Spine Cutters

## Design and Function

This trap device was attached to the victim's back with a leather harness. It was an elongated contraption with two pliers at its upper end. These pliers were aimed at the victim's neck and would cut his spine if he didn't follow the orders given to them. After passing their first Test the victim was given a tape recorder with instructions from them, they would have to set up a Game for another victim. If the second victim passed their own Test other victim would go free. (*Saw IV)*

## History

### Art Blank's Test

The victim of this trap was Art Blank, the former lawyer, partner and friend of John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer. After surviving his first test in a mausoleum, Art obtained a file and an audio tape with further instructions for another game. Afterwards, his wounds from the first game were stitched up and he was forced to wear the **Spine Cutters** on his back, which would kill him if he refused to obey Jigsaw's orders. Within the next two weeks, he was forced to prepare a game for Jigsaw, which would focus on Daniel Rigg, an officer obsessed with saving everyone around him, as well as several of Art's own clients. Therefore, he built a trap designed for Brenda, a pimp who he once successfully defended for her crimes. Six days before the game began, he rented a room at the run-down Alexander Motel, which was owned by Ivan Landsness, another one of his clients who he got acquitted of rape three times. During the time of his stay at the motel, he smuggled several components into the room one by one and used them to set up another trap for Ivan.

### Rigg's Final Test

However, as the game progressed, Eric begged Art to shoot him as he didn't want to play the game any longer. Therefore, Hoffman angrily yelled at him and told him to be quiet. Later on, Eric pretended to be unconscious. When Hoffman told Art to take a look at him, Art became worried and tried to wake Eric up. Eric then attacked him and therefore fell off the ice block again. While struggling with him, Art forced him back on the block and told him that he wasn't the one that Eric should worry about. Furthermore, he told them that all of them were going to be free if Rigg passed his test, revealing that he was merely another victim on his own. Following the instructions Jigsaw provided for him some time earlier, Art gave Eric a gun and a bullet and told him that he had the choice if he wanted to live or to die.

At some point however Art started to become nervous when he saw the mechanism above Eric's head. This mechanism was connected to two large ice blocks attached to mechanical arms suspended from the ceiling. When he saw the chain which connected the mechanism with the door of the room, Art realized that the ice blocks would swing down and therefore crush Eric's head if the door was opened before a 90-minute timer went off. Therefore, they had to prevent Rigg, who was on his way to the plant already, from entering the room before the clock expired. As the timer was ticking down, Art, Hoffman and Eric started to panic. Eric yelled at Art and demanded him to tell them who was coming. However, Art ignored them and just kept his eye on the surveillance monitors. When he took off his jacket, he revealed the trap attached to his body. Furthermore, he took out a button and told the detectives that it would free them once the time went off.

Only minutes later, Officer Rigg finally arrived at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant and reached the room where his friends were trapped. Eric yelled at him not to open the door. Ignoring his warning, Rigg burst through the door with only one second left on the clock and was shot in the chest by Eric in the process, as a final attempt to keep him from entering. When he opened the door, Art approached him and was therefore shot in the chest by Rigg, causing him to collapse. Moments later, Eric's head was smashed by two large ice blocks swinging down from the ceiling, causing Rigg to fall to the floor, screaming in grief and agony. He angrily yelled at Art as he thought him to be Jigsaw's accomplice.

### Aftermath

Art tried to explain that he was tested by Jigsaw, and went to reach for his bag, causing Rigg, who thought that Art was grabbing a weapon, to shoot him in the head. However, it turned out that there was no weapon and Art was actually attempting to grab an audio tape. Upon listening to the recording, Rigg finally realized that his test wasn't to save Eric, but to let Eric save himself. Moments later, Hoffman freed himself from his trap and calmly approached Rigg, thus bringing Rigg to the realization that Hoffman was Jigsaw's accomplice. However, due to his gunshot wound, Rigg collapsed to the floor as Hoffman escaped. He turned around one last time and ended Rigg's game with the words "Game Over" before he disappeared and left Rigg for dead. Shortly thereafter, Rigg succumbed to his gunshot wound. (*Saw IV*)