This week, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), aka Jigsaw, returns in “Saw X.” To mark this occasion, we would like to take a little journey through time through the entire franchise. To do this, we introduce you to a spicy trap from each film, which is the most iconic, cruel or creative. Let the game begin!
A little warning in advance: the ‘Saw’ films are very gory and explicit and therefore the following descriptions may not be suitable for everyone. There will also always be spoilers as we present you with the best traps!
“Saw”: The reverse bear trap
The original 2004 ‘Saw’ has achieved cult status and is by far the best film in the series. This is also because it does not indulge in torture porn, but is primarily an atmospheric thriller with a chamber theater character. The traps, used more carefully in the first part, seem even more iconic. James Wan and Leigh Whannell establish the reverse bear trap that became a trademark for the entire series. This is not a psychologically or socially interesting concept, but rather a very boring one, and that is exactly why it is so terrible.
In the popular scene, Jigsaw tests Amanda (Shawnee Smith) for her heroin addiction. Our moral knight without a moral compass challenges her to cut the key from her cellmate’s stomach within 60 seconds. Only he can open the reverse bear trap and prevent it from tearing Amanda’s jaws apart. It’s the simple cruelty of reusing an object in such an insidious way that stands out in the first part, which is otherwise more suspense-based. A simple trap that tells us something early on about John Kramer’s style, which likes to tinker.
“Saw II”: The Splash Sea
“Saw II” is one of the better sequels in the series. Darren Lynn Bousman’s production of a script not originally intended to be part of the “Saw” franchise still provides ample entertainment value thanks to its seedy atmosphere and fast pace. is precisely the idea that the main character* Being locked in a house can still convey some of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the first part. One of the cruelest traps in the franchise takes place in this house – and poor Amanda is struck again. This time she is thrust into a sea of syringes where she must find a key.
The scene contains no blood or the brutality of a reverse bear trap. It’s disturbing because injections themselves are inherently frightening: they inject something foreign into our bodies. It goes without saying that we feel more than uncomfortable with a sea of syringes. Added to this is the knowledge of Amanda’s heroin addiction, which makes the betrayal of Xavier, who pushes her into the needles, seem unbearable.
“Saw III”: Asphyxiated on pig intestines
Even if the series starts to have huge problems from “Saw III” onwards and the term torture porn gradually becomes appropriate, some of the traps in the third chapter of the puzzle killer successfully reflect the reasons why the person in question was chosen by John Kramer. In a particularly nasty trap, Jeff (Angus Macfayden), whose child died in a car accident, is faced with a choice: whether he has to save the life of the judge, who punished the perpetrator only mildly. To do this, he must let go of his child’s stuffed animals and burn them. The right one lies in a hole where rotting pigs are hacked until he suffocates in his intestines. Unless, of course, Jeff acts quickly enough.
The trap is psychologically challenging: On the one hand, the decision to sacrifice a bunch of stuffed animals to save a human life should be an easy one. On the other hand, Jeff’s emotional world is the opposite. He has a desire for revenge and cannot let go. The audience has to endure this and is encouraged to support Jeff in making the right decision.
“Saw IV”: a chilling dilemma
In “Saw IV” Rigg (Lyriq Bent) is tested. This is surprising because it is difficult to interpret his supposed vice as a vice: he is too concerned about other people and neglects himself. Rigg must solve various tasks in a limited time to save the life of his police colleague Hoffman (Costas). Mandylor) and rescue Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). His first task turns out to be the film’s best trap. This involves attaching a woman’s hair to a device that gradually pulls it out along with her scalp. Rigg must leave the woman to her fate.
He does not do that. He tries to free her, which he eventually succeeds in because there is a code on the machine that issues it. After he frees the woman, she tries to kill him with a knife and loses in a duel. Rigg then discovers a tape urging the woman to kill Rigg or he would arrest her for prostitution. The evidence is all over the room.
This trap derives its tension not only from the puzzle in which Rigg must figure out how to stop the trap in the first place. It also offers a little twist with the woman attacking Rigg after she is released. At the same time, the fall takes its horror from the social dilemma of the situation: the woman is saved by a man whose authority could put her behind bars.
