Saw is a 2004 American
independentAn independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
horror film directed by
James WanJames Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...
. The screenplay, written by
Leigh WhannellLeigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars
Cary ElwesIvan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
,
Danny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
,
Monica PotterMonica Potter is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Potter, one of four daughters, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Irish American Roman Catholic family. Her father, Paul Brokaw, was the inventor of the first flame-resistant car wax, and her mother, Nancy, was a secretary....
,
Michael EmersonMichael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
,
Ken LeungKenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
, Whannell and
Tobin BellTobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
. It is the debut of Wan and Whannell and the first installment of the seven–part
Saw film series.
The film's story revolves around Adam (Whannell) and Lawrence (Elwes), two men who are chained in a dilapidated
subterraneanSubterranea refers to underground structures, both natural and man-made . Some subterranea include:* Bunker* Casemate* Catacombs* Caves** Ice caves* Cave dwellings, Cave house* Cave temple* Cellar* Cenote* Dungeon...
bathroom and are each given instructions via a microcassette recorder on how to escape. Adam is told he must escape the bathroom, while Lawrence is told to kill him before a certain time, or Lawrence's family will die. Meanwhile, police detectives investigate and attempt to apprehend the mastermind behind the "game".
The screenplay was written in 2001, but after failed attempts to get the script produced in Wan and Whannell's home country, Australia, they were urged to travel to Los Angeles. In order to help attract producers they shot a low-budget
short film"Saw " is a nine-and-a-half-minute Australian short subject horror film released in 2003. It was directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, who also starred in it. It was originally used to pitch their script for a full-length feature film Saw to various studios and actors. The...
from a scene out of the script. This proved successful in 2003 as producers from
Evolution EntertainmentEvolution Entertainment is an American independent entertainment management and film production company. The company was founded in 1998 Mark Burg and Oren Koules. and is best known for producing the first Saw film.-History:...
were immediately attached and also formed a horror genre production label
Twisted PicturesTwisted Pictures is an independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. The company was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman...
. The film was given a small budget and shot on a short schedule of 18 days.
Saw was first screened on .
LionsgateLions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
picked up the rights and released the film in the United States and Canada on October 29, 2004. Critical responses were generally mixed and divided. Compared to its low budget,
Saw performed very well at the box office, grossing more than $103 million worldwide and becoming, at the time, one of the most profitable horror films since 1996's
ScreamScream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
. The success of the film prompted a green-light of
a sequelSaw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
soon after
Saw opening weekend, which was released the following October.
Plot
Adam (
Leigh WhannellLeigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
), a
photographer, awakens in a water-filled tub and finds himself in a disused bathroom along with
Dr. Lawrence GordonDr. Lawrence Gordon is a fictional character in the Saw film series. He is portrayed by Cary Elwes. He was first seen in the original film Saw as one of the main protagonists.-Saw: Rebirth:...
(
Cary ElwesIvan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
), an oncologist. Both men are chained at the ankle to the pipes at opposite ends of the room. Lying between them is a corpse in a small pool of blood holding a
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
and a
microcassetteA Microcassette is an audio storage medium introduced by Olympus in 1969. It uses the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a much smaller container. By using thinner tape and half or a quarter the tape speed, microcassettes can offer comparable recording time to the compact...
recorder. Adam and Lawrence learn from tapes in their pockets that Adam must escape the bathroom, while Lawrence must kill Adam before six o'clock, or he will lose his wife and daughter and be left to die. Lawrence's tape also implies that the corpse between them was a similar victim who shot himself before succumbing to the effects of a poison. They find a bag containing two
hacksawA hacksaw is a fine-tooth saw with a blade under tension in a frame, used for cutting materials such as metal or plastics. Hand-held hacksaws consist of a metal arch with a handle, usually a pistol grip, with pins for attaching a narrow disposable blade. A screw or other mechanism is used to put...
s, though neither is able to cut through the chains. Lawrence realizes that the saws are meant to be used on their feet.
Flashbacks show that while Lawrence was talking with some students and an orderly named Zep Hindle (
Michael EmersonMichael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) about the terminal brain cancer of a man named John (
Tobin BellTobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
), he was approached by Detectives
David TappDavid Tapp is a fictional character from the Saw franchise. While introduced as a supporting protagonist in Saw, Tapp did not become a major character until Saw: The Video Game, which featured him as the lead protagonist and player character. He also made an brief appearance in a flashback in Saw V...
