Can you believe it’s already been ten years since James Wan kickstarted one of the most successful horror franchises in genre history? While the Saw movies have gone on to rake in millions and millions of festive Halloween dollars, manned by numerous writer/director teams, it all started when Wan and his creative cohort Leigh Whannell created a horror movie with a better twist than M. Night Shyamalan has ever achieved. After blowing horror audiences away, Lionsgate Entertainment and Twisted Pictures realized the moneymaking potential behind future Saw movies, resulting in an October movie-going ritual that saw seven franchise films in total.
Looking back on the Saw franchise as a whole, it’s quite astounding to see how Jigsaw’s traps evolved over time. Starting in such a simple manner with some crudely thrown together torture devices, each Saw movie introduces bigger and badder traps with working mechanical parts and more menacing scales. Every time you think a Saw film has plateaued, another death is introduced that sinks even deeper into a cinematic Hell full of dismemberment, destruction and torture. Say what you will about Saw‘s story arc, but the franchise granted us the chance to escape into a world of relentless, outlandish horror fun every Halloween – something I’ve already written about in my petition to bring Saw back!
With the 10th anniversary of James Wan’s original film upon us, Lionsgate is reopening Saw in theaters starting October 31st to celebrate the franchise’s humble beginnings. In honor of the release, I’ve decided to celebrate in my own way by counting down the seven best traps from the entire franchise. I don’t think I have to mention that this article isn’t for the weak of heart, do I?