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Patience. Remember who you are saving. Time is on your side.
— Jigsaw's clue for Rigg[src]

The Ice Block Trap is a trap from the Saw franchise, appearing in Saw IV.

Design and Function[]

This trap was the fourth and last one in a series of tests. It was located in a room inside the abandoned Gideon Meatpacking Plant at 11235 Blake Drive. It consisted of a giant seesaw-like scale positioned in the middle of the room. On one side of the scale was a large ice block. On top of it stood the victim who was held in place by a chain noose around their neck, which was hanging from the ceiling. On the other side of the scale was an electric chair. Positioned around the ice block were several radiant heaters which slowly melt the ice. The melt water would then flow on the other side of the scale and thereby seemingly kill the victim strapped to the chair with an electric shock. However, the chair was in fact without any function and solely served the purpose to provide one of John Kramer's apprentices the possibility to play the role of another victim in order to be able to observe the game at close range. On the ceiling above the participants was a large metal contraption with two mechanical arms, which each held a large ice block. The contraption was connected with the room's only door via a long chain. If the door was opened, the arms would swing down. Thereby, the ice blocks would inevitably smash the head of the victim standing on the ice block on the scale. The trap could be deactivated with a single button (and deactivating and releasing the victim of another trap). However, this only worked if the door remained closed for the duration of 90 minutes. (Saw IV)

History[]

Daniel Rigg's Trial[]

Hello, Officer Rigg, welcome to your rebirth. For years, you have stood by and witnessed as your colleagues have fallen. You have remained untouched, while Eric Matthews has disappeared. But, with your survival became your obsession. Obsession to stop those around you from making the wrong choices, thus preventing you from making the right ones. You wanted to save everyone. Tonight, I will give you the opportunity to face your obsession. Look closely. Eric Matthews is still alive. The block of ice he stands upon is melting. He has but 90 minutes to save himself. Detective Hoffman's fate is linked to Eric's survival. Heed my warning Officer Rigg: Their lives hang in the balance of your obsession. Will you learn how to let go... and truly save them? The choice is yours.
— Daniel Rigg's first tape[src]
Rigg's Introduction

Rigg is introduced to his game.

The persons tested in this trap were Eric Matthews, a corrupt detective who had been abducted six months earlier by Amanda Young, John Kramer's apprentice, and Daniel Rigg, an officer obsessed with saving everyone around him. Additionally, Detective Mark Hoffman, John's other apprentice, strapped himself to the electric chair in order to act as a victim as well. At the night of the game, Daniel Rigg was attacked and subdued in his own apartment by Art Blank, another victim of Jigsaw who wore a device on his back which would cut his spine if he didn't obey Jigsaw's orders. After subduing him, Art placed Rigg in his bathtub. Shortly thereafter, Rigg woke up again and scrambled from the bathtub. While he was initially dazed and confused, he soon noticed a red question mark painted on the door. He carefully opened the door, and by doing so, pulled out a metal pin connected to a TV positioned right in front of him, thus activating it in the process. When it turned on, Jigsaw's mechanical ventriloquist puppet appeared on screen and introduced Rigg to his own game. At first, Rigg tried to call for help; however, when he realized that someone had destroyed his phone, he grabbed a shirt and his weapon and listened to the puppet, which explained the rules of his game. In order to overcome his obsession with saving everyone around him, Rigg had to face a series of tests. Additionally, Rigg was shown footage from an unknown location where Eric Matthews and Mark Hoffman were trapped. The puppet told Rigg that Eric had only 90 minutes to save himself, and that Hoffman's fate was linked to his survival. When the video ended, Rigg left his bedroom and thereby activated the timer for his game.

Eric and Hoffman

Eric and Hoffman in the trap

At the same time, Eric woke up in his trap. At this moment, the radiant heaters placed around him turned on and began to melt the ice. As he recognized Hoffman, the latter pretended to be surprised to see him. Shortly after the beginning of the game, Art Blank entered the room and pulled a lever next to the door which activated the mechanism above Eric Matthews' head. Mark Hoffman angrily yelled at him and demanded him to let them go. However, Art ignored them and instead sat down in front of the surveillance monitors in order to observe Jigsaw's games. At some point after the beginning of Rigg's series of tests, Eric told Art to fuck himself and attempted to commit suicide. Therefore, he tried to hang himself with the chain noose around his neck by jumping off the ice block. However, Art saved him and placed him back on the block. When he revealed to him that Hoffman would be electrocuted if Eric left the block, Hoffman begged Eric to listen to him. Eric insulted the man but stayed on the block when he went back to the monitors.

Eric and Art

Art prevents Eric from suicide

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. 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 device attached to his back. Furthermore, he took out the button and told the detectives that it would free them once the time went off.

Hello, Officer Rigg. If you are hearing this, then you have reached Detective Matthews and Detective Hoffman in under 90 minutes, resulting in their deaths. The rules were clear. You were warned. They had to save themselves. Their salvation was out of your hands. Time was on your side but your obsession wouldn't let you wait. Instead of saving Detective Matthews, you cost him his life. You failed your final test.
— Daniel Rigg's final tape[src]
Eric and gun

Eric tries to stop Rigg from entering

Meanwhile, Rigg had followed the clues left to him by Jigsaw and eventually arrived at the Gideon Plant, which he entered through the delivery entrance. As he made his way through the building, he finally reached the room in which Eric and Hoffman were trapped. However, Eric desperately 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 Blank, who had been in the room with them the entire time, approached Rigg, who then shot Art in the chest. 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 Blank, as he thought him to be Jigsaw's accomplice. 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.

Saw IVending

Rigg after entering room then witnesses Eric's death

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)

Aftermath[]

Shortly afterwards, the meatpacking plant was found and raided by the Metropolitan Police Department. As the police secured and searched the entire building, they discovered the many corpses of Jigsaw's victims, including Eric, Art and Rigg. All of them were sent to the morgue to be examined by Dr. Adam Heffner and the device which held the ice blocks was sent to the evidence room. (Saw V, VI, 3D)

Trivia[]

  • Originally, Tracy Rigg would be placed in the Ice Block Trap and thus would be the object of the game & incentive for Rigg to search the entire city for her. However, Donnie Wahlberg was brought in to resume his role as Eric Matthews.
  • This is one of the few traps where the victim can die in multiple ways. The individual on the ice block can die from either being choked to death if the ice melts, and by having their head crushed if the door is opened under 90 minutes.

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