(
Danny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
) and Steven Sing (
Ken LeungKenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
) about his penlight being found at the scene of a Jigsaw "game". He viewed the testimony of
AmandaAmanda Young is a fictional character in the Saw film series. She is portrayed by Shawnee Smith. At first a minor character in the original film, her role expanded in the sequels until she became one of the most important characters in the series, being the only character besides Jigsaw himself to...
(
Shawnee SmithShawnee Smith is an American film and television actress and singer. Smith is best known for her roles as Amanda Young in the Saw films and Linda in the CBS sitcom Becker....
), a
heroin addict, who is the only known survivor of Jigsaw's games that believes that her experience made her a better person. Other victims of Jigsaw's games included Paul (Mike Butters), who was trapped in a cage filled with razor wire, and Mark (Paul Gutrecht), who was trapped in a room with a flammable substance all over his body along with a candle to help him read the walls covered with numbers that hid the combination to a safe.
Meanwhile, Lawrence's wife and daughter, Alison (
Monica PotterMonica Potter is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Potter, one of four daughters, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Irish American Roman Catholic family. Her father, Paul Brokaw, was the inventor of the first flame-resistant car wax, and her mother, Nancy, was a secretary....
) and Diana (
Makenzie Vega-Personal life:Vega was born in Los Angeles, California to a Colombian father and an American mother. She is the younger sister of actress Alexa Vega. Vega currently lives in New York with her mother Gina Rue , and three siblings...
), are being held captive in their home by Zep who is also watching Adam and Lawrence through a camera behind the bathroom's mirror. Their house is simultaneously being watched by Tapp, who was discharged from the force after becoming obsessed with the Jigsaw case when he and Sing tried to save Jeff from being killed by Jigsaw. Jigsaw managed to make a run for it after slashing Tapp's throat, and Sing was killed by a shotgun booby trap while pursuing him. After being discharged, Tapp began stalking Lawrence. Back in the bathroom, Lawrence finds a mobile phone that can receive calls but not send them. Back at Lawrence's house Zep moves to kill Alison, but she frees herself and manages to overpower Zep while calling Lawrence again. Zep's shooting gained Tapp's attention in the process. He arrives in time to save Alison and Diana from Zep, allowing them to escape. Zep then flees to the sewers with Tapp in pursuit.
Lawrence, who is only aware of gunshots and screaming on the phone, is zapped by the ankle chain as well and loses reach of the phone; in desperation, he saws off his foot and shoots Adam with the corpse's revolver in the shoulder. Zep, who shot Tapp during the chase, enters the bathroom intent on killing Lawrence, only to be blindsided by Adam and beaten to death. As Lawrence crawls away with the promise that he will return with help, Adam searches Zep's body for a key and finds yet another microcassette recorder. As he plays the tape he learns that Zep was only following rules to obtain an antidote for the slow-acting poison within his body; the corpse in the middle of the room is revealed to be the terminal brain cancer patient John when he rises to his feet and reveals himself as the real Jigsaw Killer. Adam grabs Zep's pistol and tries to shoot John but is electrically shocked by his hidden remote control before he can do so. John then turns off the lights and seals the door to the bathroom, leaving a terrified Adam to die.
Cast
- Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
as Dr. Lawrence Gordon
- Leigh Whannell
Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
as Adam
- Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
as Detective David TappDavid Tapp is a fictional character from the Saw franchise. While introduced as a supporting protagonist in Saw, Tapp did not become a major character until Saw: The Video Game, which featured him as the lead protagonist and player character. He also made an brief appearance in a flashback in Saw V...
- Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
as Detective Steven Sing
- Dina Meyer
Dina Meyer is an American film and television actress, best known for her roles as Dizzy Flores in Starship Troopers and Detective Allison Kerry in the Saw films. She portrayed Mrs. Hong as a recurring guest star on ABC's Scoundrels.-Personal life:Meyer was born in Queens, New York...
as Kerry
- Mike Butters as Paul
- Paul Gutrecht as Mark
- Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
as Zep Hindle
- Benito Martinez
Benito Martinez is an American actor most known for his role as police captain David Aceveda in FX Networks' acclaimed crime drama The Shield...
as Brett
- Shawnee Smith
Shawnee Smith is an American film and television actress and singer. Smith is best known for her roles as Amanda Young in the Saw films and Linda in the CBS sitcom Becker....
as AmandaAmanda Young is a fictional character in the Saw film series. She is portrayed by Shawnee Smith. At first a minor character in the original film, her role expanded in the sequels until she became one of the most important characters in the series, being the only character besides Jigsaw himself to...
