The Saw films ushered in the first mainstream phase of gory psychological horror in the 2000s, with its lead antagonist, Jigsaw, acting as a force of redemption for his victims through wicked, elaborate traps. However, as the series dragged on, Saw veered away from its psychological roots and leaned more into the visceral horror its critics have pronounced “torture porn.”

While this label couldn’t be more incorrect about the first Saw, the later entries in the franchise veer into this territory because of one key mistake—the absence of a chance at survival. Whereas Jigsaw initially created extreme situations that only a few determined people might survive, by the third film, this sentiment had been abandoned for thoughtless, bloody slaughter.

Jigsaw Stopped Giving People A Chance To Live

Over Time, The Need For Gore Took Priority

One of the most compelling aspects of the first Saw was the concept of a killer who offers his victims a chance at survival through extreme measures. For example, in the “Reverse Bear Trap,” heroin addict Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) was forced to cut open a person’s stomach to retrieve a key before the contraption wholly ripped her head apart.

Another more visceral example is the “Death Mask Trap” from Saw II, which placed police informant Michael Marks (Noam Jenkins) in the unfathomable position of having to cut out a key from behind his eye before spikes careered toward his face like a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Venus Fly Trap. Though Michael didn’t survive the trap, it was still survivable through will alone.

What initially set Jigsaw apart from other serial killers (which, despite his misgivings about the term, he most definitely is) was the extremity of the choice he offered his victims: a wicked chance to survive through perverted redemption. However, as the series went on, the increasing need for gruesome spectacle took precedence over this mantra, leading to its abandonment.

These Traps Only Made Sense When It Was Amanda Or Hoffman Setting Them Up

The Series Is Diluted With Too Many Apprentices

Another problem that arose with the Saw sequels was John Kramer’s death in Saw III, which left a vacuum for murder-inclined apprentices Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) to fill. Per the admittedly convoluted order of Saw lore, Amanda starts helping Jigsaw after the events of the first film, with Saw II’s twist being Amanda’s involvement in the traps.

In contrast, before Saw II, Hoffman started out as a Jigsaw copycat with the famed “Pendulum Trap,” a contraption designed to kill Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a murderer who had previously killed Hoffman’s ex-girlfriend. After Jigsaw discovered the trap, he began blackmailing Hoffman and forced him to help design and implement his many murderous games.

Though Amanda and Hoffman are the main apprentices, they are not the only people to have constructed traps. In Saw 3D, Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) is revealed to be a Jigsaw apprentice, and Spiral introduces William Schenk (Max Minghella) as a copycat architect. Truthfully, all these killers have muddled the greater Saw lore as connections to Jigsaw himself grow weaker.

The idea that Amanda and Hoffman made unwinnable traps makes at least some sense since they aren’t Jigsaw. Hoffman was always out for himself and Amanda had a murderous streak of her own.

Saw II Is A Great Sequel Because It Didn’t Have This Problem

The Sequel Kept Jigsaw’s Message Intact

In contrast to the franchise’s later films, Saw II stands as a great sequel precisely because it doesn’t fall into the trap of no survival. Bigger and bloodier than its predecessor, the follow-up takes the original’s premise to the extreme, pitting eight captives through Jigsaw’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅly games of redemption in order to discover the antidotes for a nerve agent.

Though Saw II’s traps are more extreme, they’re just as survivable. The film opens with the aforementioned “Death Mask Trap,” which—while horrific—is an easily escapable contraption (if you don’t mind losing an eye). Furthermore, the film’s other traps also offer ᴅᴇᴀᴅly means of survival, including one scene in which Amanda fishes through a pit of used needles for the antidote.

By keeping the stakes and the chance of survival intact, Saw II doesn’t allow the audience to fall into despair or find pointlessness in Jigsaw’s actions, as his depraved sense of justice is still held intact through his traps. In contrast, when Amanda takes over in Saw III, she begins designing traps that are unwinnable, perverting Jigsaw’s already perverted message.

The Best Saw Traps Are The Ones Where The Victim Has A Chance To Save Themselves

These Traps Put You In the Victims’ Shoes

What made the beginning Saw films so captivating for audiences was, in truth, imagining yourself in one of Jigsaw’s horrific traps and how you could possibly survive. That unique captivation is missing from the rest of the series, which instead indulges in gore for gore’s sake, stripping the narrative of all its psychological terror for tired, tried-and-true “torture porn.”

What was so elusive about the first Saw was its minimalist concept to horror—a necessity for James Wan, who directed the movie on a budget of $1.2 million. What started as two guys locked in a room trying to find a way out evolved into a stomach-turning, bloody spectacle—a change that affirms the old saying “everything in moderation.”

The sequels have their fans, I won’t deny that. But most Saw aficionados tend to prefer the approach of the series’ first films for their nightmarish traps that at least offered the chance of survival to their victims. Either way, it sacrifices the grease that moves the gears of the Saw franchise forward, and sacrifices without reward, which is just cinematic sadism.