Saw (2004) is a movie of tense psychological battles and shocking twists! Let’s take a deep dive into the hidden meanings and messages the movie is trying to convey.
What kind of movie is ‘Saw’?
Saw is a franchise that spans 10 movies in total, including 3D. In fact, it’s probably better categorized as a B-movie than a mass market movie. I don’t think the Saw movies themselves are great, great movies, textbook examples of thrillers. I think it’s a very raw movie that takes all of the elements and conventions of the genre and makes them very typical of it, and it’s raw because it’s rough and crude. It’s rough and gritty because of that.
What is the central thesis?
First, I want to look at the conventions of thrillers in Saw. In a way, Saw is a collection of these conventions from start to finish. Some of them come from other early thrillers, some of them come from mystery novels. They’re all transformations of archetypes. But are we simply going to discuss the conventions of thriller films as seen in Saw? If so, then this analysis doesn’t have to be about Saw; there are many other films that exemplify these conventions. I think there is something about Saw that is unique to the movie that makes it stand out from the crowd, which is why it was such a sensation when it was released and why it is still talked about when thrillers are discussed. That’s why I’ve framed my central argument as follows.
“How does Saw follow the conventions of the typical thriller genre, and what is its own genre pleasure?”
Very typical thriller movie conventions in Saw
As I wrote in the central thesis above, “Saw” has very typical thriller conventions. Let’s take a look at some of these tropes, so we can understand what makes Saw unique.
The twist
One day, somewhere, a murder takes place. The protagonists begin to struggle to find the culprit, but one by one, the murders become more and more numerous, and the culprit becomes more and more mysterious. But then they find a clue, and through that clue, they finally figure out who the killer is. But it’s someone else.
This is the typical progression of a murder thriller that we’ve all seen in novels, TV shows, movies, and everywhere else. It’s gotten to the point where it’s boringly similar and common enough that you’re like, “What, again? Now, notice the last part in bold. That bolded part is the twist.
A twist is a great audience-pleaser in a thriller. The audience usually feels like they’re the main character in a thriller movie, and they’re trying to figure out who the killer is, and they’re trying to figure it out with the main character, and they’re trying to track down the killer. It’s like the audience and the movie are playing a game. Then, when a completely unexpected character appears as the killer, the audience feels the pleasure of surprise and disbelief through the twist.
That’s why audiences love movies with hidden twists. At some point, audiences began to “guess” the story behind the narrative whenever they watched a thriller movie rather than the progression of the movie narrative, and that guessing became one of the criteria for judging a thriller movie. If I could guess the ending, it wasn’t a good movie, and if it was too difficult, I dismissed it as ridiculous.
‘Saw’ also has a twist: ‘Jeff, who thought he was the killer, was the killer’s puppet, and John, who thought the real killer was a corpse. In the movie, Jeff, a nursing assistant at Gordon Hospital, is the first to be accused of the murder. However, if the audience knows the conventions of thriller movies, when Jeff’s presence is revealed, no one thinks that he is the real killer. Of course, Jeff is just a trap to fool the audience. This trick of hiding the real killer by bringing the suspected killer to the forefront is a common trope in thrillers, as in the case of Detective Rose in The Identity. And the idea that the killer is a corpse that was thought to be dead is also a trope that dates back to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, in which Judge Wargrave is the killer.
Clandestine rooms
Of course, no thriller movie would be complete without this device. That’s right, a claustrophobic room.
The main characters are trapped inside a room. They can never go outside because it’s either stormy outside (natural) or the door is locked (artificial). Inside, a game is being played by the killer. Now, the main characters have to play the game. And in doing so, they have to figure out who the killer is.
Enclosed spaces are a great device to use in thrillers. You can push your characters to greater extremes by making sure they have nowhere to escape, and by showing only a limited number of people, you can increase our understanding and focus on them. The limited props and clues also allow for a tighter, more cohesive composition.
Within the limited space set by the killer, the protagonists play a game of suspicion with each other. In And Then There Were None, the protagonists are trapped on an Indian island during a storm, in Identity, they are trapped in a remote motel during another storm, in Phone Booth, they are trapped in a phone booth, and in Cube, they are trapped in a murder cube.
Of course, there’s a difference between playing a game with a killer in a closed room. In “And Then There Were None” and “Identity,” the killer hides in them and kills the characters one by one; in “Phone Booth,” the rule is that you can’t end the call with the killer while in the room; and in “Saw” and “Cube,” the rule is that if you win the game with the killer, you can escape from the room. The important thing about this device is that you have to play a life-and-death game with the killer, and the characters in the room are constantly suspicious of each other. Of course, that’s what the killer is after. The nature of the confined space is that the characters are constantly questioning, pushing, and suspecting each other.
‘Saw’ also utilizes this device by constantly showing suspicion between Dr. Gordon and Adam, who are trapped in a warehouse.
The genre thrill of “Saw”
Now that we’ve looked at the conventions of the thriller genre, let’s look for what makes Saw unique. How did it manage to break through the conventions and make a movie?
It’s because of its unique realism. You might be surprised by this claim. You might argue, “Saw is realistic? Where the hell are you going with that!” But it’s clear that the movie has many realistic aspects.
The most important reason why audiences found the movie so chilling and creepy is because, at one point or another, everyone in the audience said they didn’t want to live in this world. Were the people in the movie who had to play the game with the killer and end up dying anything special? No, they were just people who were bored with the world and unmotivated by life. In the movie, the killer is about to die. The killer is on the verge of dying, and he’s driving himself crazy because he thinks life is so precious, and it’s so unfair that other people take it for granted. Now, let’s look at you here. Have you ever had the same thoughts as the victims in the movie? I bet you have. That life is too hard, that you’d rather be dead, that you’re too lazy.
But the funny thing is, when death is right around the corner, they cling to life like crazy. I don’t think the audience would have been comfortable watching someone slash someone’s stomach, gouge out their own eyes, etc. because they would have been the same way themselves!
That’s why I called it the realistic aspect. That’s what makes this killer’s message so creepy, especially since it’s aimed at modern people who don’t have much of an attachment to life. There are moments in the movie where you might think, “Well, I’m no different. It’s important to note that the movie uses thought-provoking moments to make us think about the value of life and not just the visual experience of seeing death, unlike other thrillers.
Closing thoughts
Saw is certainly not a very well-crafted thriller like Identity, The Usual Suspects, or Memento, but it is a film that utilizes the basic formula of thrillers better than any of them: enclosed spaces, murder, torture, and tension. The scenes are well-composed to show the psychology of the characters, and the killer’s unique philosophy of constantly walking a tightrope between being a killer and a judge is well captured. Even though the movie has its own plot holes, it is definitely a visually and emotionally stimulating thriller. To analyze the reason for the movie’s success, it’s worth recalling the definition of a thriller.
A thriller is a movie that is designed to play on the audience’s fears.
This movie was successful at the box office because it delivered enough fear to scare the audience, without any twists or meaningful moralizing. Many people were enthusiastic about the movie not because it was a low-budget movie or because it was directed by a newcomer, but because it stuck to the conventions of the genre as a thriller. And in that convention, the genre pleasure that only ‘Saw’ can give is clearly shown, so I think this movie, although raw, rough, and crude, fully utilizes the genre appeal of a thriller.
