Favorite Saw Film?

[Mitch Henessey]

The Saw franchise might receive a jump-start someday, and I wanted to take a trip through the entire franchise with this thread. Saw quickly became one of the more popular modern horror film series, and the Saw franchise is packed with seven gruesome films. But out of all seven films, which one is your favorite? The Saw franchise features seven films so far, but everyone has that true #1 pick on their list. I'll start things off with my choice:

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For years, Saw II would've been my top pick, but after re-watching the entire series again, Saw III has taken over my #1 spot for Saw films, and I'll tell you why.

In Saw III, you'll see more blood, the traps become more terrifying, and the deaths are pretty gruesome. But these reasons don't clinch the top spot for me. Saw III has become my favorite film in the series, because for me, this film signifies the end of the glory days for the Saw franchise. As usual, you'll see an ending loaded with loose ends, that need to be tied up, and Saw III does give you a big cliffhanger. I also enjoyed the big surprise at the end. The revelation of Jeff and Lynn as a married couple was completely unexpected, because I really couldn't sense a connection between these two, when I watched this film for the first time.

And Saw III features the deaths of some major characters in the series. Detective Allison Kerry is killed by one of Amanda Young's inescapable traps, Amanda looses her mind, Jeff (one of the victims in Saw III) shoots Amanda in the neck, and the wound eventually kills her. And of course, Jigsaw/John Kramer suffered a brutal and unforgettable death. The last second brain surgery from Lynn (the other victim) was a success, but Jeff couldn't control his lust for vengeance, so he sliced Jigsaw's throat open with a circular saw.

Saw III features the death of Jigsaw's most trusted and loyal apprentice (Amanda Young), another member of the Jigsaw manhunt team (Detective Kerry) suffers one of the more sickening deaths in the series, and Jigsaw's death was a big deal. He's the main the character, and he was the elusive serial killer, who couldn't be stopped. Jigsaw's status as a horror icon will have to wait, because the Saw series has been on a hiatus since 2010, and there's a good chance more films will hit theaters in the future. But his death in Saw III did feel shocking and devastating. Jigsaw's death brought an end to his terrifying reign of terror, and his death in Saw III does provide my #1 memorable moment in the entire series. Yeah, I know. We see Jigsaw in a series of flashbacks in Saw 4-7, but it still didn't feel the same. In the present day storylines he was gone, and every film after Saw III did suffer from Jigsaw's absence.

Also, Saw III features an outstanding performance from Shawnee Smith. She was very convincing as the deranged and loyal apprentice. Smith really did look like a legit psycho, and she nailed her character in this film.

Everything just goes down hill after Saw III, and the quality for each film takes a noticeable dive. Saw VII features some great 3D effects, but the grand finale was so underwhelming, and this was a disappointing "end" for the franchise.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

This is easily the first one for me. When I watched the original it actually made me feel for the characters. It was gruesome and sad at the same time. It had what I considered a surprise with Danny Glover dying in it. Not to mention, being the first one, the idea was still pretty fresh and original.

When I watched Saw II it was ok. I did like the twist at the ending of Amanda actually being on Jigsaw's side. That's about what I remember from the film.

Saw III was the last Saw film that I watched. After seeing it, it reminded me too much of the Final Destination movies where the story is completely an afterthought to what amounts to a series of elaborate deaths. Nothing more.

So the original Saw is an easy choice for me.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I'm going to go with the first one here.

There was a great balance in this film between the imaginative and brutal traps to let people know how deranged the villain was, there was the removing of jigsaw shaped pieces of skin which I don't remember happening in any of the subsequent films, there was the seizure-inducing editing coupled with the distorted murky colour tones, and of course, there was the saw.

The captives all had the opportunity to escape from their terror, it all depended on what they would sacrifice, a theme that somewhat got transferred into 'how much can you torture?' in the latter films.

Overall, the first film contained a lot of things that made it unique, interesting and stand-out from what the current horror climate was. One thing I enjoy about the Saw films has been the twists at the end, and once again I think the first Saw film had the best one and genuinely made me say, "what the fuck!? ...no way!" out-loud.

 

[Darkdarkdays]

I watched the first 'Saw' again last night, so original and fresh! I did really like every film in the series, all very clever and pieced together really well but the first one can't be beaten

Fingers crossed this won't get a rehash/reboot anytime soon....the story had a beginning ,middle and end, what else could be added to it?

