I know we are drowning in Saw content as we prepare for a tenth installment. It has been almost 20 years of traps, plot twists, confusion, and commitment to this chaotic franchise. Like many other horror nerds, I did a marathon to ensure I am over-prepared for the new movie. Like any other franchise sitting at 9 entries, it has had highs and lows. I think we should all share our rankings, and I’ll go first.
Ranking Every Saw Movie From Worst to Best
9. Saw 3D (Saw: The Final Chapter) (2010)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock and Prime Video,
Hoffman and Jill battle it out for Jigsaw’s legacy. Meanwhile, a man who lied about surviving Jigsaw is forced to play the game. This is the only movie in the series I have nothing nice to say about. They wasted Cary Elwes time. This movie is so focused on making sure things are flying toward the screen that it forgets what people come to the franchise for. On the bright side, it puts an end to Hoffman and Jill’s tenure in the series. Even though its ending is ridiculous with him popping out of a bag in the morgue and walking through the police station like the Terminator.
8. Spiral (From the Book Of Saw) (2021)
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
This standalone film sees someone new follow in John Kramer’s footsteps. I love Max Minghella, Samuel L. Jackson, and the 21 Savage song on the soundtrack. Seeing Jackson in a trap is also really cool. However, there’s not much else memorable about this one. The plot is predictable, our lead seems bored, and it has the biggest police procedural vibes of any movie in this franchise. While many other films walked the fine line between ACAB and CSI: Jigsaw, this one feels like a Michael Bay cop thriller from the 90s.
7. Jigsaw (2017)
Where You Can Watch: MGM+ and Prime Video
When bodies start piling up 10 years after Jigsaw’s reign ended, police suspect a copycat killer is terrorizing the city. This one tries to expand on Jigsaw’s cult, but Logan isn’t interesting or exciting. It also leaves me wondering why John would forgive the med student who mislabeled his test results (which led to him not getting diagnosed early enough to survive his cancer) but continue to punish everyone else for lesser offenses. I don’t care for any of the people (or their boring secrets) who are in the barn. This one forgets what makes the traps exciting by introducing lasers and a weird spiral-shaped blade inside of a funnel. A funnel that is specifically made to kill Mitch because John blames him for his nephew’s death.
6. Saw V (2008)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
Everyone thinks Hoffman is a hero aside from Agent Strahm, who believes he was assisting Jigsaw. This one frustrates me because we open with the man that killed Hoffman’s sister in a trap. However, none of the millions of detectives in this town investigates that odd coincidence. It also sets us up to see Strahm and Hoffman battle, but instead, we watch Strahm find clues to prove what he accused Hoffman of. Evidence that he does nothing with except stand next to as he dramatically reiterates what he said to Hoffman’s face at the top of the movie. I am also very annoyed with the five people stuck in Jigsaw’s house of torture. None of them were written to have common sense.
5. Saw IV (2007)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
Lieutenant Rigg is surprised to discover that he must now play the game to save his colleagues. This one gets major bonus points for opening with Jigsaw’s autopsy. It is a solid way to confirm that he’s really dead, and there will be no Scooby-Doo shenanigans. When they crack open his abdomen to discover another tape in his stomach, I am equally impressed and disgusted. I feel like we got too much of John’s backstory. However, I enjoy following Rigg as he embarks on this demented scavenger hunt across the city. This one also gets cooler each rewatch because you catch more lines that make it obvious Hoffman is up to dastardly deeds.
4. Saw VI (2009)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
Now that Hoffman has killed and framed Agent Strahm, he must finish carrying out Jigsaw’s wishes, which includes putting an insurance man through a gruesome test. This movie thinks Jill and Hoffman are interesting characters, but they do nothing for me. It even wastes the reveal that Perez is alive by giving her and two other people the most uninspired and avoidable deaths of the franchise. However, seeing Jigsaw’s revenge on William (the insurance guy we hate) is fun. I love watching him get forced to choose who lives and dies among his colleagues after sentencing so many strangers to death over the years.
3. Saw II (2005)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
The police are racing the clock to save 8 people that Jigsaw has trapped in a house. I love this one because it shows us that John Kramer is really on another level. Do you remember the first time your jaw dropped when you found out the footage of the people trapped in a house was pre-recorded? Do you remember screaming when the safe opened and we discovered Detective Matthews’ son had been with them the whole time? Let’s not forget this is also when we realize Amanda is in the cult of Jigsaw. No other movie in the franchise has so many reveals stacked on top of each other. Also, the needle pit scene still lives rent-free in so many of our minds today.
2. Saw III (2006)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
Jigsaw kidnaps a doctor for an unorthodox surgery as he and Amanda put a man through a gruesome test. This one dares to kill Jigsaw and then ends on a cliffhanger. That’s the boldest thing I have seen from the third installment of a franchise since Halloween III: Season Of The Witch forgot we were there for Michael Myers. Jeff and Lynn are interesting (even if their marriage is a predictable plot twist), but the sequence of deaths that are ignited when they reunite is a thing of art. Finding out how far Jigsaw will go to test those closest to him is also a thing of beauty and what the fuckery.
1. Saw (2004)
Where You Can Watch: Peacock, Prime Video, and Starz
Two strangers wake up in a room only to discover they are about to play a very sadistic game. While we have some fun traps, gruesome kills, and good times with some of the sequels, nothing has ever fully captured the feeling of the first movie. Give me Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell chained in the dirtiest room on Earth any day. This is the one that kept me on the edge of my seat. The tension was palpable as we all waited for the inevitable saw to finally get used. This one effortlessly serves us all the stress, drama, and chaos that many of the sequels struggle with. It also forever changed what my generation thought we knew about body horror.