Saw XI seems unlikely as uncertainty surrounds the sequel’s status. Escaping one of Jigsaw’s traps would be easier than untangling the proposed film’s developmental woes.
Fans can always watch the previous entries in the franchise until ensnared by something new. Or, they can choose to keep waiting or enjoy an older series featuring a compelling antiheroic villain who loves setting deadly traps for foes he feels deserve them: Vincent Price’s nefarious Dr. Anton Phibes.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Jigsaw wasn’t the first quirky character to punish the wicked with off-the-wall gimmicks. In the 1920s, the musically cultured theologian Dr. Anton Phibes suffers disfigurement in the car crash that takes his beloved wife Victoria’s life. Presumed dead, Phibes plans biblical revenge on the surgeons who failed to save her - literally. Phibes unleashes his psychotically updated version of the Ten Plagues of Egypt on his victims. Horror fans can recoil at darkly satirical steampunk-esque traps displaying blood, hail, locusts, and frogs, concluding with the death of the firstborn.
Adding to the weirdness is the “reconstructed” Phibes hiding his burned visage under a clunky disguise that restores his original looks but not his speech. He speaks through a victrola device, evoking the mechanical Billy the Puppet.
The debut film did not initially perform well at the box office but became a hit after AIP tweaked the advertising campaign. The receipts paved the path for a sequel.
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Dr. Phibes returns and gets snared in the same trap as Jigsaw: a weak sequel. In Rises Again, Dr. Phibes packs his bags and victrola for Egypt, hunting the River of Life to resurrect his late wife, but faces Robert Quarry’s immortality-obsessed Darius Biederbeck. Is there room for two maniacs on the River of Life? While lesser characters meet garish ends in Phibes’ oddball traps- raging scorpions, spike-driving telephones, impaling bird cages, and crushing sarcophagi - Biederbeck embraces fiendish defiance.
Like Saw II, we get a ghastly retread. AIP’s executives, horrified at the film’s pace, cut director Robert Fuest’s vision, thinning Biederbeck’s character depth. The film didn’t rise above the original’s impressive box office haul, but the returns were far from abominable.
Theatre of Blood (1973)
While producing a third film had more pitfalls than a Phibes trap, signing Vincent Price to a project riffing on Phibes shuffled forward with little ado. Shot in Britain and released by big-league distributor United Artists, the Phibes-like Theatre of Blood is Price's masterpiece, a gory tour-de-farce about a quirky, homicidal thespian’s vengeance. Price shines as Edward Lionheart, a hammy Shakespearean actor who condemns carping critics to macabre demises staged in the bard’s plays.
Bizarre poetic justice death traps channel Phibes' dark absurdity and Jigsaw's bleak irony when Lionheart's emotes heart-wrenching - and heart-removing - vengeance from The Merchant of Venice's "pound of flesh." Jigsaw reimagines the reference for a gruesome flesh-weighing trap in Saw VI to avenge predatory lending victims.
Theatre of Blood bestowed Diana Rigg a featured role as Lionheart’s daughter Edwina, who vengefully echoes Phibes’ assistant Vulnavia. Rigg relished playing a conflicted villain pursuing cruelly ironic justice for her maligned father, rising above a generic one-note lackey.
Traps (and Films) Never Sprung
The Saw and Dr. Phibes franchises had their development bumps. Several Saw sequel and spinoff concepts faced rejection, joining the fates of The Brides of Phibes, Phibes Resurrectus, and Dr. Phibes in the Holy Land in the what-could-have-been file.
Other unmade projects involved crossover gimmicks. Vincent Price and Phibes could carry a film without help, so a Dr. Phibes vs. Count Yorga idea stalled at the pitch stage. And we’ll never know who’d win the briefly considered Count Yorga meets Blacula face-off. Wrongheaded fan wishcasting laments no executive took Jigsaw vs Evil Dead’s Ash seriously.
Speculation hints Lionsgate may sell the Jigsaw franchise to another studio, opening doors for a Saw reboot. Will fans accept someone new in the Jigsaw role? Possibly, if enough time passes. Brilliant casting helps. Unfounded rumors suggest Johnny Depp almost became the new Dr. Phibes. Who knows? Depp may become the next Jigsaw one day.