- Makenzie Vega
-Personal life:Vega was born in Los Angeles, California to a Colombian father and an American mother. She is the younger sister of actress Alexa Vega. Vega currently lives in New York with her mother Gina Rue , and three siblings...
as Diana Gordon
- Monica Potter
Monica Potter is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Potter, one of four daughters, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Irish American Roman Catholic family. Her father, Paul Brokaw, was the inventor of the first flame-resistant car wax, and her mother, Nancy, was a secretary....
as Alison Gordon
- Ned Bellamy
Ned Bellamy is an American actor.Bellamy was born in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating UCLA, he founded the Los Angeles based theater company The Actors' Gang with fellow actor Tim Robbins....
as Jeff
- Alexandra Chun as Carla
- Avner Garbi as Father
- Tobin Bell
Tobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
as Jigsaw/John
Producer
Oren KoulesOren Koules is an American entertainment industry and professional sports industry executive. He was president of Evolution Entertainment, producer of the Saw film series...
has an uncredited role as Amanda's dead cellmate.
Development and writing
After finishing film school, Australian director
James WanJames Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...
and Australian writer
Leigh WhannellLeigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
wanted to write and fund a film. The inspiration that they needed came after watching the low-budget independent film,
The Blair Witch ProjectThe Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
. Another film that inspired them to finance the film themselves was
Darren AronofskyDarren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
's
PiPi, also titled ,WorldCat gives the title as [Pi] and provides a note which states, "Title is the mathematical symbol for Pi." . Amazon gives the title as Pi with no notation concerning the math symbol . is a 1998 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky...
. The two thought the cheapest script to shoot would involve two actors in one room. Whannell said, "So I actually think the restrictions we had on our bank accounts at the time, the fact that we wanted to keep the film contained, helped us come up with the ideas in the film". One idea was to have the entire film set with two actors stuck in an elevator and being shot in the point of view of security cameras.
Wan pitched the idea to Whannell of two men chained to opposite sides of a bathroom with a dead body in the middle of the floor and they are trying to figure out why and how they are there. By the end of the film they realize the person lying on the floor is not dead and he is the reason they are locked in the room. Whannell initially did not give Wan the reaction he was looking for. He said, "I'll never forget that day. I remember hanging up the phone and started just going over it in my head, and without any sort of long period of pondering, I opened my diary that I had at the time and wrote the word 'Saw'." Before instantaneously writing the word "Saw" in a blood-red, dripping font, the two had not come up with a title. "It was one of those moments that made me aware that some things just really are meant to be. Some things are just waiting there to be discovered.", Whannell said.
The character of Jigsaw did not come until months later, when Whannell was working at a job he was unhappy with and began having
migraineMigraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
s. Convinced it was a
brain tumorA brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
, he went to a neurologists to have an MRI and while sitting nervously in the waiting room he thought, "What if you were given the news that you had a tumor and you were going to die soon? How would you react to that?". He imagined the character Jigsaw having been given one or two years to live and combined that with the idea of Jigsaw putting others in a literal version of the situation, but only giving them a few minutes to chose their fate.
Whannell described the film as being a thriller with
horrorHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
elements, while producer
Mark BurgMark Burg is an American film producer and actor, perhaps best known for his work on the SAW series of films and on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.-Career:...
categorized it as a
psychological thrillerPsychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
. Wan did not intend to make a "torture porn" film as the script only had one short segment of "torture". He said the film "played out like a mystery thriller". It was not until the sequels that the plot focused more on torture scenes.
Funding
Whannell and Wan initially had $30,000 to spend on the film, but as the script developed it was clear that more funds would be needed.The script was optioned by a producer in
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
for a year but the deal eventually fell through. After other failed attempts to get the script produced in Australia from 2001 to 2002, literary agent Ken Greenblat read the script and suggested they travel to Los Angles where their chances of finding an interested studio were greater. Wan and Whannell initially refused, due to lack of traveling funds but the pair's agent, Stacey Testro, convinced them to go. In order to help studios take interest in the script, Whannell provided AU$5,000 (US$2,000) to make a seven minute short film based on the script's jaw trap scene, which they thought would prove most effective. Whannell played David, the man wearing the Reverse Bear Trap. Working at the
Australian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, Whannell and Wan knew cameramen who were willing to provide technical assistance for the short.
