Saw Movie Franchise: 10 Most Insane Things From the Horror Series

The storied Saw franchise has become known over the years for its elaborate traps, over-the-top gore, and vague attempts at social commentary, but any longtime fan of the series will tell you that the horror elements are maybe the least insane parts of the overall story. The saga of John Kramer is full-on soap opera that goes completely off the rails just a couple of films into the Saw series. There have been multiple retcons, simultaneous timelines, and surprise reveals that only make things more complicated. 

Over the last 20 years, I’m not sure any franchise has gone through as many twists and turns as Saw. Kramer’s story could probably give Days of Our Lives a run for its money. With the 10th installment (which inexplicably takes place between the first and second movies) hitting theaters at the end of the month, now is a great time to reflect on the franchise as a whole. What a totally insane ride it has been.

Since it’s a near certainty Saw X will bring its own insane plot points and reveals to the table, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the wildest moments Saw has given us to this point. Even if you exclude the crazy traps, there’s no shortage of crazy and convoluted to unpack over the course of nine Saw films. 

It should go without saying that the following article contains a metric ton of spoilers from the Saw franchise. With that said, let’s kick things off with what is arguably the most mind-blowing decision (and biggest mistake) of the entire series.

John Kramer Dies After Three Movies

John Kramer, better known as the killer/wannabe prophet Jigsaw, is the main focal point of the entire Saw franchise. His attempts to make the world better by teaching others how they are wasting their lives is the catalyst for everything. Tobin Bell, the actor who plays John, is featured in almost every film. Shockingly, the character is only alive for a couple of them.

It’s evident that James Wan and Leigh Whannell had a very clear and concise story in their minds when they plotted out John Kramer’s arc in the Saw films. Their fingerprints and credits are all over the first three movies, and the entire thing ends with John’s death. Neither of them were attached in any creative capacity beyond that initial trilogy.

As we know, the series doesn’t stop there. Obviously no one wanted to make new Saw movies without Jigsaw, seeing as he was the mastermind that became the face of the franchise, so Saw IV started an elaborate and exhausting run of retcons and flashbacks. Jigsaw’s simple backstory becomes incredibly complicated as they try to find any way they can squeeze him into more films.

Baby Gideon

Since we’re on the subject of John’s ever-complicated backstory, we have to spend some time talking about Gideon. 

The original backstory for John is very simple: He tries to take his own life after a cancer diagnosis, fails to do so, realizes how precious life is and wants to teach others the same lesson. It’s incredibly straightforward. His cancer and attempted suicide are also perfectly adequate when it comes to giving him a motive. We know why he starting playing “games” with people. At some point during the making of Saw IV, however, it was decided that John needed even more reason for his turn into Jigsaw.

Saw IV introduces Jill Tuck, Kramer’s ex-wife. A lot of elaborate (and incoherent) flashbacks throughout the movie reveal that Tuck was pregnant with the couple’s first son, Gideon, when a couple of drug addicts broke into her clinic and accidentally slammed a door into her stomach, killing the baby. (Amanda was later revealed to be one of the addicts behind the break-in, making her relationship to John even more complicated.)

The death of Gideon becomes an even bigger driving force for John’s work, which works against everything he says in the first couple of movies. It’s also very random and unnecessarily cruel, making for one of the strangest reveals in the films. 

Billy the Puppet & Pig Mask Retcons

If you haven’t been able to tell by now, many of Saw’s wildest issues can be traced back to Saw IV. That’s the movie where everything went sideways. 

The death of Gideon didn’t just provide a crazy retcon to John’s story, it also gave the writers a reason to “explain” the two most iconic piece of imagery in the franchise. 

Billy the Puppet is John’s vessel to deliver messages to the victims playing his games. He’s absolutely terrifying. The pig mask worn by those abducting the victims is also horrifying, providing many of the best scares from the first movie. These things didn’t need their own backstories, but they sure got them in Saw IV.

Billy the Puppet is revealed to be the evolution of a homemade doll John was making for Gideon before Jill’s miscarriage. The pig mask came from a Chinese New Year celebration for the Year of the Pig, and John just happened to steal one to hide in the crowd.

The scariest objects in Saw were instantly turned into silly mascots for a run of bad ideas for the franchise.

The Transitions

The Saw movies have some of the wildest editing you’ll see in a feature film, especially in Saw III and Saw IV. James Wan is known for his intriguing style and pace when it comes to horror movies (Hey, Dead Silence!), and that style became a signature for the Saw films. Then, in the third and fourth entries in the franchise, we learn the true meaning of the phrase “too much of a good thing.”

These films hinge on multiple storylines playing out at once (more on this in the next slide), and it often seems like each transition between these stories is just trying to one-up the last. A character walking onto an elevator becomes someone else in an entirely different location as they pass the camera. A victim breaks through the glass of a mirror in the room she’s trapped in, only to fall into the middle of a police station halfway across town. It’s like every camera turn or closeup on an object becomes a way to introduce a new scene or plot line.

