the film is a hideous, tedious, blood-splattered mess that deals in cop-movie cliches; Even the "torture porn" murders have lost their gross-out value, and are now just brutal
it's torture watching Chris Rock in "Spiral," the latest chapter in the gory, gross, non-sensical "Saw" series or horror films which is long past its expiration date
it's all so rushed and half-assed, like it was cobbled together on the fly rather than intricately plotted out, stupidly written and worst of all increasingly dull, a fitting end to a rotten pile of guts that's less book of Saw and more novelisation
it spirals downward into a ludicrous, dumbed-down horror story more concerned with grossing out the audience than in providing any compelling reason for this long-running franchise to keep chugging along, leaving a trail of blood in its wake
Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson are great, the rest, not so much; In fact, it's never entirely clear who "Spiral" has been made for; it's neither gory enough to satisfy the hardcore "Saw" set, nor ambitious enough to entertain as a procedural thriller
a ragged primal scream about police brutality and corruption that's unfortunately unintelligible; Though plenty gory, there's no suspense or even scares to speak of in "Spiral", as the story just sort of happens at the audience rather than drawing us in
"Spiral" returns to the roots of the franchise, with its Se7en-like grungy aesthetic and grisly murders that nourish the cravings of extremity horror hounds
"Spiral" makes an admirable stab at defibrillating an old franchise — but ultimately wastes its stars, caught in the same bear-trap of a formula that befell earlier sequels
"Spiral" doesn't reinvent the "Saw" franchise; it merely picks up the central "trap" theme and transplants it into the narrative structure of a "CSI" episode. It's hammy and predictable, where it should be lean and nasty
by Kevin Maher [The Times (UK) ]
by Richard Roeper [Chicago Sun-Times ]
by Katie Walsh [Tribune News Service ]
by Mick LaSalle [San Francisco Chronicle ]
by Jenny Nulf [Austin Chronicle ]
