The complete history of Detective Mark Hoffman from Saw

June 22, 2024

Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) second apprentice after Amanda Young, Mark Hoffman appears in Saw III, then takes on the mantle of John Kramer/Jigsaw following the death of Shawnee Smith’s over-ambitious Amanda Young, whom Kramer takes under his wing after forgiving her long history of substance abuse. Hoffman goes on to appear in Saw IV, V, VI, and 3D. Played by Costas Mandylor, Hoffman claims over 20 victims while operating as Jigsaw’s apprentice; he works with Young on numerous occasions, mostly during clean-up or whenever heavy lifting is involved. Despite this, Hoffman and Young are rivals for Jigsaw’s affection and approval, especially as both of them wish to continue his legacy.

Mark Hoffman started out as a respectable detective for the Metropolitan Police Department

Former Detective Lieutenant Mark Hoffman had begun a promising career in the Metropolitan Police Department long before Saw IV. He was motivated by his sister Angelina Acomb (Sarah Power), whom he cared about the most and considered to be his only family. Over the years, while dedicated to enforcing justice, Hoffman developed a good and honest reputation as one of the department’s finest. He broke the law on certain occasions, whenever he felt it necessary to protect his fellow officers.

After being called to a suspected child abuse case, Hoffman met with Rex (Ron Lea), the prime suspect, along with his colleague, Officer Daniel Rigg (Lyriq Bent). Hoffman had no evidence against Rex, even after speaking with the young victim and her mother (Janet Land). Rex — who believed himself to be in the clear — made a sarcastic remark to provoke Rigg, who packed a punch that broke Rex’s nose and cheekbone. Following the incident, Rigg tried to sue the department with his lawyer, Art Blank (Louis Ferreira), who coincidentally knew and had previously worked with John Kramer. While Blank tried to convince Hoffman to suspend Rigg, Hoffman gave a false statutory declaration and the case was dismissed. His colleague suffered no consequences.

Mark’s sister, Angelina Acomb, is brutally murdered by her then-boyfriend Seth Baxter

After 15 years in service as Detective Lieutenant, a tragic accident changed the course of Hoffman’s future. One night, during a domestic dispute, Hoffman’s sister Angelina was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Seth Baxter. Upon learning of Angelina’s death (as seen in Saw V), Hoffman suffers a mental breakdown. Just a few days later, Seth Baxter is apprehended and sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, Hoffman organizes Angelina’s funeral. However, after developing a serious drinking problem and severe depression, Hoffman began showing traits of a sociopath stemming from the mental breakdown.

While following the trail of a different case with Matt Gibson (Chad Donella) — a patrol cop — Hoffman enters a run-down building known to be a shelter for drug addicts. Inside, Gibson is attacked by an unknown assailant whom Hoffman holds at gunpoint. After demanding that he lower Gibson’s stolen weapon, Hoffman barely waits for him to comply before shooting him three times. Although Hoffman had saved Gibson’s life, it was later revealed that Gibson had convicted three of Hoffman’s friends, causing the former to swear revenge against him.

Mark makes Seth’s murder look like another Jigsaw victim and becomes Jigsaw’s apprentice thereafter

Five years after Angelina’s death, Hoffman becomes wrapped up in the Jigsaw case as part of a serial killer task force. Seth Baxter is acquitted on a technicality and released from prison despite his life sentence, forcing Hoffman to take matters into his own hands. At the beginning of Saw V, we see Seth Baxter strapped to a table with a pendulum lowering itself over his abdomen and preparing to slice him cleanly in half. In order to survive, “Jigsaw” asks Seth to crush his hands in two vice clamps, but despite doing so, Seth dies anyway. It is later confirmed that Hoffman — who watched the whole ordeal through a peephole — had designed the deadly trap to be inescapable (similar to Amanda Young’s traps in Saw III), and Seth would have died regardless.

Not long after, the Metropolitan Police Department catch wind of Seth’s death and link it to Jigsaw’s murder spree. Hoffman is called to the scene, but even after Seth is identified and connections are made to Angelina’s death and the uncanny timing of the subsequent events, Hoffman isn’t suspected of any involvement. In his apartment building, Hoffman joins John Kramer (unbeknownst to him) in the elevator before he is attacked, drugged, and abducted. John had seen a newspaper about the pendulum murder and found Hoffman’s imitation nothing close to flattering, but instead rather disrespectful. Hoffman awakes to find himself strapped to a chair with a shotgun aiming upward at his face. John and Mark engage in conversation, discussing Hoffman’s past, Angelina’s death, and Seth’s murder.

As it turns out, Kramer had constructed this convoluted trap merely to frighten Hoffman and make him rethink his decisions going forward. Kramer presents him with two choices: Hoffman could either become his apprentice or John would incriminate him for Seth’s murder and effectively ruin his career. After a short disagreement and some bargaining, Hoffman agrees and joins Jigsaw.

Hoffman’s role as Jigsaw’s apprentice

Mark’s first victim as Jigsaw’s apprentice was Paul Leahy (Mike Butters) – a drug addict who had failed a suicide attempt. He was abducted by Hoffman and Kramer and forced to navigate a barbed wire maze, which eventually led to him bleeding to death. From then on, Hoffman would test and murder over 20 degenerates while also overseeing the recruitment of Amanda Young.

It was during this time that Amanda started to rise in the eyes of John, as portrayed in Saw X. After she survives the reverse bear trap, she becomes John’s go-to apprentice as Hoffman needs to maintain his cover at the Metropolitan Police Department. Following his infamous trap involving Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell), John becomes more desperate to find a cure for his cancer. During the prequel film that takes place between Saw and Saw II — Saw X — he encounters Henry (Michael Beach) at a cancer support group who boasts a miracle cure he found abroad.

John pursues this venture, which turns out to be too good to be true, and becomes the target of a con. Promising him that his cancer can be cured, Dr. Cecelia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) performs no such surgery and takes John’s money. Hoffman helps him track her down and the rest responsible for the artifice. Using his contacts as a detective, he finds Cecilia – who employed the services of Mexico City locals Diego (Joshua Okamoto), Mateo (Octavio Hinojosa), and Gabriela (Renata Vaca) for her scam.

Hoffman doesn’t follow John to Mexico but he does help him tie up one last loose end. John and Amanda solve the Cecelia problem and return to the States where Hoffman gives hands-on help to create a final trap for Henry. Taking place in the iconic bathroom, both he and John deliver sweet revenge to the man who pulled Jigsaw into the con in the first place. This event is the last established collaboration between the two until Amanda’s final test, which results in John’s death.

Sometime in the future, Hoffman encounters and murders Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), John Kramer’s ex-wife. After an altercation, Hoffman uses the reverse bear trap to kill Jill. By this time, Hoffman was known to be Jigsaw’s apprentice and had gone into hiding. Hoffman sets the hangar on fire, which he had been using as a makeshift hideout. But before he can leave, he is targeted by three assailants, one of whom is Dr. Gordon – who had secretly joined Jigsaw as a third apprentice after surviving his test with Adam. Paying homage to Adam and Gordon’s original test, Hoffman is chained by the ankle to a pipe beside Adam’s decomposing corpse. Gordon leaves Hoffman to die, therefore it is presumed that Mark Hoffman meets his end here. However, as is the golden rule of horror, unless we explicitly see a dead body, the victim might not be dead.

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