Without a shadow of a doubt, Saw is the most grotesque, nauseating and gut-wrenching horror franchise out there. Featuring some of the most convoluted mechanisms in cinematic history, Saw brings the blood, guts and glory. Starting out in 2004 as just a one-off biological horror (body horror for short), Saw, directed by James Wan of The Conjuring and Insidious franchises, grossed $100 million worldwide and gained a substantial cult following, going on to be cited as one of the most revolutionary horror films of all time.
While there isn’t much to wince at in Saw, some of the later sequels (tallying nine feature-length films overall with a tenth on the way) come out in full force to hammer down on the fear factor. In Saw II and beyond, John Kramer, Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman pull out all the stops to ensure that Jigsaw’s blood-soaked legacy won’t soon be forgotten. Within the fundamentals of Saw, we’ve discovered that some of Jigsaw’s traps are inescapable — usually the goriest ones — while others are more for decoration than practicality. Regardless, the Saw franchise boasts a wide variety of grisly, spine-chilling traps that’ll give you nightmares for weeks. Here are some of the hardest Saw deaths to stomach.
Note: All of the “fun facts” used in this article are courtesy of Fandom’s Saw Wiki.
10. Michael Marks (The Death Mask)
Due to an acquaintance with Eric Matthews, the corrupt detective featured in Saw II, Michael Marks, a drug addict, became Jigsaw’s next target. After his abduction, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, who became Jigsaw’s apprentice after surviving his test in Saw, performed surgery on Marks to place a key behind his right eye. With a “death mask” placed around his shoulders, Marks was tasked with cutting out his own eye to retrieve the key, which would unlock the mask before it clamped around his head — Venus flytrap style — and killed him. While we don’t see severed body parts or gushes of blood, the concept alone is enough to churn your stomach and it all happens so fast that it disorientates you somewhat.
Fun fact: According to the set and costume designers, the mask was real, and while certain parts were made of metal to achieve the proper clang sound, the nails were made out of soft foam.
9. Peter Strahm (The Glass Coffin)
FBI agent Peter Strahm began investigating the Jigsaw case after the death of Allison Kerry in Saw III. From there, he learned that Mark Hoffman was involved somehow. Strahm became another Jigsaw survivor — after Amanda Young — due to outlasting the “Water Cube” trap by performing a tracheotomy on himself with a ballpoint pen. Even though he survived his initial test, Strahm was later targeted by Hoffman, who wished to silence him to prevent others from learning about his double life as Jigsaw’s apprentice.
In Saw V, while searching for Hoffman, Strahm encounters a large glass coffin in the center of a room. When Hoffman enters, Strahm holds him at gunpoint, forcing him to get inside the coffin and get a taste of his own medicine. Unbeknownst to him, when Hoffman enters the coffin, it seals shut and gradually lowers into the floor, thus leaving Strahm alone in the room. Suddenly, the walls began closing in on Strahm, who was subsequently crushed to death. Honestly, the splatter of blood on Hoffman’s glass coffin and the classic Saw theme reaching a crescendo sells this kill so elegantly, despite it being downright disgusting.
Fun fact: The idea to have Strahm crushed between two walls actually came from the son of the director of Saw V, David Hackl.
8. Brenda (The Scalping Seat)
This one is a bit of a cheap entry, since Brenda doesn’t actually die from the “Scalping Seat” trap. Brenda worked as a madam, hiring young women to work for her as prostitutes. While she was charged for her crimes, she was acquitted and released from prison with the help of her lawyer, Art Blank. In Saw IV, Brenda is targeted by Jigsaw. It was Art, through blackmail, who orchestrated Brenda’s trap to escape Jigsaw’s wrath. Brenda was strapped to a mechanical chair with her ponytail lodged between the large gears. She was told that the combination to unlock the trap was written on the gears, therefore she needed an additional person to escape.
Daniel Rigg, the police officer forced to complete various trials in Saw IV, manages to save Brenda, though not before her scalp is almost entirely ripped off, exposing the bare bone of her skull underneath the flesh. While the Scalping Seat is agonizing to watch, it’s actually Rigg who finishes Brenda off by throwing her into a mirror and leaving her to bleed to death.
There’s no fun fact for this one, it’s just gross.