Wan shot the short with a
16mm16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
camera in over two days and transferred the footage to DVDs to shop along with the script. Whannell wanted to play the lead character in the feature film. The short helped show that Wan and Whannell was a "director-actor team" rather than just wanting to sell the script. Wan said, "Leigh and I just loved the project so much and we wanted a career in filmmaking so we stuck to our guns and said, 'Look, guys, if you want this project, we're coming on board - Leigh has to act in it and I have to direct it".
In early 2003, while in Los Angeles and before they met with producer
Gregg HoffmanGregg Hoffman born in Phoenix, Arizona, was a film producer responsible for developing Saw and Saw II. He studied communications, law and economics at American University in Washington, D.C. Hoffman was working on Saw III and other films for Twisted Pictures when he died in a hospital in...
, Hoffman's friend pulled him into his office and showed him the short. Hoffman said, "About two or three minutes into it, my jaw hit the floor". He quickly showed the short and script to his partners
Mark BurgMark Burg is an American film producer and actor, perhaps best known for his work on the SAW series of films and on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.-Career:...
and
Oren KoulesOren Koules is an American entertainment industry and professional sports industry executive. He was president of Evolution Entertainment, producer of the Saw film series...
of
Evolution EntertainmentEvolution Entertainment is an American independent entertainment management and film production company. The company was founded in 1998 Mark Burg and Oren Koules. and is best known for producing the first Saw film.-History:...
. They later formed
Twisted PicturesTwisted Pictures is an independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. The company was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman...
as a horror genere production label.) The producers read the screenplay that night and two days later offered Wan and Whannell creative control and 25% of the net profits. Even though Wan and Whannell received "better offers" from studios like
DreamWorksDreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
and
Gold Circle FilmsGold Circle Films is an American independent film production company, mainly focusing on horror and romance films, founded in 2000. Titles released by Gold Circle include White Noise, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Wedding Date, and The Man From Elysian Fields.-Films:*Double Whammy *The Man From...
, they all were not willing to chance Wan's directing and Whannell's acting in the lead role. In order to finance the film, Hoffman Burg, Koules put up a second mortgage on their Highland Avenue headquarters.
Saw was given a
production budgetA film production budget determines how much money will be spent on the entire film project. It involves the identification and estimation of cost items for each phase of filmmaking ....
of between $1 million and $1.2 million.
Casting
Elwes was sent the short film on DVD and immediately became interested in the film. He read the script in one sitting and was drawn in by the "uniqueness and originality" of the story. To prepare for his role as an oncologist, he met with a doctor at
UCLAThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
's Department of
NeurosurgeryNeurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
.
Smith, who is not a horror fan, initially refused the role, calling the script "horrific". However, after watching the short, she agreed to the role, which was the part that Whannell portrayed in the short.
On taking the role of Jigsaw, Tobin Bell said - "I did
Saw because I thought it was a fascinating location for a film to be made. These guys locked in a room, to me, was fresh. I did not anticipate the ending when I read the script, so I was quite caught by surprise and it was clear to me that if the filmmakers shot the scene well, the audience would be caught by surprise as well. The film was worth doing for that moment alone.", Bell said on the reason he accepted the role.
Filming and post-production
With a shooting budget of $700,000,
Saw began
principal photographythumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
on at Lacy Street Production Facility in Los Angeles for 18 days. The bathroom was the only set that had to be built.
Danny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
completed his scenes in two days. Due to the tight
shooting scheduleA shooting schedule is a project plan of each day's shooting for a film production. It is normally created and managed by the assistant director, who reports to the production manager managing the production schedule...
, Wan could not afford to shoot more than a couple of
takeA take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.-Film:In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup"...
s per actor. "It was a really tough struggle for me. Every day, it was me fighting to get the shots I did not get. I had high aspirations, but there’s only so much you can do. I wanted to make it in a very
HitchcockianHitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.-Characteristics:Elements considered Hitchcockian include:*The cool platinum blonde....
style of filmmaking, but that style of filmmaking takes time to set up and so on", Wan said about the very short shooting schedule. He said the style instead ended up being "more gritty and rough around the edges due to the lack of time and money that we had to shoot the movie with" and it ultimately became the aesthetic of the film.
