Saw (film series)

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The Saw film series is a popular horror film franchise created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. The current Saw trilogy is one of very few film series where each new film has earned more than its predecessor, along with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the Austin Powers series. It has been called the horror series for the new millennium, such as the Elm Street series, Friday the 13th series, and Halloween series before it.

Contents 1 Premise 2 Media 3 Prominent characters 4 Series plot 5 References

[edit] Premise

The main plot of this film series revolves around the Jigsaw Killer, a dying vigilante who kidnaps victims and places them in deadly traps to test them and see if they are deserving of the life they have abused. The victims, almost always taken because they have taken their lives for granted and abused them (lying, conning, drug-dealing, etc.), are usually linked to each other in one way or another. The films tend to conclude with a twist-ending that wraps things up, but also creates more questions to be answered in the next film. There have been 3 Saw movies in total, with production and filming to begin for the fourth movie in April 2007.

[edit] Media

The main media of the Saw series consists of three movies:

• Saw, released on October 29, 2004 .
• Saw II, the first sequel, released on October 28, 2005.
• Saw III, the second sequel, released on October 27, 2006.
• Also, Lions Gate has announced that Saw IV, a fourth movie, will be released on October 26, 2007.
• Tobin Bell has signed for a fifth movie as well, but nothing is known about it at this point^[1].

All of the movies are purposefully released as close to Halloween as possible. Fans of the series have come to see the release of a Saw film as a Halloween tradition.

Outside these films, there has also been the following:

• A 2003 short that served as a promotional tool before production.
• Saw: Rebirth a comic book prequel to the first film.

In addition, the horror film spoof Scary Movie 4 parodied the first two films.

[edit] Prominent characters

• John Kramer/Jigsaw
• Amanda Young
• Adam Faulkner
• Dr. Lawrence Gordon
• Detective Eric Matthews
• Jeff Reinhart
• Dr. Lynn Denlon

[edit] Series plot

John Kramer, a toy factory worker, was dumped by his girlfriend Jill as he was too timid and afraid to make a full commitment to her. John became sick. During a check-up, John was diagnosed with colon cancer, which spread and lead to a frontal lobe tumor which would slowly kill him. After waiting in the hospital, he began to notice many people that seem unappreciative for the life they'd been granted, such as Dr. Lawrence Gordon (John's doctor who had been cheating on his wife), Zep Hindle (an orderly who spoke with John about Dr. Gordon's cold reaction) , Paul Stallberg (a man who worked with John in the toy factory who had slashed his wrists for attention), Amanda Young (a drug addict who overdosed on heroin), and Lynn Denlon (a doctor who seemed dead on the inside following the death of her son while cheating on her husband and taking anti-depressants). Utterly depressed by people playing carelessly with the gift of life that John has just been denied, John tried to kill himself by driving himself off a cliff, but survived, gaining a new perspective. John made it a goal to find ways to test people in vicious traps to see if they were deserving of their lives.

John kidnapped his first three victims, Paul, Amanda, and Mark Rodriguez (a man who claimed to be unable to work due to illness). Paul and Mark failed their tests, and Jigsaw left Dr. Gordon's pen, which he acquired at the hospital, at the scene of Mark's death. Amanda managed to complete her test successfully and escape alive. Amanda and Dr. Gordon were interrogated by the police; Dr. Gordon's alibi proved he was not the "Jigsaw Killer".

Jigsaw, planning the bathroom trap in an abandoned warehouse downtown, was confronted by Detectives Tapp and Sing, who learned of his base of operations while reviewing the tape he had left for Amanda. Jigsaw distracted the police by activating the trap for an old man named Jeff. During the ensuing chaos, Jigsaw injured Tapp and escaped. Sing saved Jeff, only to be killed by the Quadruple Shotgun trap. Tapp, having led Sing into the warehouse without a search warrant, is dishonorably discharged from the force. Enraged over Sing's death, he became positive Gordon was the Jigsaw Killer.

Amanda was confronted by Jigsaw at her apartment. She agreed to become his apprentice and continue on his life work when he dies. With Amanda's help, Jigsaw kidnapped Lawrence Gordon and Adam Faulkner (a man Tapp hired to follow and takes pictures of Lawrence). Both of them failed their respective tests, but Lawrence still managed to saw his foot off and leave, looking for help. Zep was killed while being tested, and Adam, now alone, was locked away in the dark bathroom to rot forever. Amanda, shaken with guilt, crept back into the bathroom to put Adam out of his misery by suffocating him.

