Top 10 Death Traps In The Saw Movies, From Saw To Spiral
"Live or die, make your choice!"
The Jigsaw Killer made more than 50 deathtraps in the first seven Saw movies. To mark the arrival of the eighth installment, Jigsaw, let's count down the top eight traps the torturer has ever created. Live or die, the choice is yours.
In a ‘career’ spanning 17 years over nine movies — including the latest, Spiral — the Jigsaw Killer and his disciples have created more than 50 deathtraps. Jigsaw isn’t your typical bogeyman — patient, methodical and innovative, he’s a vigilante with a unique way of dispensing his brand of justice. He doesn’t kill his victims: no matter how gruesome the contraption, there’s always (or sometimes) a way out if they put their mind to it. The options are limited, though — either escape disfigured/handicapped or die a horrible, horrible death. “Live or die, make your choice,” as he would say. (He also assumes that the victim, if they do escape, can get to the nearest A&E before bleeding to death.) Here, we list our Top 10 traps (for now), ranked from the most complex to the simplest.
10. Laser Collar
As seen in Jigsaw (2017). Saw goes sci-fi! The victim has around his neck a metal collar fitted with eight laser cutters. (Is this what Dr Evil had in mind for his sharks?) No prizes for guessing what happens next: Imagine a watermelon slicer cutter, but messier. While most of Jigsaw's traps are put together with parts (gears, saws, barbed wire) bought from DIY shops, this is by far the most out-there. This is the equivalent of the Fast & Furious movies going to space.
9. The Shotgun Carousel
As seen in Saw VI (2009). Six victims are tied to a carousel, each positioned in front of a shotgun. The designated, er, ‘player’ can only save two of them. To do so, he must first pierce his hand with a metal spike. If he doesn’t sacrifice himself, all six victims will die. No pressure. Jigsaw has a future in designing theme park rides. Or maybe not.
8. 10 Pints of Sacrifice
As seen in Saw V (2008). To escape a room rigged with homemade nail bombs, the victim has to fill up a beaker with 10 pints (4.73 litres of their own blood — by shoving his hand into a circular saw. Oh yes, he only has 15 minutes to finish the job. Wait, the average adult human has about 4.5-5.5 litres of blood. Did Jigsaw get his math right?
7. Pendulum Trap
As seen in Saw V (2008). Strapped to a table, the victim has to decide whether to have his torso sliced in half by a swinging blade, or his hands squashed in automated vises. The latter option will stop the blade. Whatever the decision, he better makes it fast — he only has 30 seconds before the blade drops on him.
6. Angel Trap
As seen in Saw III (2006). A giant hair claw clip-like device is attached to the victim's ribcage. He has 60 seconds to recover the key that's dissolving in a jar of concentrated acid before the contraption snaps open (looking like angel wings), tearing open his body.
5. Water cube
As seen in Saw V (2008). This simple trap drowns the victim, whose head is stuck in a glass cube slowly filled with water. Jigsaw didn't design a way out of this device, but the victim managed to anyway — by administering a tracheotomy on himself with a pen. Very MacGyver-ish.
4. Death Mask
As seen in Saw II (2005). This nasty contraption will snap and crush the victim's melon into a bloody mess if not unlocked within 60 seconds. Where's the key? Buried inside the victim's eye socket. Good luck digging your own eyeball out without anaesthesia. We are surprised no one has come up with Saw: The Game Show. Netflix, you reading this?
3. The Subway Train
As seen in Spiral (2021). This reminds us of the ‘Ten Courts of Hell’ exhibit at Haw Par Villa. The victim, standing on a stepladder with his hands tied with barbed wire, is strung up by his tongue in the middle of a subway tunnel. Oh yeah, a train is heading his way. To avoid getting atomised by the train, he has to first rip out his own tongue. Decisions, decisions.
2. Reverse Bear Trap
As seen in Saw (2004). The victim has 60 seconds to unlock Jigsaw’s most iconic (and most simple, really) deathtrap that’s attached to his head. Failure to do so will trigger the trap to burst open and rip his jaws apart. The trap also appears in Saw VI but it isn’t until 2010’s Saw 3D that we see its full impact.
1. The Needle Pit
As seen in Saw II (2005). This Fear Factor-ish challenge requires the victim to retrieve an antidote to a poison gas he’s been exposed to. To get to it, he must escape from a locked chamber. The problem is, the key is hidden in a pit of used syringes. Man, the sequence really gets under your skin. Just looking at this picture gives me the chills.
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