 

[Dagger Dias]

I honestly cannot decide. Other than 2 and 6, an argument can be made for any of the films. Saw is a series where EVERYTHING fits into the puzzle somehow and thus every single movie brings an important piece to the bigger picture, connecting them all like a jigsaw puzzle. By far the worst of the series was the second film in my opinion, it was much worse than the first and it became the standard of what the other films were measured up against in terms of what they needed to do better than. They succeeded there. 6 will likely not be anyone's favorite either.

In terms of the traps.... I give it to Saw 3. It truly set the pace for the traps in the rest of the films. I'm sure that many will vote for Saw 3 either due to the traps it had or the fact that (spoiler withheld) happens to Jigsaw himself. The series is held together so well in terms of storytelling. Saw 4 and Saw 5 include moments that are extremely crucial to the overall plot and a strong case can be made in their favor for that reason. Then you have the gargantuan spoiler in the final film that finally made everything make sense. I love the Saw series! I am unable to pick one favorite though since some have better story moments than others while some have better action than others, none of the above can be considered the best of both worlds. I can pick a least favorite though, and it is Saw 2 for reasons I already stated.

 

[PlayTheGame]

The Saw series really is great, but I did feel the latter films lacked the "star power" of the original films. It just felt like it featured random detectives as the stars and the killers were farther and farther from the original Jigsaw. Sure, the traps may have been better and more imginative, but that doesn't beat characters and story quality.

Thus, I'd say my top two are Saw I and II for the same reasons as people have already mentioned. Both had great twists that really blew my mind at the time, but I have to go with Saw I for the pure originality and craziness of it. With all of the twists and turns of the Saw franchise, the original twist from the first film (Jigsaw being the guy in the middle of the bathroom) has become diluted. But looking back, I remember that when I saw the twist for the first time, I was completely blown away by it like few movie twists before it. The brilliant music score that accompanied it only made the moment better. It really was an amazing movie, which is why it spawned such a franchise.

 

[LSN80]

I voted for Saw 1. I own all seven Saw movies, and saw each of them except for the first at the midnight premiere. Why? Because the first Saw was such a pleasant surprise of gruesome horror, exploration of the human condition, and a great freakin twist at the end. I think it was the most well-written of the 7, as Jigsaw's motives and traps made sense in every way. Saw 2 saw people who, regardless of what they did, were going to die in that house. Of what sense is that? The only thing Saw 2 did was set up Shawnee Smith(Amanda) as Jigsaw's "replacement", and she didn't last long at that. I did enjoy Jigsaw playing off Eric Matthews emotions and bait him with "All you have to do is talk to me", and the saddening notion that the man simply couldn't control his temper long enough to ensure his son's safety. Nice touch.

Funny story regarding Saw 1. I saw the movie three times in theatres, once with a friend of mine who is a pretty tough guy. However, he wasn't so much during this movie. The scene where Jigsaw comes out of the closet at Adam's, the voyeur photographer's house, scared him so badly that he literally jumped into the lap of the person next to him: And it wasn't me. The 18 year old girl next to him was already freaked enough by the scene, and a 220 lbs guy jumping into her lap simply didn't help matters!

Anyway, I enjoyed each of the movies in their own way. But I felt Saw 1 was the best acted, with good performances from Danny Glover, Monica Potter, and especially Cary Elwes. The twist at the end was freaking insane, one I never saw coming, I never understood why the red herring suspect, the hospital janitor, had to die, or was even involved. But that's just a small complaint in what I thought was the most concise and well-written plot of the entire franchise. 2 and 3 were very good as well, I really liked how Saw 6, I believe, showed us the origins of how John Kramer began to lose it and morphed into Jigsaw after how he was treated by the insurance company, but the rest of the movie was a disorganized gorefest. Saw 7, despite the awesome visuals, was a disapointment, as the reveal of Gordon(Elwes) as the mastermind was something you could easily see coming from hia first on-screen appearance. Having Jigsaw's wife die seemed like such an unneccessary thing as well, But in the world of Saw, seeing people die unneccesary deaths was just par for the course, wasn't it?

So I have to give it to Saw 1. We saw the origins of Amanda(Shawnee Smith), good acting, a coherent plot, great flashback scenes that told the story in a linear fashion, and a genuine awesome twist at the end.