Ranking The Saw Films
A list which ranks all the films in my least favorite horror franchise, including 2023’s “Saw X.”
About five or six years ago, a group of friends and I decided to sit down and do a Saw marathon. At that time, I had never seen the films before, but I knew about their… infamous qualities. From my recollection, we (or maybe just me, I could have left early) only got through the fifth film, which was more than I needed to intake. After that, I didn’t feel a need to touch the franchise again, not even when Spiral was coming out. I didn’t have the time nor the desire to tear through the Saw franchise again just to catch up on all of the lore that probably didn’t even matter, and I ultimately avoided Spiral once it hit theaters.
But then I learned that a tenth Saw film, Saw X, was on the horizon, and I finally told myself to make time and push through it. I remembered most of Saw 1–5 — honestly, I wish I didn’t, because knowing what would happen made the rewatch excrutiatingly painful — but had no idea what 6–Spiral would include. Was I at least semi-excited? No. But did I learn anything? Yes:
I hate this franchise.
I know Saw has its fans. I have a friend who is extremely passionate about this franchise — this dude could talk about John Kramer all day. I, however, can’t wrap my brain around the constant retconning and timeline fragmenting. I don’t understand all of John Kramer’s quirks. I can’t pick his brain. I recognize this franchise wasn’t made for me… but I still want to talk about it. I gotta use my first amendment right somehow.
In case you haven’t caught on by now: this list is entirely my opinion. I am in no way attacking any fans of this franchise. I simply want to talk about why I hate it. As I like to say, I won’t swear at you if you don’t swear at me. Let’s keep things civil so the Jigsaw killer doesn’t come after all of us.
With the intro out of the way, let’s get into the list.
Oh, and before I forget to mention it:
Spoilers ahead.
10. Saw 3D (The Final Chapter)
I don’t think I can express enough how much this franchise irks me. I can understand why 3D is the more appropriate title because this movie doesn’t feel conclusive in the slightest. Honestly, this one feels more like a low-budget fan film. And that isn’t to knock the quality of fan films; it’s to knock the quality of a movie with the estimated budget of $20 million… the most expensive in the franchise until the spin-off Spiral took the crown. So why does it look cheap? Why does the blood look pink? It’s obvious they put more effort into the gory side of things to make the 3D aspect worth it, but I don’t think sacrificing a good story was truly worth it in the end. And that twist? That retcon that makes the first movie seem even more ridiculous now? I’m so angry. I hate this franchise. This is not a great start to a ranked list.
9. Saw V
By the time Saw V rolled around, I was already sick of all of it. I was sick of the fragmenting that was meant to try and keep things interesting, intense, and mysterious. I was sick of all the retcons that were meant to make things less convoluted, but ultimately made things more stupid (and, if I’m being honest, even more convoluted). I was sick of the franchise’s inability to reach any semblance of a conclusion. I’m impressed with myself for pushing through to the end, because, while barely any better than 3D, Saw V feels like an inescapable Jigsaw trap, and I was ready for it to just put me out of my misery.
8. Saw VI
I will admit that I think Saw VI is a slight improvement from V. Pushing the Jill/Hoffman narrative aside, I found the actual “game” to be an intriguing one to watch. It actually asks some strong moral questions, if you can ignore the innocent people being put in danger just to try and help a corporate asshole understand his own mistakes. If the movie had just been that, it probably would have found itself higher on this list. But because I don’t care about Hoffman’s story, and I truly hate the way the entire franchise’s narrative is structured, I have to give it a low score.
7. Saw IV
Saw IV is when I realized that I don’t like the franchise’s storytelling (something I’ve mentioned already). The twists and turns, often dealing with time manipulation through fragmenting, just don’t thrill me. However, that is not Saw IV’s only problem. With John Kramer dead, this movie attempts to establish his new successor. However, it gives zero justification for why Hoffman is the new bad guy. I’m sure the idea was to build excitement for the future sequel(s), but to me it just feels lazy to not explain why someone would take over as Jigsaw, a villain who commits extremely heinous crimes in order to “prove a point” or something like that. By Saw IV, I admitted to myself that I was tired of the franchise, its tropes, its characters, and its storytelling… which made the rest of the journey even harder.
6. Saw III
Saw III features a significant dip in quality when compared to the first two movies in the franchise. While Saw I and II both deal heavily with morality in disturbing and poignant ways, Saw III becomes overly ridiculous and stupidly complex. It tries hard to play with the same moral questions that the first two dealt with, but fails as the plot becomes more and more overly complicated. John Kramer goes from being a villain who forces bad people to question their decisions in life-or-death situations to a self-righteous asshole who knows he is going to die and wants to bring others down with him, including a grieving family that, while not making the best decisions, definitely don’t deserve the punishments they are delivered. I would say good riddance to John, but we all know his presence lives on after this one.