“Saw V”: cricothyrotomy
In ‘Saw V’ the number of safe death traps begins to increase. The Saw franchise has always been about figuring out how to survive a trap. Now the question is increasingly being asked whether you can survive a fall. In the franchise’s fifth chapter, a character finds a creative way to survive a fall that viewers never imagined. Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), who is gradually tracking down Jigsaw heir Hoffman, should actually just get out of the way. He ends up in a trap where his head gets stuck in a canister that is gradually filled with water until he drowns.
Without further ado, Strahm takes a ballpoint pen from his pocket and stabs himself in the windpipe with it, allowing him to breathe despite the water. This type of emergency surgery is known in medicine as cricothyroidotomy. The admittedly unintentionally funny element of surprise puts us viewers in the mood to figure out the safe death traps. Furthermore, the construction of the canister is reminiscent of the simplicity of the reverse bear trap, and is therefore considered a trademark of the fifth movement.
“Saw VI”: Russian Roulette
In ‘Saw VI’ it becomes more personal: the test is William (Peter Outerbridge), who, as director of a health insurer, decides which people receive life-prolonging measures – and which do not. John Kramer himself was a victim of these decision-making processes. Williams employees look for small details from the insurance contracts that the patients have violated so that they can be denied treatment.
In one of the franchise’s most famous traps, the same employees are attached to a carousel that repeatedly stops in front of a shotgun that kills the person in front of the gun barrel. William manages to save two out of six people by making one of his two hands available for piercing in time. A sadistic reversal of William’s selection process.
“Saw 3D – Perfection”: On an open stage
In ‘Saw 3D – Perfection’ the horror is not only more tangible than ever before. The film also contains a lot of blood that is… a little pink!? This time we chose the opening trap where Brad (Sebastian Pigott), Ryan(Jon Kor) and Dina (Anne Lee Greene) located in a glass room in a public square. Dina was in a relationship with both men at the same time, without them knowing about it. The catch is that there are circular saws between the two men, which they have to push away from themselves to kill the other. If none of them are dead after a minute, Dina dies.
Besides the social dilemma, the trap is interesting because it breaks the claustrophobic atmosphere and brings the crowds to the attention of the audience. In this way, the scene comments to some extent on the viewers, who have been coming back again and again for seven films now, as Jigsaw once again turns the movie theaters into his personal torture chambers.
“Jigsaw“: Think backwards
Near the end of “Jigsaw,” Anna (Laura Vandervoort) is convicted of murdering her child. She and Ryan (Paul Braunstein) are the last survivors of the dark torture barn. John Kramer gives them a shotgun and explains that the cartridge is the key to their survival. He also asks them to think backwards. Anna misunderstands John and tries to shoot Ryan. However, the shotgun shoots backwards and kills Anna. Moreover, the key to the two’s cuffs was hidden in the cartridge. It was destroyed by the shot, leaving Ryan tied up.
Admittedly, “Jigsaw” doesn’t have many interesting pitfalls. However, this has a mystery and a bitter punchline to offer. At the same time, it does not involve senseless bloodshed and has a certain poetic quality in that it reminds us to think “backwards”.
“Saw: Spiral”: father and son
“Saw: Spiral” was supposed to give the franchise new impetus. Not only did the tone of the film series change, an attempt was also made to find a new focus with the politically critical subtext. The idea wasn’t a bad one at all, as police corruption already played a role in the franchise and some parts had features of cop movies. Nevertheless, “Saw: Spiral” largely failed to convince its audience.
The most notable trap can be found in the finale: Zeke (Chris Rock) reaches his father (Samuel L Jackson), which hangs in the air on wires and sucks blood from the veins through tubes. Zeke is able to save his father by shooting at a target. The catch: He only has one ball. So he can save his father and let William go. Or shoot the Jigsaw copycat and let his father die. This type of trap is more than familiar to fans of the franchise and is only mentioned here because the rest of the film’s traps remain pale. Yet she has a nasty twist that makes her remarkable.
After Zeke makes a decision and saves his father, the police arrive. This activates a mechanism that pulls Zeke’s father back into the air and turns him into a puppet with a shotgun forced on him by the machine. When the police reach him, they mistake him for an attacker and shoot him.
It remains exciting to see what horrors await us in ‘Saw X.’ Are you going to watch the movie – or are you done with the puzzle killer yet?