film | A bloody mess

Occupying space in the filofax of lame horror sequels alongside Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, The Ring Two and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, SAW II arrives bloody fast on the heels of 2004's Saw, which was a low-budget bit of unscary schlock that inexplicably grossed 45 times its estimated $1.2 million price tag. Weak acting and clunky staging ultimately botched Saw's admittedly intriguing set-up, but at least it felt like a finished movie. Comparatively, Saw II unfolds in the amateurish haze of a rushed community-theater rehearsal that just happened to occur in front of a film crew.

Former New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg plays a hard-boiled detective (yawn) on the trail of Saw's still-at-large villain (Tobin Bell), a crafty headcase called Jigsaw whose modus operandi involves sticking societal miscreants in elaborate deathtrap mechanisms in order to teach them a lesson or whatever. (Think Dr. Phil, only more evil and pretentious.) Too bad his victims don't survive often enough to learn much, which is disheartening news for his latest batch of bad-egg "experiments" — including Wahlberg's klepto son (Erik Knudsen) and a spunky junkie (Shawnee Smith) from Saw uno — who find themselves locked in a Jigsaw-designed funhouse that includes such outrageous attractions as the Easy-Bake Crematorium Oven, the Bottomless Pit o' Drug Needles, and Mr. Toad's Wild Wrist-Lacerating Apparatus.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman douses the action in an acid-trippy visual commotion that clashes with the understated atmosphere of Seven-esque clinical terror he's shooting for, and his screenplay (with original Saw writer/co-star Leigh Whannell) also subscribes to empty chaos. Sure, indiscriminate fans of gore won't mind the tenuous characters, puzzling plot twists or roughhewn story threads, and they'll probably lick their lips with anticipation when the finale (weakly) establishes a premise for a third installment. But for the rest of us, the score for now is Saw II, audience zero. D+