Jigsaw kidnapped a police informant named Michael and placed him in a trap, also starting a test for Eric Matthews (a detective known for setting up criminals), by leaving him a message. Jigsaw kidnapped Obi (a man who helped Jigsaw kidnap others), Xavier (a drug dealer), Jonas, Laura, Gus, Addison, and Daniel Matthews, Detective Matthews' son. He put them all in a large, sealed house filled with a deadly nerve gas and traps. With them, he placed Amanda in to keep Daniel alive. Everyone but Amanda and Daniel died in the house. Daniel was placed in a safe in Jigsaw's lair.

Eric Matthews and his SWAT team arrived at Jigsaw's lair, and intended to arrest him before he informed Eric that his son was in the house. Jigsaw told Detective Matthews that all he had to do to get his son back in a safe state is listen to Jigsaw. Eric failed his test and assaulted Jigsaw, nearly killing him. Jigsaw took him to the nerve gas house, where Detective Matthews believed his son to be. There, he found the bathroom in the foundation of the house, and was attacked by Amanda, who knocked him out and chained him to a pipe before closing the door and informing him that she was taking over the role of Jigsaw. Eric managed to break his foot and escape the chain, confronting Amanda in the hallway outside of the bathroom. There, instead of forgiving him and helping him escape, she kicked his broken foot and left him to rot.

Jigsaw's condition worsened, and he was on the verge of death. With the help of Amanda, he began his last tests. Amanda began her own traps, kidnapping Troy (a man who continued to go back to prison) and Kerry (a detective who studied Jigsaw and his methods), leaving each of them in traps that had no escape. Amanda then kidnapped Jeff Reinhart (a man who had been dwelling on his son's death for the past three years), Lynn, Danica Scott (the only witness to Jeff's son's death), Judge Halden (the judge who presided over Jeff's son's murder), and Timothy Young (the drunk driver who hit Jeff's son), all players in Jigsaw's last test. Lynn was forced to keep Jigsaw alive long enough to see Jeff make it through his series of tests. Amanda began growing jealous. Jeff was forced to wander through a warehouse, finding Danica in a trap of her own. He had the choice to help her, which he tried to do, but failed. Jeff then found Judge Halden in another trap, which Jeff managed to save him from. Lynn began operating on Jigsaw's brain, keeping him alive a bit longer. Jigsaw experienced flash backs of him and a woman. They seemed in love, and it has been speculated that this is his ex-girlfriend Jill. Jeff and Judge Halden found the last trap in the warehouse: Tim, the drunk driver who killed Jeff's son. While trying to save him, Jeff accidentally activated a trap that shot Halden in the head. He also failed to unlock the device in time to save Tim.

Once Jeff had completed his warehouse tests, Jigsaw ordered Amanda to remove Lynn's trap. Amanda refused, and rebelled against Jigsaw, stating that nobody ever learned anything from his traps. She shot Lynn in the stomach just as Jeff left the warehouse and entered Jigsaw's lair. Seeing this, he used his only bullet to shoot Amanda in the neck. Jigsaw informed her that it was another test for her, to see if she could cope with the pressure of carrying on his life's work. It was revealed that Jeff was Lynn's husband.

Amanda bled to death while Jigsaw gave Jeff a choice to either kill him or forgive him. Jeff, thinking he could have it both ways, seemed to truly forgive Jigsaw, but then cut Jigsaw's throat with a circular saw blade, not knowing that if Jigsaw died, Lynn's trap would automatically kill her. Jigsaw played a tape for Jeff, revealing that his daughter was trapped somewhere with a limited air supply. The exits to the warehouse slammed shut as Jigsaw flatlined, and Lynn was killed by her trap, leaving Jeff alone. The tape also revealed that Jeff might have to play another game or series of games if he wants to get his daughter back.

[edit] References

The Saw Series
Films
Saw (short, 2003) • Saw (2004) • Saw II (2005) • Saw III (2006) • Saw IV (2007)
Characters
Jigsaw • Amanda • Adam • Detective Matthews • Lynn • Jeff
Film Soundtracks
Saw • Saw II • Saw III
Other
Traps • "Billy" the puppet • Saw: Rebirth • "Hello Zepp"
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