, who is investigating murders connected to the Jigsaw killer. The horror-thriller was originally slated for a mid-2020 release, but was pushed back a whole year to May 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first Saw 9 trailer, released before the film's delay, promises a return to the slow-burn mystery of the original, with a new twist that reveals the killer is targeting cops. The stellar cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella and Ali Johnson. Rock and Minghella are the core of the story, though, taking on the familiar form of a world-weary cop and his new, inexperienced, partner.

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Now, Empire has released a new image from the much-anticipated movie, showing Rock investigating a clue in a back alley. He, Minghella and two other detectives are shown looking at the familiar spiral symbol from the franchise, which has given this movie its name, spraypainted on a wall. A sign above the symbol makes it clear the alley is a parking lot for a police precinct, playing up the film's central premise of a killer targeting cops. As you can imagine, none of the cops seem happy about it being there. You can see the full image below:

Saw 9 Image Shows Chris Rock Investigating Murders

This latest image doubles down on the central image of the film, that of the spiral. Clearly, whoever the new killer is, they mark their crime scenes with the spiral, referencing the original Jigsaw killer. The trailer hints that Jackson's detective is likely the first victim of this new killer, but this new image seems to hint that more cops will die before Rock's detective can figure out who's hunting them. There are shades of other cop-baiting thrillers here, with David Fincher's Seven seemingly a big influence.

Whether Spiral: From The Book of Saw can match the heights of the films it references remains to be seen, but the early signs are that it will at least improve on the quality of the last few movies in the Saw franchise. Director Darren Lynn Bousman has expressed his desire to take the franchise in a new direction, including using a new visual approach, and the hope is the script is reflective of the new approach too, re-inventing the franchise rather than rehashing what's come before. Fans will find out just how successful Rock, Bousman and the rest of the creative team have been at achieving their goal this May.

Next: Saw 9 Must Avoid Jigsaw’s Mistakes

Source: Empire Magazine

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