The Spierig Brothers Spill to Student Edge About Bringing “Jigsaw” Back to Bloody Life

Nothing stays dead in Hollywood. Especially not fictional psychotic murderers.

However, you can thank two Aussies for the latest revival of horror icon Jigsaw, who is seemingly back and up to his old tricks (and traps) in the aptly-titled Jigsaw.

Sydney’s Michael and Peter Spierig are the latest directors to pump blood through the Saw franchise’s briefly-lifeless veins.

And then some.

"We’re still doing what we did on our first film, which is basically throwing buckets of blood against the wall," Peter tells Student Edge.

Having made a name for themselves with local productions Undead, Daybreakers and Predestination, the brothers are ready to make a bigger splash with Jigsaw, the eighth Saw flick (and first in seven years).

Their hiring is a no-brainer when you consider Saw originated in the minds of two other ‘Strayans: James Wan (now the man behind Furious 7 and The Conjuring saga) and Leigh Whannell, with whom the Spierigs were in “constant contact” while making Jigsaw.

Their Australian-ness means more than you may realise. As Michael says, "Aussies are trained pretty well to be resourceful and clever with the tools that they have."

Sound familiar?

"And while Saw is one of the most successful—if not the most successful—horror franchise ever, it’s still not a huge budget movie and you have to be resourceful and smart with what you have, so I think that lends itself well to the Australian independent film industry mentality."

It also helps that the Spierigs’ last picture, Predestination, might be the only recent feature to rival Saw’s twisted, time-bending, self-swallowing narrative.

And, as a bonus, their early projects were suitably gory exercises in spilling litres and litres of fake blood.

"Daybreakers was a total bloodbath," Peter remembers.

"[On Jigsaw] we tried to do as much blood and stuff for real as possible," he adds, concerningly.

(We’re assuming by "real" he means using fake blood instead of CGI, and not robbing blood banks blind just for some extra-convincing special effects.)

The Spierigs are hoping to bring the series back from the brink of despair, having been tempted by a screenplay that presented "a slightly less grim and grotesque version of the franchise."

"Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of gore and blood and guts in the film," Peter insists.

"But as the franchise went along, it got bloodier and gorier and more violent and that’s not what we were interested in. We were interested in telling the mystery of the story."

As you can even tell from the trailer, the Spierigs are trying to have a bit more fun with the darkly comedic aspects of Jigsaw’s elaborate, morality-challenging traps.

Not that it’s all about the yuks.

"There are moments in the film that have a sort-of levity," Peter says.

"The franchise got very, very serious and by no means is Jigsaw a comedy; not in the least. But even in the first Saw, there’s moments of comedy.

"I think sometimes people forget that."

The question is, after seven years in the grave, will audiences want more of Jigsaw’s antics? And will they want enough to justify an eventual ninth instalment in the thirteen-year-old saga?

The Spierigs insist there’s room on the menu for more. It just depends on our appetite.

"Nobody is thinking that [Jigsaw] is a one-off; [that we] can’t continue the story," Peter says.

"But we will see. No one knows that for sure until we see if people buy tickets."

Jigsaw arrives in Australian cinemas November 2.

Photo: Studio Canal