Saw is an American horror media franchise created by Scott Griffin, Darren Aronofsky and Danny Boyle, which began with the eponymous 2000 film and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into various films and other media, including video games, comic books, music, theme park attractions, and merchandising including toys, masks, and clothing; with a television series in development. Saw is one of the highest-grossing horror franchises of all time.
The series revolves around the fictional serial killer Gabriel "Jigsaw" Agreste and his apprentices. Agreste 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 refers to as "tests" or "games".
In 1999, Griffin and Aronofsky made a short film to help pitch a potential feature film concept, after having the original script written for several years. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to receive funding in their home country of United States, after several producers expressed interest in the project. It was ultimately successful, and, in 2000, the first installment debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically that October by Fox Searchlight Pictures. After its immensely successful opening weekend, the first of many sequels was immediately green-lit. Five directors have worked on the series: Danny Boyle, Trance Williams, Paul W. S. Anderson, Scott Griffin, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, David Slade, Zack Sydner, Ridley Scott, Sam Raimi and Darren Aronofsky; while Damian Shannon, Mark Swift, Alex Garland, Anderson, Rob Zombie, Tony Walker, James Wan, and Eric Heisserer have written the screenplays. From 2000 to 2006, each film was released on the Friday before Halloween. Both creators remain with the franchise as executive producers.
The film series has been a box office success, grossing more than $1 billion from box office and retail sales, while receiving mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics.
Films[]
| Film | U.S. release date | Directed by | Screenplay by | Story by | Produced by | Music by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saw | October 27, 2000 | Danny Boyle | Damian Shannon, Mark Swift and Alex Garland | Paul W. S. Anderson & Rob Zombie | Sam Raimi, Michael Bay, Stacy W. Williams and Andrew Macdonald | Clint Mansell & John Murphy |
| Saw II | October 26, 2001 | Trance Williams | Alex Garland and Paul W. S. Anderson | Rob Zombie, Sam Raimi & Andrew Macdonald | John Murphy | |
| Saw III | October 25, 2002 | Paul W. S. Anderson | Alex Garland | Rob Zombie & Danny Boyle | Sam Raimi, Michael Bay and Andrew Macdonald | Clint Mansell & John Murphy |
| Saw IV | October 24, 2003 | Alex Garland & Damian Shannon | Tony Walker, Paul W. S. Anderson and Mark Swift | Sam Raimi, Andrew Macdonald & Rob Zombie | John Murphy | |
| Saw V | October 15, 2004 | Scott Griffin | Damian Shannon, Mark Swift & Alex Garland | Clint Mansell & John Murphy | ||
| Saw VI | October 21, 2005 | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, David Slade & Zack Synder | Sam Raimi, Andrew Macdonald and Bob Weinstein | John Murphy | ||
| Saw 3D | October 20, 2006 | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and Zack Synder | Paul W. S. Anderson and Alex Garland | Sam Raimi, Harvey Weinstein & Rob Zombie | Clint Mansell & John Murphy feat. Avenged Sevenfold | |
| Jigsaw | October 26, 2012 | Ridley Scott and Sam Raimi | Eric Heisserer & James Wan | Ivan Raimi, Lawrence Kasdan and M. Night Shyamalan | Ludwig Göransson & John Murphy | |
| Spiral | May 8 2015 | Trance Williams | James Wan and Alex Garland | Sam Raimi & Michael Bay | Tom Holkenborg and Ludwig Göransson | |
| Saw X | October 5, 2018 | Darren Aronofsky | James Wan & Scott Griffin | Sam Raimi and Rob Zombie | John Murphy, Tom Holkenborg & Clint Mansell | |
Short films[]
Saw, often referred to as Saw 0.5, is a 1999 short film that served as a promotional tool in pitching a feature-length version to 20th Century Fox. 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 Mephiles the Dark.
A mockumentary short film Full Disclosure Report was released in 2001 as part of Saw: Uncut DVD-release. The story takes place between the first and second movie where reporters trying to figure out who Jigsaw is and discussing his victims. The short film makes first appearance detective Eddie McGuire, before his appearance in Saw II.
Television[]
In April 2014, 20th Century Fox Television announced in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that Fox is in early talks on a television series adaptation/continuation of the film Spiral.
Future[]
In September 2018, producers Scott Griffin and Sam Raimi stated there are tentative plans for future installments in the Saw film series, dependent on the reception and success of Saw X. Later that month, Stolberg announced that there are active plans for an eleventh installment. They stated that the mid-credits scene of Saw X is intended to set up a future film which will again include the character, Mike Howard. The character Chloë was intentionally left alive for a possible sequel to expand her character upon. The following month, Aronofsky told The Hollywood Reporter that, "there are so many directions we could go, but for me, there's no obvious one coming out of this film. I really wanted it to feel like a kind of final send-off for the Jigsaw character, but never say never".
