Saw (franchise)

''Saw'' is a horror franchise created by Australian film makers James Wan and Leigh Whannell, consisting of nine feature films and additional media. Set in an unnamed city in the United States, the first eight films primarily revolve around the fictional serial killer John "Jigsaw" Kramer, while the ninth movie revolves around a copycat killer while still keeping continuity with the previous films. John Kramer was introduced briefly in '' Saw'' and developed in more detail in ''Saw II'' and the subsequent films. Rather than killing his victims outright, he traps them in life-threatening situations that he calls "tests" or "games" to test their will to survive through physical or psychological torture, believing that if they survive, they will be "rehabilitated". Kramer was killed off in ''Saw III'', but the films continued to focus on his posthumous influence, particularly by his apprentices, and explore his character via flashbacks.

In 2003, Wan and Whannell made a short film to help pitch a potential feature film concept. It was ultimately successful, and, in 2004, the first installment debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically that October by Lionsgate. After its immensely successful opening weekend, the first of many sequels was immediately green-lit. Five directors have worked on the series: James Wan, Darren Lynn Bousman, David Hackl, Kevin Greutert and The Spierig Brothers; while Whannell, Bousman, Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger have written the scripts. From 2004 to 2010, each film was released on the Friday before Halloween. Both creators remained with the franchise as executive producers.

In 2010, franchise producer Mark Burg said that the seventh film, ''Saw 3D'', would be the final installment. Lionsgate however expressed interest in continuing the franchise in 2012. An eighth film, '' Jigsaw'', was released in October 2017. A ninth film, ''Spiral as its producer and co-writer as well the film’s lead actor.

The franchise has grossed more than from box office and retail sales. The film series as a whole has received mostly mixed to negative reviews, but remains one of the highest-grossing horror film franchises of all time. While some critics have called the films, which have acquired a reputation for extreme graphic violence, "torture porn", the franchise's creators, and most of its fans, disagree with that characterization.

Films

Future

A tenth film with a working title of ''Saw X'', is currently in development as of October 2022. The film will be directed by Kevin Greutert who also directed '' Saw VI'' and ''Saw 3D''. Josh Stolberg confirmed the script was finished in December of 2021. In October 2022, Tobin Bell was set to reprise the role of John Kramer / Jigsaw for the film. Later in December, Shawnee Smith was "circling" around an offer to reprise her role as Amanda Young.

Short film

''Saw'' (2003)

'' Saw'', retrospectively referred to as ''Saw 0.5'', is a 2003 short film that served as a promotional tool in pitching a feature-length version to Lionsgate. It is included on the second disc of the uncut DVD release of ''Saw''. It has also been released alone, and on the ''Saw Trilogy'' DVD containing '' Saw'' Uncut Edition, ''Saw II'' Special Edition, and ''Saw III'' Director's Cut, packaged with a limited-edition 3D puppet head box version of Billy the Puppet.

Television

In April 2021, Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs announced in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that Lionsgate TV is in early talks on a television series adaptation of the film ''Spiral and Oren Koules' Twisted Television.

Recurring cast and characters

Additional crew and production details

Production

Story overview

The series takes place in an unnamed city in the United States. Flashbacks from ''Saw IV'' reveal the roots of the series, presenting John Kramer as a successful civil engineer and devoted husband to his wife Jill Tuck, who opened a rehab clinic for drug addicts. Jill lost her unborn baby, Gideon, due to the unwitting actions of a drug addict named Cecil Adams, who fled the scene. '' Saw VI'' later showed that another drug addict, Amanda Young, also had an unintentional role in Gideon's death. Grieving the loss of his child, John distanced himself from his friends and wife.

John and Jill eventually drifted apart and divorced. John found himself trapped by his own complacency until he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Extremely bitter over his squandered life and the loss of his unborn son, he began observing the lives of others and became even more depressed as he saw them squandering the gift of life that he had just been denied. He approached a man named William Easton for money for an experimental cancer treatment, but was denied. Flashbacks from ''Saw II'' show that, after surviving a suicide attempt where he drove his car off a cliff, John was "reborn", and nurtured the idea that the only way for someone to change is for them to change themselves. Then, in ''Saw IV'' flashbacks, he designed the first trap and test for Cecil, and decided to use the rest of his existence to design more of these "tests" or "games" as a form of "instant rehabilitation" that would change the world "one person at a time". John was soon given the nickname "The Jigsaw Killer" (or "Jigsaw"), because he removed a puzzle-piece-shaped chunk of flesh from those who did not escape his traps. John stated that this name was given to him by the media, and that the cut piece of flesh represented that the victims were missing what he called the "survival instinct".

Few of John's victims can survive his brutal mechanical traps, which are often ironically symbolic representations of problems in the victim's life and require them to undergo severe physical and/or psychological torture to escape.

'' Jigsaw'' depicts one of John's very first games, which never became public. The only survivor is Logan Nelson, the man who accidentally mislabeled John's x-rays, causing his cancer to go undiagnosed until it was too late. Believing Logan should not die over an honest mistake, John saves him before he is killed by one of the traps, and recruits him as his first apprentice. Logan helps John build several traps for future games, but eventually enlists in the U.S. Army and leaves to fight in the Iraq War.

In ''Saw V'', police lieutenant Mark Hoffman's ties with John are revealed in a series of flashbacks. During John's first years of activity, Hoffman's sister was murdered by her boyfriend, Seth Baxter. Seth is sentenced to life imprisonment; however, a technicality allows him to go free after only five years. Hoffman then kills him in an inescapable trap designed to resemble a Jigsaw trap; everyone then believes that Jigsaw was behind the killing. John then kidnaps Hoffman and blackmails him into becoming his apprentice in his "rehabilitation" methods. Though initially forced to help, Hoffman later becomes a willing apprentice, and helps set up most of John's tests.

After beating her test, Amanda Young becomes the first known survivor of a Jigsaw game. She comes to see John as a hero who changed her life for the better; and, on John's request, becomes his protégée and next apprentice. John shows her rehabilitation to Jill, who becomes aware of his traps and becomes somewhat of an accomplice as well.

In '' Saw'', John chains the man who diagnosed his cancer, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, in a dilapidated industrial washroom with Adam Stanheight, a photographer who has been tailing the doctor, believing he is cheating on his wife. Lawrence has instructions to kill Adam by six o'clock or his wife and daughter will be killed. Flashbacks show Detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing, who suspect Lawrence of being Jigsaw, following a trail of clues from other Jigsaw traps. Sing's death from a shotgun trap after saving a victim causes Tapp to obsess over catching Jigsaw. Later, he chases Zep Hindle, who monitors Adam and Lawrence's tests, and is shot in the chest. Eventually, Lawrence saws off his own foot to escape, leaving Adam in the bathroom while Lawrence tries to save his family and get help for Adam. It is later seen in ''Saw 3D'' that Lawrence found a steaming hot pipe and cauterized his wound, stopping the bleeding and ultimately surviving the trap. John catches up with Lawrence and makes him his next apprentice, a fact he hides from his other accomplices. Flashbacks from ''Saw III'' show that Amanda kidnapped Adam and later returned to suffocate him as an act of "mercy killing".

''Saw II'' begins with the police tracking a severely weakened John to his lair. However, another test is in place, as he and Amanda have kidnapped the son of Detective Eric Matthews and trapped him and a group of seven convicts, previously framed by Eric, in a house that is slowly being filled with sarin gas