In post-production, Wan found he did not have enough shots or takes to work with as he was basically shooting rehearsals. Having a lot of missing gaps in the final product, he and editor
Kevin Greutert-External links:...
created shots to mend together during editing; such as making a shot look like a surveillance camera feed and using still photographs. "We did a lot of things to fill in gaps throughout the film. Whatever we cut to newspaper clippings and stuff like that, or we cut to surveillance cameras, or we cut to
still photographyA unit still photographer or simply, stills photographer is a person who creates still photographic images specifically intended for use in the marketing and publicity of feature films in the motion picture industry and network television productions....
within the film, which now people say, 'Wow, that's such a cool experimental style of filmmaking', we really did that out of necessity to fill in gaps we did not get during the filming", he explained.
Music
The soundtrack was mainly composed by
Charlie ClouserCharles Alexander "Charlie" Clouser is an American musician whose activities include playing keyboard, synth, theremin, and drums. He is known for his abilities in music programming, engineering, mixing, and remixing. He was a member of the band Nine Inch Nails 1994–2000. Before he was in Nine...
, which took six weeks to complete. Other songs were performed by
Front Line AssemblyFront Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
,
Fear FactoryFear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
,
EnemyEnemy is an American band fronted by guitarist and vocalist Troy Van Leeuwen , with bassist Eddie Nappi and drummer Kelli Scott . Former Quicksand drummer Alan Cage was a founding member before being replaced by Scott...
, Pitbull Daycare and Psycho Pumps.
MegadethMegadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
's song "Die Dead Enough" was originally set to be featured in the film, but was not used for undisclosed reasons.
The soundtrack was released on by
Koch RecordsE1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is the largest independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal...
. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic gave it three out of five stars. He said that Clouser "really nails it with his creaky, clammy score" and that he "understands that
Saw horror only works with a heady amount of camp, and he draws from industrial music in the same way". He particularly liked, "Cigarette", "Hello, Adam", and "F**k This S*!t", commenting that they "blend chilling sounds with harsh percussion and deep-wound keyboard stabs".
Crew
- James Wan
James Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...
– director, screenwriter
- Gregg Hoffman
Gregg Hoffman born in Phoenix, Arizona, was a film producer responsible for developing Saw and Saw II. He studied communications, law and economics at American University in Washington, D.C. Hoffman was working on Saw III and other films for Twisted Pictures when he died in a hospital in...
– producer
- Mark Burg
Mark Burg is an American film producer and actor, perhaps best known for his work on the SAW series of films and on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.-Career:...
– producer
- Oren Koules
Oren Koules is an American entertainment industry and professional sports industry executive. He was president of Evolution Entertainment, producer of the Saw film series...
– producer
- Leigh Whannell
Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
– screenwriter
- David A. Armstrong – cinematographer
- Kevin Greutert
-External links:...
– editor
- Charlie Clouser
Charles Alexander "Charlie" Clouser is an American musician whose activities include playing keyboard, synth, theremin, and drums. He is known for his abilities in music programming, engineering, mixing, and remixing. He was a member of the band Nine Inch Nails 1994–2000. Before he was in Nine...
– music composer
- Julie Berghoff – production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
- Nanet Harty – art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
- Jennifer L. Soulages – costume designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...
Release
LionsgateLions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
picked up
Saw worldwide distribution rights at the
Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
days before the film premiered on . There it played to a packed theater for three nights to a positive reaction. It was the closing film at the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on . Lionsgate initially planned to release the film
direct-to-videoDirect-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
, but due to the positive reaction at Sundance, they chose to release it theatrically by Halloween. It was released on in the United Kingdom, in the United States and in Australia. The film was originally rated NC-17 (No children under 17 permitted) by the
Motion Picture Association of AmericaThe Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
for strong graphic violence, though after being re-edited, it was released with an R rating. Lionsgate held the first annual "Give Til It Hurts"
blood driveA blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions or made into medications by a process called fractionation....
for the Red Cross and collected 4,249 pints of blood.
Home media
The theatrical version of the film was released on
VHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on in the United States. After its first week it made in DVD rentals and in VHS rentals, making it the top rental of the week. For the second week it remained as the number one DVD rental with , for a two-week total. It dropped to third place in VHS rentals with , for a two-week total. The film went on to sell more than $70 million worth of video and DVDs.
A two-disc "Uncut Edition" was released on to tie in with the release of
Saw IISaw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
. The short film, also entitled
Saw, was included on the DVD.
