The Saw franchise contains 62 brutal traps. How do each of these highly creative and highly gory Jigsaw tests rank against one another?
No doubt, the most important part of the Saw movies are the imaginative traps Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) constructs for his victims, but how do the 60+ traps stack up in a full ranking? The franchise's creator, James Wan, brought the torture porn genre into mainstream media with his nine-film horror franchise that all began in 2004 with two men chained up in a dirty bathroom. Since then, the film has sparked six sequels, one prequel, and a spinoff called Spiral, released in 2021. The complex, twisting, and often convoluted plot surrounding the Saw franchise brings viewers back over and over for every new film, and Jigsaw is one of the most iconic horror villains in cinematic history right alongside Freddy, Michael, and Jason.
Jigsaw claims to test people indiscriminately based on their flaws and mistakes, but along with the murderers and dirty cops targeted both by Jigsaw and Spiral’s killer, Jigsaw and his apprentices often target people struggling with depression and addiction. He claims that he is trying to cure them by giving them more appreciation for their lives. Jigsaw's ideologies are based on his hatred for murders running into his desire to test anyone he believes has committed the biggest sin: being ungrateful for their lives. Jigsaw is usually introduced as the serial killer who doesn't actually kill anyone, but a lot of his traps don't leave any room for survival. Throughout the series, Jigsaw gains new apprentices who also contribute to his carefully crafted traps and tests.
Related: Why James Wan Can’t Easily Make Another Saw Or Conjuring
Only traps that actually took place make the list, so The Pain Train is not included because it happens in a dream sequence. Traps created by the killer in the Spiral movie will be included, even though Spiral is a spin-off. Trials that characters are put through that don't involve actual traps will not be included. This means that characters blackmailed into helping Jigsaw to save their own lives, such as Zep and Edgar Munsen, are not listed. Lastly, booby traps such as the Quadruple Shotgun Hallway and the Sentry Gun Trap do not count, and neither does the Cyanide Box. The traps are ranked based on a combination of how memorable they are, how gory the kills are, whether they are winnable, how justified Jigsaw's reasoning is, and whether or not the traps are actually tests or just plain murder. With all of that out of the way, here is every single Saw trap from every single Saw film, ranked from worst to best.
Saw VI's Gallows trap is the lowest on the list because not only is it not particularly memorable, the person taking Jigsaw's test is not the one whose life is on the line. Additionally, the two people who are in danger are completely innocent. Not to mention that the trap is unfairly designed so that one of the victims is killed no matter what.
Saw 3D's Lawnmower Trap doesn't make much sense logistically, as after the first person falls, there is no safety net for the second, and there is no visible way for them to get down. The scene cuts away before viewers get any explanation.
The only reason this trap isn't at the very bottom of the list is because of how memorable it is. It is extremely memorable, and even though it’s not the most disturbing Saw trap, it’s based on a classic torture device. Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) must save his wife by recreating a trap he pretended to have faced in order to get publicity. When he fails, his wife (an entirely innocent woman who had no idea he was lying) is treated to one of the most horrific deaths in a franchise full of horrific deaths. She is roasted alive in a brazen bull.
Related: The Next Saw/Spiral Must Bring Back Dr. Gordon (& Make Him The Villain)
The scene cuts away quickly during The Finger Trap, and the kill isn't very gory. It also leaves viewers questioning why the man didn't simply climb out of the tub. Nothing was restraining him, and the wires meant to drag him by his fingers were initially long enough that he likely could've climbed out to avoid being electrocuted.
The Exploding Puppet isn't all that memorable. It features a cameo from Billy the Puppet, and it's halfway between a real trap and a booby trap. A Billy doll's head explodes, sending shrapnel at Agent Perez (Athena Karkanis) when she doesn't react to the puppet's recording fast enough by getting out of the way.