5. Jigsaw
I will admit that Jigsaw, at the very least, surprised me. It brought back the sense of mystery started by the first film that was subsequently lost in its sequels after we knew who the killers — including the new ones — were. The plot intrigued me, and, while I have a distaste for the purposeful fragmenting of the stories that Saw filmmakers always do, I can’t say I wasn’t shocked when John Kramer walked into the scene as if he never died. But even with the surprises, Jigsaw still delivers exactly what you would expect from a Saw film, including the detective plot that happens alongside (from our point of view) the torture plot, annoying characters who find themselves too high and mighty to admit they did anything wrong, and a villain who finds themself too high and mighty to admit that what he is doing really isn’t for the greater good. So, while Jigsaw sticks out above some of the other Saw sequels, it still doesn’t make me hate the franchise any less.
4. Spiral
Out of all of the Saw sequels, Spiral held the most promise. The new title hinted towards something new that would break away from the old formula while still feeling like a Saw movie, or at least like a movie that belongs in that universe. And while it does break away from the formula — opting out of the franchise’s notorious and mysterious fragmented storytelling — it still makes a few blaring mistakes. Firstly, its script is poor, with some truly cringe-inducing dialogue that I’m sure was kind of funny on paper but lame on physical execution. Secondly, the film’s antagonist seemingly gets away… after all of the cops in the room saw him. Yes, the cops are corrupt and the movie makes that point very clear, but there is no way Detective Schenk (or whatever his real name was) got away, and the “ambiguous” ending makes it clear that the writers didn’t want to acknowledge this. Lastly, the film wastes Samuel L. Jackson, and that is a pity — I shouldn’t even have to explain why. Spiral tries hard to do something different, and I must give it credit for its attempt, but in the end it just feels like a wannabe Saw movie that couldn’t afford to bring Tobin Bell back. I understand the want to move on and focus on Jigsaw’s legacy rather than continually focusing on John Kramer himself, but he’s the guy that tied all of the strings together. I honestly don’t think you can do Saw without him. So, no, I didn’t like this movie all too much, but it did move away from the convoluted plot that the rest of the franchise followed, and for that, it sits higher on this list.
3. Saw II
Saw II would have been a better film if it only focused on the characters within the house. Any time it jumped back to Matthews and Jigsaw, I got bored. The film could have been a great mystery — who are these characters? Why is Jigsaw targeting them? Where is Jigsaw now? Does anyone know they are missing? — but any semblance of that is destroyed by the Matthews plotline. While I’m sure plenty of people were hoping this direct sequel would live up to its predecessors reputation — and I’m sure plenty of people say it did — I walked away feeling like it missed its mark. Yet, for a Saw film, I still consider it watchable.
2. Saw X
Nearly 20 years after the first Saw movie released, a tenth movie has arrived, boasting the return of Tobin Bell as John Kramer and a return to the part of the timeline where things weren’t completely convoluted. And while I hate this franchise with a might I never knew existed, I must say that Saw X surprised me. Following Spiral’s format, Saw X (for the most part) avoids the franchise’s plot fragmentation, opting for a fairly straight-forward journey that finally shows John Kramer getting his hands dirty for the sake of making terrible people pay the price for their actions. And while in the past I’ve had a hard time sympathizing with the Jigsaw killer, this tenth installment makes me actually care about John Kramer and somewhat understand why he does what he does. Does this film leave me with plenty of lingering questions? Yes. It’s a Saw movie. But when compared to all of the other Saw sequels, X stands out as one that proves filmmakers are learning when it comes to handling this rocky franchise.
1. Saw
I’m sure plenty of people saw this coming (haha see what I did there? Please laugh.). If this list has been any indication — and my constant reminders have not gone unheard — I’m not a big fan of the Saw franchise. Yet, one of the only Saw flicks I can really bear to sit through is the one that started it all. The plot is intriguing, creating the sense of mystery that I mentioned before that was seemingly lost as the franchise continued. It’s not terribly gruesome either, at least not to the point where I felt plot was sacrificed for gore. While I do enjoy graphic kills, the Saw franchise showcases them to the point where it seems excessive. The first Saw, though, is tasteful enough, and leaves me sympathizing with the main characters even as we learn of their flaws. I love James Wan and Leigh Whannell, and, while I can’t say Saw is anywhere close to being my favorite film by either of them, I appreciate what they managed to do with a small, limited budget, and I ultimately think the quality drop of the franchise after this is a mighty shame. Here’s hoping that, if the franchise doesn’t die (and it probably won’t), creators will continue to learn from the franchise’s past mistakes and create a Saw movie that actually surpasses the original. Is that doubtful? Yes. But I will hold out hope, because I’m always cheering for the horror genre.