7. Dina (Public Execution)
Saw 3D, while one of the most criticized Saw films, remains one of the most inventive as far as traps go. In the opening minutes of Saw 3D, we tune in to Brad, Ryan and Dina’s test. At the core of the aptly-named “Public Execution Trap” is Dina, the girlfriend of both Ryan and Brad. While dating both men at once, Dina would ask them to commit various crimes — mostly robbery — to fulfill her material needs.
The Public Execution Trap takes place in a store window for the general public to witness. Ryan and Brad are chained to either end of two saw blades working on a push-and-pull system. Meanwhile, Dina is strapped to a metal table dangling precariously over a third circular saw in the center. As the clock runs down, Dina is lowered towards the saw. Ryan and Brad are given the choice of either killing Dina and both surviving or killing each other. Naturally, after some arguing, they agree to kill Dina, cutting her in half with the saw blade. It’s so simple yet so effective, even if the special effects are a little tacky.
Fun fact: In November 2010, Saw 3D was accidentally screened by a branch of Showcase Cinemas for a group of seven-year old children celebrating a birthday who had come to watch the DreamWorks Animation film Megamind. It took several minutes for the cinemas employees to rectify the mistake, requesting the children to cover their eyes, but it took long enough for the children to see the Public Execution Trap scene. Whoops?
6. Seth Baxter (The Pendulum)
While one could argue that the Public Execution Trap and the Pendulum Trap are closely associated, the circumstances under which both are executed stand them apart from one another. While Dina’s death was more of a public shaming, Seth’s is extremely intimate and personal. While Mark Hoffman, Seth’s abductor, watches from the sidelines, the convicted murderer is asked to crush both of his hands in mechanical vices or a giant pendulum blade will slice him cleanly in half.
We already know that Seth is the murderer of Hoffman’s sister, Angelina, which is precisely why Hoffman targets him specifically. However, much like Amanda Young’s traps, Hoffman makes the Pendulum Trap inescapable, so even though Seth crushes both of his hands, the blade doesn’t stop swinging. And well, you can guess what happens.
Fun fact: This trap was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
5. Brad Halloran (The Laser Collars)
While the Saw film that this originates from wasn’t as well-received as some of the others, Jigsaw‘s “Laser Collar Trap” is the most technologically advanced as far as special effects go. The victim of the Laser Collar Trap is Brad Halloran, a homicide detective working for Metropolitan Police Department who let multiple criminals walk free, including a drug addict and a sexual predator, the latter of whom murdered an 8-year-old girl a few days later.
Halloran was abducted with forensic pathologist Logan Nelson and instructed by John Kramer (or at least John Kramer’s voice) to either confess or die. Logan confesses to mislabeling John’s x-rays, which prevented his cancer from being detected earlier, but apparently dies after the laser collar closes in on his head. However, after Halloran confesses to letting criminals walk free and innocent people dying, Logan rises from the ground and reveals that he had planned the game. Logan manually activates the lasers, which slice open Halloran’s head. When he falls to his knees, the different portions of his head separate and blood squirts out of his midsection. If you weren’t holding back vomit during this scene, we salute you.
Fun fact: In real life, this trap would probably not cut through the victim’s head. This is because most visible lasers are not powerful enough to slice cleanly and instantly through someone’s head.
4. Evan, Kara, Dan and Jake (Horsepower)
There aren’t many Saw traps that claim multiple victims at once. One of the most memorable is the Shotgun Carousel in Saw VI, which executes Aaron, Gena, Dave and Josh. Saw 3D takes things to the next level with the “Horsepower Trap,” appropriately named for its use of a car engine to trigger a chain of lethal events. The Horsepower Trap became so famous because Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, stars as Evan, the test subject. The victims were all racist skinheads who intimidated, harmed and discriminated against others because of their differences, typically their skin color.
They were abducted by Mark Hoffman, Jigsaw’s successor, who carefully places them all in specific locations in and around a car within a garage at a junkyard. Essentially, Evan’s naked back was glued to the driver’s seat while Gena was positioned underneath the car’s rear tire, Dan had hooks connected to the back of the car through his arms and lower jaw, and Jake was strapped to the garage door. Evan was tasked with reaching forward and pulling a lever, which would immediately stop the car’s motor, but tear off his skin in the process. Ultimately, he fails, and Gena’s face is crushed with the car wheel, Dan’s arms and jaw are torn off, Jake is run over when the car accelerates and Evan is ejected through the windshield and thrown into another car’s back window. It’s a lot to take in all at once, but it’s absolutely sickening.
