Spoiler Alert: This review contains plot spoilers.

It pains me to say that I’m disappointed after waiting seven years for the new installment of the “Saw” franchise. Now, if you’re a fan of horror movies in general, then you’ll probably like “Jigsaw.” It contains all the ingredients of a good slasher flick: blood, gore and suspense. But I grew up with “Saw,” so perhaps my expectations were a bit unrealistic.

“Jigsaw” is set ten years after the death of infamous killer John Kramer, “Saw”‘s original psychopath. Police chase down a man who claims a game will be starting soon with the lives of five people on the line. Soon enough, in comes the bodies with jigsaw pieces cut from their skin.

Investigations uncover that DNA left at the scenes and under victims’ fingernails belong to Kramer himself. Cue the gasps from everyone in the theatre. Seriously? In “Saw III,” Kramer’s throat was very clearly slit with a saw blade. We watched the autopsy in “Saw IV.”

Come on, guys, he’s dead.

What bothered me the most about “Jigsaw” was the lack of connectivity to the previous films. For the most part, each new film progresses the story of the last. Plus, even if the events of the next movie occur in the future, there’s always some reference to the previous, whether in flashbacks in mentions of an old character’s name.

Remember Dr. Lawrence Gordon? Detective Mark Hoffman? Both apprentices of Kramer appeared in the final scene of “Saw 3D: The Final Chapter.” Gordon left Hoffman to die in the iconic bathroom where Gordon sawed off his own foot in the first movie. Everyone was hoping that actor Cary Elwes’s name was deliberately left off of the cast list so he could surprise audiences by reprising his role as Gordon.

I understand that 10 years have passed, but still there is not a single flashback or mention of Gordon or any of Jigsaw’s apprentices. In fact, the only actor from any of the previous seven films who returned for the eighth was Tobin Bell, who plays Kramer. The audience is forced to abandon the complex story line that the franchise worked for six years to establish.

The plot itself is a little interesting, but it’s nothing special. The plot resembled previous films a little too closely. I’m not the first person to say that the film’s main game was incredibly similar to the one in “Saw V.” But it was one of the first things I noticed at the theater. Five people who have not faced consequences for their detrimental mistakes are forced into a series of violent “games.” They should be working together; instead they choose to argue to their deaths. Fun little story there, but we saw that three movies ago.

The one redeeming quality of “Jigsaw” was Bell’s performance as the Jigsaw killer. He’s deranged and intimidating, but oddly caring at the same time.

If you watch the “Saw” films for the blood and guts instead of the storyline, then you’ll most likely enjoy “Jigsaw.” I love gory films, but I also love continuity. As Jigsaw would say, “make your choice,” but to me, “Saw 3D: The Final Chapter” should have really been the final chapter.

Rating: 3/5 stars