Hello. We're going to play a game. You are a Hollywood marketing type. Your decisions resonate worldwide. You are responsible for the Saw franchise. You will be tied to this chair and poked with this fork until you change the title of Saw VII back from **Saw 3D: The Traps Come Alive.
For Saw 3D: The Traps Come Alive is now what we're to call the, apparently, final instalment in the labyrinthine horror series, according to Shock Till You Drop. Because, you see, it's in 3D, and the traps will.. never mind. The info comes from some press materials for Comic Con, and Shock, who couldn't quite believe it, say they've had this confirmed by Lionsgate studio reps.
Really? If it's true, then this joins 5nal Destination (which either looks like "anal" or "sinal", depending on who you believe about where the 5 goes) as one of the worst titles of the year. It sounds like a Peter Frampton album. Lionsgate might as well go all out and give it the exclamation mark.
But what seems likely to us, we hope, for the love of sanity, is that this is a misunderstanding, and that** The Traps Come Alive (!)** is the tagline and not a subtitle. Saw VI's was "The game comes full circle". Saw V's was "You won't believe how it ends". Saw IV's was the Admiral Ackbar-friendly "It's a trap". You see where we're going with this? None of those were much good, but none of them were part of the title.
All, presumably, will be revealed Comic Con where the first footage will be shown and the panel will be shouted at by fans. Whatever it's called, the seventh Saw film, starring Tobin Bell and directed by Kevin Greutert in stereoscopic three dimensions, is out in the UK on October 29th. That's the same opening day as Machete, Let Me In and Burke and Hare. Tough slot.
UPDATE: Yup, we were right. Shock got back on the phone and talked to producer Mark Burg, who clarified thus: "'The traps come alive' is simply a tagline* *that was added in and misinterpreted. Most of our movies have taglines. With shooting in the 3D process, the traps really do come alive and we wanted that clear in the campaign. But the title of the film is Saw 3D."