Few horror franchises are as brutal and controversial as Saw, the series that established the gruesome “torture porn” subgenre. Here are all of the Saw movies ranked. Careful for spoilers if you haven’t completed the series.

The franchise’s original villain, an elderly man with terminal cancer played with quiet menace by Tobin Bell, was a normal (relatively speaking) person with no supernatural abilities. There was no way that this guy was going to live long enough to credibly carry a franchise, right? Well, yes and no.

John Kramer, also known as Jigsaw, ably led the series for the first three installments. Jigsaw targets people that he believes are unappreciative of their lives. He sedates his victims and then places them into grotesque trap machines. Each victim was forced to show that they were willing to do whatever it took to survive. He was assisted by his apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith), a former drug addict who proved herself by surviving Jigsaw’s famous reverse bear trap in the original movie.

After Jigsaw and Amanda die at the end of Saw III, the franchise continued by featuring copycat killers (usually apprentices of Jigsaw who were trained by him before his death) and copious John Kramer flashbacks. Did this approach work? Not really, but the franchise continued to perform well enough to maintain a fanbase.

Saw is famous for its creative traps, which typically force victims to inflict severe harm on themselves or others in order to escape. The original Jigsaw killer believed in giving his victims a legitimate chance to survive, and even hoped that they would learn important life lessons from their experiences. Although I strongly doubt that a jury would agree, Kramer argued that he was not a murderer because his traps were escapable. The Jigsaws that followed him were not always so sporting, however.

The Saw franchise was the king of the October box office during the first decade of the 21st century. The first five movies all debuted at #1 in their opening weekends, but the series lost its crown in 2009 when Saw VI was out-grossed by the original Paranormal Activity.

The saga ostensibly concluded the following year with Saw 3D: The Final Chapter. Like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, this “final” installment turned out to be anything but. The series has been sporadically revived ever since, with the tenth installment, Saw X, released in October 2023. The next installment, Saw XI, is set to be released in 2025.

The Saw Movies In Order

Saw (2004)
Saw II (2005)
Saw III (2006)
Saw IV (2007)
Saw V (2008)
Saw VI (2009)
Saw 3D (2010)
Jigsaw (2017)
Spiral (2021)
Saw X (2023)

The Saw Movies Ranked

Careful for spoilers if you haven’t finished the series!

10. Saw V

This dreary installment features precious little of John Kramer and way too much of Mark Hoffman, a corrupt cop who becomes a Jigsaw copycat serial killer. Hoffman lacks the charisma and presence of the original Jigsaw. There’s no reason for us to care about him or any of his victims. Saw V is doomed by an incoherent plot, bland characters, weak acting (even by the low standards of this series) and a lack of creativity.

9. Spiral

A group of cops investigate yet another Jigsaw copycat killer in this boring and totally unnecessary installment. Comedian Chris Rock, of all people, was responsible for this pathetic mess, which features one of the most predictable twist endings imaginable. The horror genre is littered with pointless sequels, but few are as worthless as Spiral.

8. Saw 3D: The Final Chapter

The creatively exhausted series made a half-hearted attempt to resolve its myriad storylines in this seventh installment. Saw 3D mercifully ends Hoffman’s insufferable Jigsaw copycat rampage, but even the (brief) return of Cary Elwes isn’t enough to save this movie from forgettable mediocrity. It does have one clever scene involving two victims who are stuck inside a trap that is in full view of the public.

7. Jigsaw

Jigsaw is both a prequel and a sequel to the previous movies. After Hoffman’s demise in the prior installment, this movie features a new copycat killer continuing the game. It also moves Tobin Bell back into the spotlight by devoting substantial time to his younger days before the first Saw. Jigsaw is competently made but lacks innovation.

6. Saw IV

The first movie after the original Jigsaw’s death explains how a personal tragedy led mild-mannered John Kramer onto a dark path of gore and mayhem. It also features a copycat killer continuing Jigsaw’s games with a fresh new set of traps. John Hoffman, a supposedly upstanding police officer, is revealed as the new series antagonist. The freshness of the series’ concept was already fading, but Saw IV adds more depth to Jigsaw’s backstory and features another strong performance by Tobin Bell.

5. Saw VI

In an astonishingly successful bounce back from Saw V, the sixth installment features the Jigsaw killer(s) targeting the sleazy employees of a corrupt health insurance company. Most of the film takes place in an abandoned zoo. I’m not sure why zoos aren’t used more often in horror movies, they have so much potential! Anyone who has been rejected by a health insurance company will enjoy watching Jigsaw’s targets get dismembered and obliterated.

4. Saw III

In the final installment where he is alive in the “present day” storyline, John Kramer continues his games with some of the most deliciously disgusting traps of the series. Being suffocated by pig corpses sounds like fun, right? And who wouldn’t want to be stripped naked and sprayed with ice-cold water until you died of exposure? Great stuff! Meanwhile, Jigsaw’s would-be successor, Amanda, incurs Kramer’s wrath by murdering people outright with inescapable traps. The conflict between Jigsaw and Amanda culminates with a bloody and brutal denouement that changed the series forever.

3. Saw X

Saw X is set between Saw and Saw II. It features Jigsaw taking on a group of con artists who are duping victims into paying for an experimental medical operation. Saw X pumps new life into the series by adding emotional depth to the usual gore and carnage. Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith give the most intense performances of the series in this installment. Not only is it one of the best Saw movies, it’s also one of the best movies of 2023.

2. Saw II

The second Saw was quickly rushed into production after the financial success of the original film. In typical sequel fashion, everything is ratcheted up a notch – more victims, more traps, more gore, and way more screen time for John Kramer. This time, Jigsaw targets a new crop of victims: a group of felons who are trapped inside a house that is slowly filling with poisonous gas. Amanda is also back to give Jigsaw a helping hand. This installment features the notorious “needle pit” scene and plenty of other gruesome moments.

1. Saw

The first Saw is the only installment that is genuinely creepy. The Jigsaw killer, whose identity is not revealed until the movie’s famous final twist, is portrayed as an unseen, all-knowing force who seems incapable of being defeated or outsmarted.

Cary Elwes plays Lawrence Gordon, an ethically dubious doctor who wakes up to find himself trapped inside a bathroom with a man he doesn’t know. A voice recording instructs Gordon to kill this mysterious stranger in order to save his family. Gordon and his fellow victim, Adam, desperately try to escape.

Saw introduced all of the key elements: the theme music, the traps, Billy the puppet, and a twist ending where somebody concludes the film by saying “game over”. In 2004, most viewers expected that Lawrence and/or Adam would find a way to foil Jigsaw’s plans.

The fact that this doesn’t happen – that the villain wins – was quite shocking at the time. The original Saw deserves credit for its creativity and influence on 21st century horror.