I first watched Saw 20 years ago – and the plot twist still makes me shudder

My memories of first watching director James Wan’s classic after its release in 2004 are vivid; my cousins and I huddled on sofas in my grandma’s living room obsessively rewatching one of the twistiest horror movies we’d seen. 

After two decades of multiple sequels and spin-offs, each becoming more outlandish than the last, it’s now easy to reduce Saw to just another one of Hollywood’s cash cow franchises – a cheap money grab with easy effects and low-effort storytelling. 

However, it wasn’t always this way. 

The first instalment of Saw, starring Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes, carved out its niche in the horror genre which was seriously starting to lack innovation and intensely hellbent on serving us the supernatural; films like Ring, Signs, Ghost Ship, The Grudge, Jeepers Creepers and Final Destination were all released not long before Saw and we were very much living in the M Night Shyamalan era. 

So when Saw did arrive with not a supernatural demon in sight – just a wheeling, dealing Jigsaw on his little bike – it felt like a breath of fresh air and, even better, it exceeded our expectations with an unprecedented twist that changed everything about the predictable horror trope. Of course, twists in horror were nothing new but the difference with the first Saw twist is that it was an ambitious payoff. 

Co-written by Wan and Whannell, Saw follows a pair of strangers who are kidnapped by the murderous and faceless Jigsaw. They wake up in a dilapidated bathroom, before being forced to play Jigsaw’s ‘game’ in a bid to escape and save their and their families’ lives.

The twist is that right at the end (spoiler), victims Dr Lawrence Gordon (Elwes) and Adam (Whannell) discover that the person responsible for their kidnapping has actually been in the room with them the whole time. Throughout the film, we’re shown a male corpse on the floor, which we were led to believe was another of Jigsaw’s victims.

However, it turns out that the ‘corpse’ has been the real killer all along – John Kramer aka Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) who masterminded the entire game. We slowly see him rise from the floor like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon giving Dr Gordon, Adam and us the shock of our lives. He had taken a drug to slow down his heart rate, hence no movement.

The exciting thing about Saw 1 is that it pushes you to frantically ask yourself what you would do in that situation. Would you trust the stranger you’re trapped with? Would you saw off a limb to save yourself? Would you play along with Jigsaw’s game? 

It presents you with very real questions in an extreme situation and that’s probably what drew in such a vast audience in the first place – the fact that the original was more of a psychological thriller with elements of horror before the franchise descended into an outright gorefest of eyes gouging out, torsos being ripped apart and people falling into pits of needles. 

Some of that is fun in moderation, of course, but the psychological element is what keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

This psychological element was perfectly executed with the intricate twist because, let’s face it, who of us saw that coming on the first watch? Saw and what it became with its future sequels pioneered a whole new subgenre of horror which is centred on gruesome traps set up for victims facing a race against time. 

We’ve seen it countless times since with films such as The Collector (2009), all the various Escape Rooms, Would You Rather (2012), The Belko Experiment (2016), Circle (2015) and even Squid Game to a certain extent. 

All have tried to replicate the magic of Saw and some have pulled it off impressively (Would You Rather, The Collector) while others have tanked embarrassingly (2017’s Escape Room). 

Also, few horror franchises have been able to rely on a staple cast across decades; Tobin Bell as Jigsaw is part of the fabric of Saw and it just wouldn’t be the same without him, while Shawnee Smith as his brainwashed sidekick Amanda has been a solid supporting act.

It’s a wonder what commercial horror would have looked like today if it wasn’t for Saw – it’s hard to argue against the fact that it was an idea borne from independent creatives (Whannell and Wan) and blossomed into what I believe is one of the best things to happen to the genre. 

Of course, some will say that the Saw franchise and all its gimmicks have ruined horror thanks to some of its cheaper and more gratuitous sequels. 

However, the original will always stand up on its own (to be fair, the first three Saw movies make for a solid trilogy) and, as we look back on its 20th anniversary, it’s time Saw got the respect it deserves.