Every Saw Movie, Ranked [With Guest Author Marie-Reine Pugh]

Contains spoilers for every single Saw movie. Then again, does anyone watch these for the plot?

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was afraid to watch Saw.

For as long as I had been aware of it, I’d assumed Saw was similar to Hostel or The Human Centipede: freaky early 2000s movies that injected the phrase “torture porn” into the culture war. I liked gothic horror, Vincent Price, and A24. Other horror fans could watch people getting their eyelids peeled off or whatever, thank you very much.

My anti-Saw bias began to melt during the early days of the pandemic, when writer and podcaster Sarah Marshall live tweeted her rewatch and later recorded an excellent episode of You Are Good with co-host Alex Steed and guest Jamelle Bouie. Marshall’s other podcast, You’re Wrong About, is known for flipping the script on controversial or forgotten chapters of history—and it seemed that I was wrong about Saw.

For one thing, the franchise has incredibly complicated and intricate lore. I learned that it’s full of philosophy that teeters on madness, double crossing apprentices, and victims who may not be so innocent after all. The heaviness and bleakness I’d expected were also absent from the You Are Good conversation. There’s an old David Foster Wallace essay in which he laments his students’ inability to recognize Franz Kafka’s humor. It seemed I’d missed Saw’s goofy streak, too.

I learned all this, and still I was scared. So, last June, I emailed a bunch of my friends on our informal movie night listserv. “I'm so incredibly sorry for this, but I am desperate to see Saw and too scared to watch it alone,” I wrote.

Just one person said yes: My fearless friend and workplace co-conspirator Marie-Reine Pugh. Our bond was forged in the fires of corporate America, where we co-lead a talented team of writers at a software company. Together, we would play a game, and (hopefully) live to tell the tale.

Nearly a year later, we’ve seen and texted through all ten Saw movies. Below, we’ve compiled our thoughts, rankings, and shit posting texts that are still making us laugh a year later.

The Bottom of the (Acid) Barrel

Dead Last: Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)

Trailer

While technically a Saw movie, Spiral is sort of adjacent to the series’ cannon. The movie doesn’t involve Tobin Bell at all, despite the director’s odd plan to have him sing a Jonny Cash song on the soundtrack (which didn’t happen). Instead, we follow Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson, a father-son cop duo with dark secrets to hide, as they’re plunged into a nightmarish series of traps.

I’ll be completely honest: I didn’t hate this one. It’s a solid addition to the francise’s abundance of ACAB stories, as Rock and Jackson are forced to reckon with their complicity in police corruption. But a Saw movie without Jigsaw will always fall flat for me.

Marie-Reine’s note just said: “No thank you.” Enough said!

We Don’t Like Hoffman: Saw V (2008)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: All Salami Lips and Bad FBI, ugh. But it has good kills, if I recall, though nothing to do with John Kramer. Just collusion about a fire in a building.

We’re not fans of Hoffman (aka Salami Lips) as Jigsaw; his brutal traps misunderstand the spirit of the game, often leaving little or no opportunity for victims to escape. In this sequel, Hoffman traps five people in an underground sewer, where they must resist their instincts to pass through a series of dangerous traps. I did like the final test, in which the victims discover the power of teamwork. Uplifting!

Somehow, Hoffman manages to run the game while also pretending to investigate his own crimes, alongside the FBI’s Agent Strahm, played by Luke from Gilmore Girls (Scott Patterson), who is ultimately (and satisfyingly) crushed to death. RIP! 

Luke (From Gilmore Girls) Is Bad at His Job: Saw IV (2007)

Trailer 

Marie-Reine: More Salami Lips, and Bad FBI cop. He’s downright abusive to Jill (John’s ex). It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best.

I agree that the fourth Saw deserves a lukewarm ranking. Scott Patterson’s FBI agent is absolutely miserable at his job and spends most of his “investigation” yelling at Jill, John Kramer’s ex-wife / widow.

This movie’s ranking is slightly improved by Jill’s generous screentime and our agreement over her MILF status.

It’s Saw, All Right

Barely Not the Bottom Tier: Saw: The Final Chapter (or Saw 7 3D) (2010)

Trailer 

Marie-Reine: Oh no, the bright daylight mall kill. Linkin Park! Ok, I did enjoy the self-help guru plotline. Poor Jill gets died, but her arms were lust-worthy. And the return of Dr. Gordon! The end of Salami Lips in the same room where it all started!

This is probably the dumbest and worst-written Saw movie. I was so bored that I spent most of it on Etsy, where I bought us both authenticated props from Saw III (a fake ice cube each, from Jigsaw’s sick room) for Christmas. However, Hoffman’s reign of mediocrity finally ends in this one AND Cary Elwes briefly returns, so it’s hard not to rank it above the bottom tier.