Absolute madness.

Saw IV Timeline

Okay, I promise this is the last time I’m going to talk about Saw IV. There are just so many ridiculous things in this movie it’s hard not to spend a lot of time on it. 

The crazy transitions are just a symptom of the bigger problem in Saw IV, which is again another example of the franchise trying to recreate successful beats from previous films. The twists in Saw II and Saw III revolve around our perception of time and what we think we know about the events playing out on screen. Things we think are happening live actually happened the day before. Things we think are happening in other areas are actually happening in the same building. Saw IV tries to do all of those things at the same time, while also attempting to mislead the audience even more than in the previous two films.

Saw IV takes place at the same time as Saw III, something you aren’t aware of until the very end when the finale bumps right into the finale from the last movie. Every effort is taken to try and hitch the wagon of Detective Hoffman’s story to what came before, resulting in a “retconception” of sorts. 

The Amanda storyline that seemed to be retroactively attached to Jigsaw’s? Well, surprise, it’s actually Hoffman’s story hidden beneath Amanda’s. He was the real apprentice the whole time.

The Return of Doctor Gordon

Just kidding! Hoffman wasn’t the student, you silly geese, he was in another game! Doctor Gordon, the cheating husband from the original Saw movie was the REAL apprentice the whole time!

Saw delivers the “John Kramer apprentice” twist on three different occasions, the third and final time being the most ridiculous of all. At the end of Saw 3D, the seventh film in the series, we learn that Cary Elwes’ character from the very first Saw never actually died. For reasons that make no sense at all, the lesson he learned from that original game wasn’t that he should quit abandoning his family and be more empathetic towards his patients. Apparently, Gordon learned that he should also put random people in life or death scenarios so they can also see the light.

There were theories about Gordon’s return for years, but the reveal in the final act of Saw 3D doesn’t offer any sort of resolution or payoff. It’s not earned. The moment is simply a strange twist that hasn’t been addressed since. 

All that to say, the Gordon twist does get credit for putting a stop to Detective Hoffman’s horrible reign as the franchise’s leading character. 

Cary Elwes’ Accent

Cary Elwes is a great actor. He’s incredible in just about everything he’s in. He even does some fantastic work in Saw, but some of that work is mired by what has to be one of the worst American accents ever put to film.

Okay, that’s probably being a little overdramatic, but Gordon’s accent in Saw is something unlike anything I’ve heard before or since. The more worked up Elwes gets about being chained up in a dingy bathroom, the more egregious it gets. And it’s almost as if the accent starts influencing the rest of the performance as the movie goes along. 

The Jigsaw Hat

Tobin Bell in a backwards hat may not be as good as Steve Buscemi’s iconic “How do you do, fellow kids” moment, but it’s pretty close.

In an effort to make Bell look a little younger for a flashback in Saw 3D and make John Kramer fit in with the crowd at a book signing, the infamous Jigsaw killer was given a black, oversized hat. He wears it backwards with a hoodie, almost as if he’s trying to imitate Buscemi. 

It’s both terrible and hilarious and will live forever as one of the most memorable moments in all of Saw.

The Mere Existence of Saw X

Tobin Bell might be in his 80s now, but that isn’t stopping the Saw franchise from continuing to turn back the clock on John Kramer. Saw X takes place between Saw and Saw II, so Bell is reprising a version of the character that’s supposed to be in his 50s. 

It makes sense that the franchise wants to keep bringing Bell back, no matter how many narrative hoops it needs to jump through in order to so. What makes Saw X so frustrating, though, is that an entire movie was devoted to creating an entirely new Jigsaw killer played by a younger actor.

Spiral, released just two years ago, sets up Max Minghella’s Detective William Schenk as a new killer modeling himself after Jigsaw. He has different motives and an entire story to dig into. Plus, he’s super creepy! The Saw franchise was primed for a totally fresh direction after Spiral but is already abandoning that thread for another return to the life of John Kramer.

What’s the point of doing something different if it’s going to be followed by a complete 180 back to what we already had? 

This Saw X Ad

Now, for the real reason I thought of writing this entire piece. The latest ad for Saw X is absolutely unhinged in all the best ways, making it the perfect commercial for this franchise.

On Wednesday, the Saw social media accounts released a spoof of Nicole Kidman’s widely beloved AMC intro video that features Billy the Puppet returning to his traps. For some reason, the original ad has been removed, but it included some of my favorite social media copy I’ve seen in years.

“Somehow, self-amputation feels good in a place like this.”

Perfect. 10 out of 10. No notes. Chef’s kiss. Nothing could get me more excited for Saw X. As ridiculous as this franchise has been for decades, I love it dearly. If you’re still reading at this point, I’m sure you do too.