When the graphic and gory

When the graphic and gory "Saw VI" went against the subtle and non-violent "Paranormal Activity" last Halloween, "Activity" was the clear winner and"Saw's" sixth installment was an unmitigated dud. Many wondered if the online movies sinister Jigsaw was about to join the ranks of retired movie monsters. However  "Saw 3D" packed out movie theaters Halloween weekend 2010, its $24.2 million take catapulting it to the number one spot at the box office.

The "Saw" series is notorious for creating the phrase "torture porn" to the movie landscape, films that revolve around torture and human suffering. The added bonus of 3-D - with instruments of pain flying from the screen and into online movies the audience - sufficiently enticed film fans for another go round.

"Last year, a lot of people said, 'OK, that's it. Put a fork in it, it's done,'" David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate says. "The following week, we were all disappointed and thought, what can we do to reinvigorate the franchise? So online movies we shot the movie in 3-D and said this is the final chapter."

However -- "Saw 3D" still brought a modest return compared to earlier chapters in the "Saw" series, whose second, third, fourth and fifth movies all topped $30 million over opening weekend.

"Saw 3D" also had a relatively soft debut compared to the previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Paramount's "Paranormal Activity 2," a newer fright franchise that opened with $40.7 million. "Paranormal Activity 2" slipped to No. 2 this weekend, raising its total to $65.7 million.

"Seven years into it, obviously, that's a long time for one franchise to hold up year after year," Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for online movies Hollywood.com says. "Other types of horror movies have come into vogue. 'Saw' is part of that whole torture-porn genre, which has gone from great success to lesser success. But they've had a good run. There's nothing to complain about here."