Fun Traps: Jigsaw (2017)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: I think I liked this one? The cinematography was a lot better. A fresh restart. Ok, we’ll put it at a soft 5.

Although this sequel never quite achieved the heights of the top tier, it’s another solid installment that expands Saw lore. In it, a group of five people whose misdeeds range from petty crimes to devastating negligence are trapped inside a barn and forced to navigate a series of vaguely agriculture-themed challenges.

It concludes with one of my favorite endings in the series, in which yet another a dirty cop is taken out…by LASERS. Why not!

These Made Us Appreciate Being Alive

Timely and Thought-Provoking: Saw VI (2009)

Trailer 

Marie-Reine: The insurance guy!! Enough said.

In this installment, a group of health insurance lackeys and a genuinely evil insurance executive are gradually obliterated by Jigsaw’s traps. The game is designed to bring them face-to-face with the impact of their callous rejections of insurance claims. For John Kramer, it’s personal: In a flashback, we see that his own cancer treatment was denied.

We watched this movie just before Luigi Mangione was arrested for allegedly murdering the United Healthcare CEO, and it’s unfortunately as timely and relevant as ever. This movie came out in October 2009, exactly five months to the day before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The ACA is undeniably important legislation, but US has made depressingly little progress toward affordable, accessible healthcare in the decade and a half since it promised to fix our broken system.

Amandamania: Saw II (2005)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: I don’t even care about the hideous coloring and wigs (I sure hope Amanda’s hair is a wig), the missing plot points that clearly got cut. But we get awful cop dad, so much Tobin Bell, and Amanda babyyyy. Plus, the pit of needles, the infamous line “he’s in a safe place,” and that one guy who gets roasted alive.

Early on, Jigsaw assures an investigator that his missing son is “in a safe place.” And in the final act, we discover that it is quite literally a safe. This is the funniest possible decision the writers could have made, and in doing so, they allowed my tortured mind and battered spirit to experience a brief moment of pure, simple joy.

Messy But We Loved It: Saw III (2006)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: I don’t remember the traps and killings being that impressive. I didn’t even remember most of them from the trailer or from the Wikipedia plot summary. The scenes with Amanda and John are great, though. Ugh, we get Detective Salami Lips, though.

The third sequel might be the most convoluted; it’s an extravagant feast that leaves you no time to question its quality. The courses—a child abduction! John’s worsening brain cancer! a meatpacking plant rigged with elaborate traps! a doctor’s troubled marriage!—just keep coming, one after another. For all its flaws, this installment offers the most wrenching look at John and Amanda’s relationship. John and Amanda’s unorthodox partnership is the beating, bloody heart of the entire franchise, at least to me, so for that, it earns a spot in the top tier.

Strong Comeback: Saw X (2023)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: Such a joy to see Amanda and John, together again. Hideous wig on her, but fun dynamic duo, especially after Spiral. Somewhere on the same level as Saw 2 or 3.

After enduring six mid-to-bad sequels, the 10th Saw movie was a welcome and well-earned reward. A prequel to the others, this movie expands the franchise’s critique of the American medical system as John seeks alternatives to the treatment denied by his insurance company. It’s satisfying to watch him brutally hunt down the scammers draining cancer patients’ bank accounts and man, are some of these traps gross. Amanda’s wig is wack as hell, though.

Game Over: Saw (2004)

Trailer

Marie-Reine: Can it even be in the rankings? The OG, the first glimpse of the jawbreaker trap, AMANDA, every warehouse in that city, Dr. Gordon played by the oh-so-smooth Cary Elwes. And of course, the dirty bathroom and the bone saws, JOHN KRAMER corpsing on the ground the whole time! Ok, it’s number 1.

I could not agree more. This movie did a complete 180 on my mood; I hit play feeling apprehensive, and by the end I was cackling with delight. The first Saw movie is so passionately made, yet so low budget, that there are countless moments where the sheer bravado of it all is exhilarating. It’s an escape room from hell, it’s a hand-crafted purgatory, and yet it’s always completely sincere about the story it’s telling.

If you’re going to give Saw a shot, start here—and just see if you can resist getting as hooked as we were.

Bonus: The Many Wigs of Amanda Young

Makes you think.

Scare Me! is a free weekly horror newsletter published every Thursday morning. It’s written by Michelle Delgado, featuring original illustrations by Sam Pugh. You can find the archive of past issues here. If you were sent this by a friend, subscribe to receive more spooky interviews, essays—and maybe even a ghost story or two.

Marie-Reine Pugh is a writer and editor based in Utah. She is currently working on Leaving Loudly, a forthcoming podcast about life after leaving a high-control situation.