Box office Saw V was released in the United States on October 24, 2008 by
Lionsgate Films. In its opening weekend,
Saw V grossed $30,053,954 in 3,060 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking number two at the box office behind
High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It grossed $56,746,769 in the United States and Canada, and an additional $57,117,290 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $113,864,059.
Critical response Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of the franchise. Elizabeth Weizman of the
New York Daily News gave
Saw V one out of five stars. She believed that the lack of Tobin Bell's Jigsaw character hurt the film: "Bell's deliciously twisted madman was the lifeline of this series and, without him, we're left watching a routine horror flick that might as well have gone straight to DVD. The series began with two major assets that set it apart: the concept of a brilliantly righteous executioner, and the actor who played him. Now, aside from Bell's brief, intermittent cameos, it has neither. So where the original
Saw was diabolical fun, this fifth installment is as bloodless as the most unfortunate of Jigsaw's victims." Sam Adams of the
Los Angeles Times wrote that "The virtues of the individual films are almost beside the point, since it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to pick up the thread at this late date, but
Saw V is a particularly dull and discombobulated affair, shot and acted with all the flair of a basic-cable procedural". Some reviews were positive, however. The British website
Digital Spy rated it three out of five stars and commended the film for its "solid acting, slick direction and suitably filthy cinematography too", while also stating it will "make far more sense to those familiar with the previous installments". Jim Vejvoda of
IGN awarded the film with three out of five stars stating that the film ties up most of the loose ends of the previous four installments while also having a more straightforward and less complicated storyline. They also praised the traps for being the most inventive and best that the
Saw franchise has had to offer. ==Home media==