In recent years there has been one thing you can pretty much guarantee is going to happen in the movie world. Just as December always signals a flurry of Christmas movies October means another movie from the "Saw" franchise. Since the initial "Saw" movie was released in October 2004 we have had another sequel added each October ready for Halloween. Sadly in recent years the "Saw" franchise has shown that it is starting to run out of steam but the first "Saw" sequel "Saw II" is definitely one of the better movies in the franchise and is as clever and original as the first.

In "Saw II" the sinister Jigsaw (Tobin Bell - The Quick and the Dead) returns but he is now dying from cancer and allows himself to get caught by Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg - The Sixth Sense) who is investigating one of his murders. But not all is as it seems as Eric's son; Daniel (Erik Knudsen) has been taken hostage with a group of seven other people, all of whom have been locked in a house of horrors which is slowly filling up with a poisonous nerve gas. Jigsaw promises to spare Daniels life if Eric will follow the rules of his sinister game. But with time running out, the desperate group of hostages furiously try to solve the puzzles set by Jigsaw in the hope of getting their hands on an antidote as well as trying to work out their connection to each other.

The first thing which is worth mentioning is that "Saw II" is as good, if not better, than "Saw", which is far too often not the case when it comes to sequels. All those things which made the original so interesting are again used to great effect in this sequel. The suspense is still there, the gory traps are as ingenious as ever and most importantly is the plot is still as important and twisted as the first. That is part of the reason why the early "Saw" movies stand out from the crowd as although they have more than their fair share of very graphic, twisted deaths there is always a prominent storyline to provide a meaning rather than being visual porn for the gore groupies.

What I really like about "Saw II" is that the storyline not only manages to connect to the first movie but also steps out on its own so that you can watch it without needing to know all the ins and outs from the first. There is always a sense when watching "Saw II" that you are never sure what you are watching, whether it is real, happening then or some twisted part of a bigger plan. It's absolutely great and causes you to really pay attention so that you can pick up on all those trinkets of information which get delivered at various points through out the movie. But then when you think that maybe you have got it all sussed, that you know what is happening it turns the whole thing on its head and you are left wondering how the heck you missed the clues. It is true to say that "Saw" and "Saw II" featured intelligent storylines which is not something you usually say about movies within the horror genre, especially those which have a seemingly lust for visual gore.

The nature of the "Saw" franchise dictates that a major draw is the actual sadistic traps/games which Jigsaw employs and "Saw II" certainly doesn't let the franchise down. The house where are hostages are entombed is laden with ingenious traps all of which are designed with one specific character in mind, be it a pitfall of syringes or a chamber full of flames. This is why "Saw II" is not just a case of gore for gores sake; these traps are developed for a specific task often to deal with someone's past crimes. Plus although you can enjoy "Saw II" without seeing the first there is an inspired tie in to it when it comes to a specific scene.

Although Donnie Walberg stars as Detective Eric Matthews and does a fine job of playing the grizzled cop who discovers that he has become a part of Jigsaws latest games, the real star is Tobin Bell as Jigsaw. In "Saw II" Jigsaw receives a lot more screen time and we get to understand why he sets up these traps but still leaves us with an edge of mystery as to the complete reasoning for his actions and who he targets. Tobin Bell has done a marvellous job of making Jigsaw an iconic character in the world of horror despite not doing much more than making him mysteriously sinister.

As for the other characters, mainly those who are stuck in the house of horrors, well the actors do an adequate job but as for the most the characters are only there to provide meat for the next torture sequence and so character history is not always focussed upon. Never the less, each of them does a good job of dying when the time comes. This leads onto my only real criticism of "Saw II"; sometimes it would have been nice to get a stronger reasoning as to why someone has been chosen to run the gauntlet of Jigsaws' games but this is just a small criticism of a very good modern horror.

What this all boils down to is that "Saw II" is a very good sequel and continues all the good work which was set up in the first movie. Yes it is at times very graphical and if you don't like watching what is basically torturous and graphical death scenes then it won't be for you. But compared too many modern horrors which rely on gore rather than story "Saw II" is a much better movie which will have you concentrating on the unwinding story right from the start. Sadly the "Saw" franchise has gone down hill since and for me it is the first two movies in the franchise which remain the best.