Saw – and the order you should watch the series

Saw (2004) is an intense, gory and frightening film about a man who forces people to learn to value their lives through terrifying traps. Saw was James Wan’s second time directing a horror film, having first directed a movie called Stygian, and in the year before 2004, the Saw short film inspired the feature-length movie. Saw stars Leigh Whannell, the movies writer, as the sarcastic photographer Adam and Cary Elwes as the levelheaded oncologist Doctor Lawerence Gordan. Cary Elwes is best known for his role in The Princess Bride (1987), having played Westley, a much drastic change from his role in Saw as the cheating Doctor. In addition, this was Leigh Whannell’s most popular acting role and he would later go on to play Specs in the Insidious movies, which he also wrote in addition to Saw. 

Produced by Twisted Pictures and released under Lionsgate, the movie is about two men trapped in a bathroom, trying to escape and figure out who put them there and why. The psychological horror-thriller features multiple traps and twists, causing some to shield their eyes from the brutality. The movie Saw is nonlinear and features frequent flashbacks to other victims of Jigsaw and their fates. 

As Saw begins and the two men awake, both find tapes in their pockets, with Gordan (Cary Elwes) being told to kill Adam by 6 o’clock, or his wife and daughter will be murdered, while Adam (Leigh Whannell) is told he must survive. In the middle of them is a deceased man, supposedly from suicide with a gun in his hand. 

The two are given hacksaws, and attempt to cut through their chains, to no avail before Gordan realizes they are not meant to cut through their chains… but their feet, and that they are being held captive by The Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell), all while their game is being watched by the man holding Dr. Gordan’s family hostage. 

While watching Saw, I was caught up in the intense plot and suspense of learning more about this Jigsaw Killer. The first film in the series is more of a mystery and a thriller than a full-blown 90-120 minutes of torture like some of the other Saw movies may be considered, but it does have very efficient gore scenes, with the Reverse Bear trap being one that I cringed at while watching. This disturbed me, as there is a real and functional version of the trap that exists out there in the real world, made by the filmmakers. The twists in this movie are treated with care, with the ending being a shock that truly gives you a sense of hopelessness.  

Saw makes effective use of its locations, with the bathroom making me particularly uncomfortable with how realistic it is portrayed, being dirty and so large yet so small. In addition, the actors put on a believable performance as well, with Cary Elwes expressing his character’s pain near the end of the movie exceptionally well and making me feel his agony. In addition, Tobin Bell uses his voice in a way that truly makes me fear what may happen if Adam and Gordan do not complete their respective tasks. 

The Saw is iconic for its popularization of the ‘torture porn’ genre, and while that may be true for later films in the series, the first one is truly a terrifying movie with thrills and scares, being something much more than a film about torture and gore, although the movie does contain a nice amount of gore for those who enjoy it. The movie uses its basis in a real-life setting and a plot based purely on reality to aid in really setting the mood. 

As the first film in a large franchise, with ten movies currently and a confirmed sequel alongside perhaps more in the future, Saw will always stick out in my mind as one of the best and scariest, with its intense plot and traps. You can tell this movie was made with care and passion and everybody who worked on this movie truly put their best into it. This shows in how it is positively rated by most people, including myself. In addition, the movie features an iconic soundtrack, with Hello Zep being played in every subsequent film in the Saw franchise as the whole story is uncovered. 

Saw truly has become one of the most popular movies in the genre with twists, gore and unexpectedly… even some true emotion. If you are looking for a thrilling psychological horror movie with gore in it, Saw should be your choice.