Box office
Saw opened on a
HalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
weekend in 2,315 theaters and grossed , placing third behind
RayRay is a 2004 biographical film focusing on 30 years of the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was directed by Taylor Hackford and starred Jamie Foxx in the title role; Foxx received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.Charles was set to...
($20 million) and
The GrudgeThe Grudge is the 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge, and the first horror film in the Ju-on series, Ju-on 1. The film is the first installment in the American horror film series The Grudge...
($21.8 million). According to Lionsgate's exit poll, 60% of the audience was mostly male under 25 years of age.
Saw had also become Lionsgate's second best opening, after
Fahrenheit 9/11Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...
(2004). On its second weekend an additional 152 theaters were added, bringing the theater count to 2,467. It dropped to number four making $11 million, a 39% drop from the opening weekend.
Saw opened in the United Kingdom to in 301 theaters, grossing a total in seven weeks. In Australia, it opened in 161 theaters with and totaled out to in six weeks. In Italy, the film opened on in 267 theaters to and grossed in six weeks.
Saw opened to 187 theaters in France on and made by the end of its four week run.
Saw came to gross in the United States and Canada and in other markets for a worldwide total of . It is the second lowest grossing film in the series after
Saw VISaw VI is a 2009 horror film directed by Kevin Greutert from a screenplay written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. It is the sixth installment of the seven–part Saw film series and stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Peter Outerbridge, and Shawnee Smith...
. At the time, it became the most profitable horror film after
ScreamScream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
(1996).
Release date
(United States) |
Budget
(estimated) |
Box office revenue |
| United States/Canada |
Other markets |
Worldwide |
| October 29, 2004 |
$1,200,000 |
$55,185,045 |
$47,911,300 |
$103,096,345 |
Critical reviews
The film received generally mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 48% of 162 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 46 based on 32 reviews.
Dennis Harvey of
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
gave the film a negative review after its Sundance premiere. He called it a "crude concoction sewn together from the severed parts of prior horror/serial killer pics". He called the screenplay "convoluted", criticizing the use of "flashbacks within flashbacks" and red herrings. He described the film as being "too hyperbolic to be genuinely disturbing".
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave
Saw two out of four stars, calling it "an efficiently made thriller" and "well made and acted", but "finally not quite worth the ordeal it puts us through." Carla Meyer of the
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
gave the film a positive review saying the film "combined B-movie acting with a twisted mind-set and visual tricks designed to camouflage cheap effects" and that it was "terrifying at some moments and insinuatingly creepy at many others". She called the killing scenes "amazingly evocative for such a low-budget movie".
Empire Kim NewmanKim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
gave the film four out of five stars. He said
Saw is styled like early
David FincherDavid Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
films and "boasts an intricate structure - complex flashbacks-within-flashbacks explain how the characters have come to this crisis - and a satisfying mystery to go with its ghastly claustrophobia". He ended her review saying, "As good an all-out, non-camp horror movie as we've had lately".
Owen GleibermanOwen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the film a B minus, calling it "derivative and messy and too nonsensical for its own good". He described Jigsaw's intent as "to show you the serial killer lurking inside yourself". Gleiberman criticized Elwes' performance by saying, "[Elwes] ought to be featured in a seminar on the perils of
overactingOveracting is the exaggeration of gestures and speech when acting. It may be unintentional, particularly in the case of a bad actor, or be required for the role. For the latter, it is commonly used in comical situations or to stress the evil characteristics of a villain...
".
Daniel M. KimmelDaniel M. Kimmel is an American film critic, writer, and college media professor, currently teaching at Suffolk University. He received a B.A. from the University of Rochester and a degree in law from Boston University....
of the
Telegram & Gazette called it "one of the most loathsome films this critic has seen in more than 20 years on the job."
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Stephen HoldenStephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
gave a mixed review saying the film "does a better-than-average job of conveying the panic and helplessness of men terrorized by a sadist in a degrading environment, but it is still not especially scary. What sets its demon apart from run-of-the-mill movie serial killers is his impulse to humiliate and torture his victims and justify it with some twisted morality." He said the film is "seriously undermined by the half-baked, formulaic detective story in which the horror is framed". Carina Chocano of the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
also gave the film a mixed review saying, "
Saw is so full of twists it ends up getting snarled. For all of his flashy engineering and inventive torture scenarios, the Jigsaw Killer comes across as an amateur.
