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The great thing about a director's cut - for both the director and the viewing audience - is that it gives both a chance to re-witness the film in a whole new light. A lot of director's cuts add nothing more than a few useless, extra minutes of dialogue that ultimately amounts to very little within the context of the movie. But if the Saw series' prior DCs indicated anything, it is that you give the audience a taste of the film theatrically, but deliver the crucial blow for its home release.

David Hackl's Saw V is no different. Whereas the theatrical release was tame and near-vapid, the director's cut is meatier, riskier, and more enthralling. That's not to say it is the series' crowning achievement, but Hackl's director's cut is certainly better than the rated print. One of the biggest problems with the theatrical edit was not character development or plot; it was the lack of gore. There is more plot to be found here, to be sure, but there is also quite a bit more gore. Saw V's opening trap went from a mass of cut-aways theatrically to becoming, what could be, one of the most horrific death scenes in Saw history. Other notable additions are a bloodier conclusion and a lengthened-to-the-point-of-nausea "hand-saw" trap.

Moreover, the added bits of exposition help the film even if it didn't really need them. Some scenes have been rearranged to better fit the tone and pace of this cut and some characters are made (if ever so slightly) more memorable. I can't say I noticed a lot of the differences without consulting the commentary (there are actually quite a few changes), but upon noting what was added and switched around, I felt it served the film much better in the end.

Granted, a few of the bigger problems found in the theatrical edit are still present here; the biggest offender being an ending that doesn't quite resonate. I'm sure everyone who saw the picture in theaters knew how it would end way before its closing minutes and, quite frankly, that's inexcusable for a film of this brand. The story in and of itself is also quite useless. We want to see more Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and less Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). And as a huge Saw fan, I could care less about Special Agent Strahm's (Scott Patterson) and Hoffman's cat-and-mouse game. It feels rather flavorless and out of place. Even the main game being played - which mirrored that of the (far superior) game in Saw II - held no deeper meaning and granted no deeper insights into the pathos of Jigsaw or even the film itself. A grand disappointment.

But the things that have been fixed and reworked – like Hackl’s previously lifeless visuals and the picture's subdued death scenes – are much welcomed. I walked away from my initial viewing of this Blu-ray feeling much more satisfied than I did with the theatrical print and I am thankful for both the added gore and exposition. The additional scenes of bloodshed is what really saves this from being the humdrum Saw sequel that it was initially, and I’m happy to see that there were, in fact, cuts made to secure an R-rating. My other, less signifcant vexation with the theatrical print, was that it felt so generic in comparison to Darren Lynn Bousman's previous Saw sequels. This director’s cut does a great job of remedying that.

Cutting to the chase, though, Hackl's cut may offer up substantial amounts of added gore and deeper characterization, but non-fans or casual fans of the series will hate this cut or any other cut of the film with a passion. The director's preffered version or not, this will do nothing to change the minds' of the uninitiated. Less focused on the franchise's trademark traps and their accompanying mayhem, and more about delivering solid story structure and backstory, Saw V is an ambitious if slightly misguided affair.

For the diehard Saw fan who plunked down their hard-earned dough last Halloween to catch the latest sequel in this seemingly never-ending horror series, this particular cut is well worth owning despite the entry it houses not being at full strength. Despite some rather glaring shortcomings, Saw V is better than about 80% of the available mainstream horror flicks already on the market. If you're an open-minded fan willing to look past these flaws, Hackl's cut is a marked improvement over the initial print.

7/10