Film fans have well and truly torn apart a thriller which has been described as a 'Christian version of Saw'.
For almost two decades, the Jigsaw Killer has captivated viewers with his horrendously vile yet incredibly smart traps, playing God as he decides who lives and who dies.
He does sometimes offer his victims a chance to escape, but it usually requires those in traps to torture either themselves or others in order to be free.
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In the 2015 film The Reconciler, however, 'redemption is the only way out'.
If that sounds like a bit of you, watch the trailer below:
Directed by Shawn Justice, the thriller tells the story of an 'intriguing stranger' who tries to bring estranged friends and family members together again.
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In doing so, characters find themselves being kidnapped and waking up in random places, like an abandoned warehouse or the middle of the woods, with no memory of how they got there. Very Jigsaw-esque, if you ask me.
Each of the characters is tasked with figuring out a 'puzzle' to escape - the answer to which is the ability to find room in their heart for forgiveness. Slightly less Jigsaw-esque, but dramatic all the same.
Erin Allen, Michaelle Blanchard, Frank Chiesurin, Dan Davis, Levi Davis and Scott Galbraith are among those who star in the film, as is the late former wrestler Roddy Piper, but as you've probably figured out by now, it wasn't the start of a years-long franchise like Saw.
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It seems viewers just didn't go for the more wholesome motivations behind the kidnappings, and as a result the reviews are, well, not great.
Sharing their thoughts, one viewer wrote: "Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Saw was a Christian movie? Well, here you go. It's as awful as you'd expect."
Another wrote: "There's a serial kidnapper going around and inconveniencing people and making them make nice on their intrapersonal beefs (beeves?).
"There's also a woman going about interviewing religious people about how the world isn't as good as it used to be and everyone needs to be more into Jesus.
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"No interesting things happen on screen and most of the movie is people talking about God or telling a story that would be more interesting to actually see, but no we just see a bunch of boring Jesusy people talking the whole time. 1/10, kind of good bad at times but not worth it."
One out of 10 obviously isn't a rating to strive for, but one viewer felt even that was generous as they said the film deserved 'it's own tier of awfulness'.
Given the response, we should probably just stick with the actual Saw.
Topics: Film and TV, Viral
Emily Brown