A STOMACH of reinforced steel is a must for anyone even considering going to see this film.

Much like its predecessor, sitting through it is more of an endurance test than anything else.

It is so gut-wrenchingly vile that on repeated occasions I was in grave danger of regurgitating my dinner on to my boyfriend's shoulder, as I cowered from behind it.

But what stands Saw and its sequel apart from other gore-fests is the ability to throw in a clever storyline, plenty of suspense and some better-than- average acting.

Having escaped the law at the end of Saw, serial killer Jigsaw is back to his macabre tricks; testing how much his victims value their own life.

Victim number one - a police informant - finds himself trapped in a time-sensitive death mask, his only chance for freedom is fish the key for it out of his own eyeball.

Cut to jaded cop Eric Matthews (former New Kid on the Block's Donnie Wahlberg) surveying the aftermath, which leads him to Jigsaw in his grisly lair.

But before he can put an end to his reign of terror, Jigsaw engages Matthews in one last game, revealing he has eight potential victims living in an undisclosed location - one of which is Matthews' estranged son Daniel.

Saw Two is unusually good for a sequel which, horrific from the outset, is relentless in its quest to shock and sicken.

EB