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‘Spiral’ signals the death of ‘torture porn’ — good riddance!

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I found myself in a strange place Wednesday night — at a movie theater watching the ninth film in the “Saw” franchise. Generally speaking, after …
I found myself in a strange place Wednesday night — at a movie theater watching the ninth film in the “Saw” franchise. Generally speaking, after the fourth or fifth entry in an appalling, disgusting, empty-headed horror series, there is no point in reviewing them anymore. You saw one, you saw ’em all. But the new film, called “Spiral,” was intriguing. It stars funnyman Chris Rock and actor Samuel L. Jackson. And director Darren Lynn Bousman said in an interview that “this film will be less focused on violence and gore.” How is that possible? In “Saw III,” a man was drowned in liquified rotted pig carcasses. Where George A. Romero was trying to reflect social ills in “Night of the Living Dead,” “Saw” was putting Porky in a blender. However, save for some on-brand icky scenes (a dude’s tongue is ripped out before he’s hit by a subway), “Spiral” is indeed more restrained and considerate than previous installments. It comes off as a police procedural drama rather than the same-old nauseating mutilation fest.

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