Movie review
May 12, 2021 · 93 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Spiral: From the Book of Saw.
Woke representation / casting
Prominent Black leads Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson appear in a modern urban police setting that fits the story naturally with no visible diversity quotas or identity signaling.
Woke political dialogue
Some lines address police corruption and the isolation of a whistleblower cop, but the talk stays procedural and avoids activist-style lectures or identity framing.
Identity-driven story themes
The core conflict involves institutional corruption and personal revenge through twisted justice, but it never ties into modern race, gender, or social-justice identity politics.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows police corruption as the killer’s target and reflects 2021 timing, yet the critique stays surface-level and muddled without activist reframing of systemic issues or anti-conservative messaging.
Review
Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a 2021 horror spin-off in the Saw series directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. It follows brash Detective Zeke Banks, played by Chris Rock, and his rookie partner as they investigate a copycat killer using Jigsaw-style traps to target corrupt officers in their police department. The story includes a surface-level look at police corruption and institutional failure that felt timely in 2021, but the film stays a straightforward horror thriller with no strong identity-driven or activist messaging.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Every character and plot element is original to this standalone story.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A small number of right-leaning voices called the premise anti-cop or “Defund the Police: The Movie,” but such complaints remained limited and secondary to widespread quality criticism.
Creator track record context
The main creative team has built careers on commercial horror and thrillers with zero documented patterns of identity-driven or activist work.
Production