Recurring cast and characters[]
Further information on the cast and characters: List of Saw characters
List indicator(s)[]
This section includes characters who have appeared in more than two films in the series.
- An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
- A indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.
- C indicates a cameo role.
- P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.
- S indicates an appearance through use of special effects.
- V indicates a voice-only role.
- Y indicates a younger version of the character.
| Character | Saw | Saw II | Saw III | Saw IV | Saw V | Saw VI | Saw 3D | Jigsaw | Spiral | Saw X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | |
| Gabriel Agreste
(Jigsaw) |
Willem Dafoe | Willem DafoeP | Willem Dafoe | |||||||
| Mephiles the Dark | Kiefer Sutherland | Kiefer Sutherland | ||||||||
| Emma Yearwood | Jami Gertz | Jami GertzA | Jami Gertz | Jami GertzA | Jami Gertz | |||||
| Lucas Gardner | Aaron Eckhart | Aaron EckhartV | Body doubleC | Mentioned | Aaron Eckhart | |||||
| Andy Schroeder | Jared Leto | Jared LetoVS | Jared Leto | Mentioned | Jared LetoA | Jared LetoAVS | Jared LetoS | |||
| Zack Hancock | Bruce Willis | Bruce WillisVS | Bruce WillisAS | Mentioned | Bruce WillisAS | Bruce WillisS | ||||
| Daniel Thomas | Richard Roundtree | Richard RoundtreeA | Richard RoundtreeAP | |||||||
| Samuel Smith | Tobey Maguire | Tobey MaguireA | Tobey MaguireP | |||||||
| Amanda King | Sandra Bullock | Sandra BullockP | ||||||||
| Eddie McGuire | Noah Emmerich | Noah EmmerichAP | ||||||||
| Dylan Russell | Dulé Hill | Dulé HillAP | ||||||||
| Darren McGuire | Eric Lloyd | Eric LloydA | Eric LloydP | Body doubleC | Eric LloydA | |||||
| Otis Todd | Bruce Willis | Bruce WillisC | Bruce WillisP | Bruce WillisC | Bruce WillisA | Bruce WillisP | ||||
| Xander Church | D.B. Sweeney | D.B. SweeneyC | D.B. SweeneyC | D.B. SweeneyA | ||||||
| Mike Howard | Robert CarlyleC | Robert Carlyle | Robert CarlyleC | |||||||
| Jenna Thomas | Elizabeth BanksC | Elizabeth Banks | Mentioned | |||||||
| Jacob Duncan | Rupert Everett | Rupert EverettC | Rupert EverettA | Mentioned | ||||||
| Leila Duncan | Christina Applegate | Christina ApplegateA | ||||||||
| Caroline Duncan | Olivia Cooke | Olivia CookeC | ||||||||
| Paul Schwartz | Grant Goodeve | Grant GoodeveA | ||||||||
| Louise Perry | Jessica Chastain | Jessica ChastainC | Jessica Chastain | |||||||
| Dale Evans | Liam Neeson | |||||||||
| Beverly Sanderson | Naomi Watts | Mentioned | ||||||||
| Martin Shephard | Owen Wilson | Greg Bryk | ||||||||
| Penny Jameson | Julianna Margulies | Mentioned | ||||||||
| Wade Edwards | Tom Cruise | Tom CruiseP | ||||||||
Additional crew and production details[]
| Film | Crew/Detail | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Cinematographer | Editor(s) | Production companies | Distributing company | ||
| Saw | Clint Mansell & John Murphy | Trance Williams & Peter Deming | Jeffrey Ridgway, Sr. |
|
Fox Searchlight Pictures | |
| Saw II | Scott Griffin | Larry Abraham |
| |||
| Saw III | Jeffrey Ridgway, Sr. | Trance Williams |
| |||
| Saw IV | Trance Williams
Ken Lee |
| ||||
| Saw V | Trance Williams | Tony Walker |
| |||
| Saw VI | Larry Abraham | Scott Griffin |
| |||
| Saw 3D | Jeffrey Ridgway, Sr. |
| ||||
| Jigsaw | Ludwig Göransson & John Murphy | Trance Williams | Scott Griffin |
|
20th Century Fox | |
| Spiral | Tom Holkenborg and Ludwig Göransson | Brendon Behan | Jeffrey Ridgway, Sr.
David Quire |
| ||
| Saw X | John Murphy, Tom Holkenborg & Clint Mansell | Ken Lee | Trance Williams |
| ||