Saw is returning to cinemas to celebrate its 20th anniversary in October, in a 4K restoration. More here.
When Leigh Whannell and James Wan made a short film about a woman who wakes up tied to a chair with a reverse bear trap on her head in 2003, all to help them pitch their feature film script to studios, they couldn’t possibly have imagined it would lead to one of the most popular and successful horror franchises of the 21st century.
Though it later became a byword for meaningless violence and gore with the increasingly grisly trap sequences – for this writer, Saw 3 is the most graphic film is the series, The Rack is particularly vile – by comparison, the original Saw is remarkable for how restrained it is in its violence. Most of the film consists of a two hander in what must by now be the most famous bathroom in horror history.
Released in 2004, Saw – written by Whannell and directed by Wan – follows Dr Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and photographer Adam (Whannell) as they wake up chained to opposite corners of a bathroom, with a bloodied body and a gun between them. They gradually discover that they are in a trap set by Jigsaw, a serial killer who tests his victims by putting them in scenarios that usually require self inflicted pain to escape.
The success of the film led to nine sequelsand a spin-off in the form of 2021’s Spiral. The traps became ever more creative and the mythology increasingly complex, with flashbacks upon flashbacks by the time of 2010’s Saw VII.
To celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, Saw is returning to cinemas at Halloween in a new 4k restoration. According to the BBFC, it is the extended cut, which runs a few seconds longer than the original release.
Saw 11 is currently in production, all we know so far is that franchise stalwart Kevin Greutert will be back behind the camera. It will be released on the 26th September 2025.
Screenings of Saw are now onsale at various cinemas including Cineworld and Showcase from the 31st October.