Fun fact: Originally, Evan was planned to survive. However, this was changed due to his actor, Chester Bennington, being on a tight schedule, which prevented him from filming the scene of Evan being taken to the hospital.
3. Timothy Young (The Rack)
In the trap’s audio tape for Jeff, whom Jigsaw puts through a series of tests to overcome his vengefulness, Jigsaw mentions that “The Rack” is his personal favorite of all the Saw traps — and it isn’t hard to imagine why. Timothy Young, a drunk driver, accidentally struck and killed Jeff’s son, Dylan, while intoxicated behind the wheel. Jeff is told to either let Timothy die and move on, or forgive him and save him. Inside a glass box is a key attached to a string behind a shotgun. If Jeff retrieves the key to unlock Timothy’s trap, he takes a shotgun bullet for his troubles. If not, The Rack twists each of Timothy’s limbs one by one, starting with the legs and finishing at the head.
Although he hesitates at first, Jeff chooses to forgive him. Thankfully for him, Judge Halden, whom Jeff had saved earlier, takes the shotgun bullet for him after Jeff grabs the key, but by the time he goes to unlock Timothy’s trap, the latter’s head is twisted at an unnatural angle. It’s utterly excruciating to witness, but it’s even more painful to empathize with the victim. Jigsaw really outdid himself with this one. Anyone squeamish doesn’t need to see Timothy’s bones snapped in two and sticking out his skin; that description is graphic enough.
Fun fact: The trap’s name is based off a real torture device that would stretch a person’s body until their skin ripped in half.
2. Allison Kerry (The Angel)
Arguably, Allison Kerry is the least deserving of Jigsaw’s punishment. Essentially, Amanda Young abducted Allison Kerry because Kerry was too good at her job. She was closing in on the Jigsaw killer’s identity faster than anyone else ever had. Amanda wanted her gone, so she chose the most convoluted way to dispose of her. Presenting: The Angel Trap. After Kerry found Troy, the victim of the Classroom Trap, she began to learn that Jigsaw (or one of his apprentices) had started to make the traps inescapable, therefore defeating the purpose of Kramer’s teachings and Jigsaw’s modus operandi.
When Kerry awoke after her abduction, she found herself strung up in a contraption that locked itself around her ribcage. In front of her, an acid-filled beaker contained the key to her escape. She was instructed to stick her hand in the beaker and retrieve the key, thereby burning off the skin on her hand. She did so, but even though Kerry did everything that was asked of her, Amanda Young’s unbeatable traps struck again. The device activates and rips Kerry’s ribcage apart. We’re not sure what’s worse, Kerry’s bloody insides or the strips of skin hanging from the contraption after it tears her apart like a present on Christmas morning.
Fun fact: The function of this trap is similar to the blood eagle, a method of ancient Nordic execution. In this method, the victim’s ribs were severed from the vertebral column with a sharp implement and the lungs were pulled through the opening to create a pair of “wings.”
1. Jill Tuck (Reverse Bear Trap)
Although it made its on-screen debut in Saw for Amanda Young’s test, the Reverse Bear Trap, eventually used again on Mark Hoffman, never actually kills anyone until Saw 3D. Mark Hoffman and Jill Tuck, John Kramer’s ex-wife, act as rivals for a long while, especially as Jill threatens to expose Hoffman as Jigsaw’s protégé. As payback for Jill using the Reverse Bear Trap on him, Hoffman gives her a taste of her own medicine and kidnaps Jill, fitting her with the device.
Hoffman straps her arms and legs to a chair without even offering her a method of escape. It wasn’t intended to be a test so much as good old fashioned revenge. After a long and boring monologue from Hoffman, the Reverse Bear Trap timer starts and counts down to zero. When it activates, long-time Saw fans finally get their first look at the infamous device in action; it rips Jill’s jaw wide open and voila: the horrifying image of her gaping mouth will forever be burned into your brain.
Fun fact: Director James Wan confirmed that the Reverse Bear Trap used in the Australian short film (directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell) was actually real and can easily rip open a person’s jaw.