Hannibal LecterHannibal Lecter M.D. is a fictional character in a series of horror novels by Thomas Harris and in the films adapted from them.Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon as a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer...
would have him for lunch". She said the film "carelessly underscores its own shaky narrative at every turn with its mid-budget hokiness". She also noted that Elwes and Whannell had trouble keeping an American accent.
Comparisons to Seven (1995)
When asked if the 1995 thriller film
SevenSeven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
was an inspiration to
Saw, Whannell said "For me as the writer, definitely. I mean,
Seven is just a very well constructed film, and if you're writing a thriller, it can't hurt to study it. In terms of the story though, James and I never really felt
Seven was that close to our film. I guess if you stand back, you have two detectives chasing a psychopath, who uses vile methods to teach people lessons, and those points echo
Seven. What we always liked about
Saw, though, was the fact that the story is told from the point of view of two of the psychopaths victims, instead of the police chasing after him, as you so often see."
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman compared the plot to
Seven saying, "In a blatant imitation of
Seven,
Saw features a lunatic sadist whose ghoulish crimes are meant, in each case, to mirror the sins of his victims. The twist here is that the psycho doesn't do the killing". Richard J. Leskosky of
Champaign-UrbanaThe Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign-Urbana, is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. It is the 191st largest metropolitan area in the U.S. It is composed of three counties, Champaign, Ford, and Piatt...
's
The News-Gazette said "
Saw wants to be taken as another
Seven. Though it features perverse gross-out scenes and a villain with a superficially pedantic motive behind his crimes (his victims, if they survive, have learned to appreciate life more), it lacks the finesse and polish of the David Fincher film".
Accolades
On
Empire magazine's list of the 500 greatest films,
Saw ranked 499th.
Bloody DisgustingBloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
ranked the film tenth in its list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article calling
Saw "perhaps the most influential horror film of the decade, which kick-started a franchise.... In light of its measly $1.2 million price tag the film's quality relative to bigger-budget horror films is striking. It also takes itself seriously, which came as a breath of fresh air following the trend of wimpy tongue-in-cheek horror that had dominated the multiplexes post-
ScreamScream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
. More than anything, this twisted morality tale is a film made by horror fans, for horror fans; it’s gory, it's depraved, and best of all it introduced a new horror icon in Jigsaw".
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
listed the film number 14 on their Top 100 list that defined the 2000s.
| Award |
Category |
Recipient(s) |
Result |
| Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival , previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film was created in 1983 as a venue for horror, thriller and science fiction films. It takes place in Brussels, every year in March...
|
Pegasus Audience Award |
James Wan James Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...
|
|
| Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
|
International Fantasy Film Award- Best Film |
James Wan |
|
| Golden Trailer Awards The Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :...
|
Best Horror |
— |
|
| Gérardmer Film Festival |
Special Jury Prize |
James Wan |
|
| Youth Jury Grand Prize |
James Wan |
|
| MTV Movie Awards The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
|
Best Frightened Performance |
Cary Elwes Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
|
|
| San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
|
Audience Award- Best Feature |
James Wan |
|
| Satellite Awards The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
|
Outstanding DVD Extras (Uncut Edition) |
— |
|
| Saturn Award The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
|
Best DVD Special Edition Release The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best DVD Release:...
|
— |
|
| Best Horror Film The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Horror Film:-References:...
|
— |
|
| Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
|
Choice Movie Scream Scene |
Leigh Whannell Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...
|
|
| Choice Movie: Thriller |
— |
|
Video games
Two video games based on the series were developed by
Zombie StudiosZombie Studios is an American independent video game developer of console, PC, mobile and web-based games. It was formed in 1994 by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design of a virtual reality game...
and published by
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. They are both set between the
Saw and
Saw IISaw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
timeline. The first game was released on and the second on for the
PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
,
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
platforms.
See also
- Saw: Rebirth, the comic book prequel to Saw
Similar works
- Cube
Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction psychological thriller/horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre's First Feature Project....
(1997)
- The Cell
The Cell is a 2000 science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Tarsem Singh, and starring Jennifer Lopez in the lead role.-Plot:...
(2000)
- Breathing Room
Breathing Room is a 2008 horror film written and directed by John Suits and Gabriel Cowan.The film is said to be "Low on camp and high on suspense", with a plot that resembles the 2006 French cult film 13 Tzameti and House of 9.-Plot:Gabriel Hui is tossed naked into a room with thirteen strangers...
(2007)