Marcus Banks' (Samuel L. Jackson) is stuck in an extremely convoluted trap at the end of Spiral. The trap involves Marcus being strung up like a puppet with various IVs draining his blood, the victim needing to shoot a target to save himself. Wires pull him back up and put a gun near his hand once police enter the room, encouraging the police to shoot him. It's an overly complicated trap that causes viewers to lose track of the plot and has made audiences question whether Saw should reboot itself again after Spiral.
This is a simple trap that involves Dagen hanging inside of a metal cage above a floor with spikes. He has to remove the bottom of the cage and swing himself to safety. It's very simple, and it was easy to escape. The trap could be removed, and nothing about the film would change.
Related: Saw 1’s Biggest Plot Hole: How Did Jigsaw Get The Pictures?
This trap is memorable for all the wrong reasons. It is logistically impossible to have had time to build the entire trap inside a public space, and it was too large to be transported in one piece. The woman involved is also a petty target, and the trap required at least one person to die. At least the gore is fairly well-crafted.
When most viewers think of unwinnable Saw traps, they think of this one. When Amanda (Shawnee Smith) joins Jigsaw, she sets up this trap. A man is chained up by thick rings that are attached to him through various parts of his body including his jaw and Achilles tendons and locked in a classroom with a bomb. The characters say it’s impossible because the door was welded shut, but even without the door, there was no possible way for the man to rip out his jaw.
This is a scenario where the life of the person in the trap is in the hands of another person. Jigsaw's claim that he allows people to save themselves is completely ignored in the very first movie. The characters also beat the trap just by shooting at it.
This is one of the most memorable Saw traps. It's not higher on the list because there’s almost no way the victim can escape the flammable jelly trap. Unlike some other traps, there is technically a chance of survival, but it’s so low that it's basically non-existent. Time, poison, flammable goo, and a safe are all working against him. Predictably, the victim is burned alive.
Related: A Spiral Sequel Can Work (But Only If Chris Rock Is The Villain)
Dr. Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) is tasked with keeping Jigsaw alive, otherwise she will be shot in the head by the Shotgun Collar. The trap is small and simple, and the resulting gore will make Saw fans happy, but it's not particularly memorable. Not to mention that Jigsaw was banking on the collar going off. He used Lynn as a pawn, knowing she would be killed.
This is another memorable and disgusting, yet highly unrealistic trap. The Saw movie containing Jigsaw’s death frustrates audiences because the protagonist moves so slowly that frightening traps just become frustrating. It’s far-fetched that Jigsaw had a dozen maggot-filled pigs. It also requires the victim to rely on the true test subject to keep them from drowning in the juice of liquified, rotting pig carcasses.
This is a stressful trap involving two people, and the one whose life is on the line once again has no real control. While it’s interesting in the moment, it’s not the most memorable trap in the franchise, let alone in Saw 3D. This trap is the ultimate trust exercise, and the moment when a character is suddenly pulled into the air by his neck is startling.
After spending all of Saw VI following one of the Saw characters, a late-movie twist shows the elaborate schemes weren’t the main character's test. He went through traps where multiple characters were murdered only to realize his life is in the hands of the wife and son of a man he canceled health coverage for, resulting in the man’s death. While the twist is surprising, it’s another trap where the victim has no control. It is pretty memorable to see him melt from the inside out though.
Related: Why James Wan Was The Right Choice To Direct A Castlevania Movie
The Jar Trap is simplistic in nature, provides a good sense of urgency, and it’s winnable. The test was designed by Kramer, but a character working for Jigsaw set it up. It’s so low because the characters come across as remarkably stupid. They try to find one of three keys and climb into one of three tunnels to protect them from a bomb. All four could have fit in one or two of the tunnels. Their selfishness is the movie’s theme, but they still should’ve been a little wiser.
Jigsaw’s decision to test a man because he has depression is one of the reasons viewers become paranoid after watching Saw. The man is trapped in a room filled with razor wire. He tries his hardest but is so torn up that stomach acid is found on the floor. It’s a memorable trap only made worse by the petty decision to target someone for being depressed.
Saw II's Magnum Eyehole takes place in a movie centered on a police officer, a Saw storyline Spiral repeats. It rests on the assumption that someone will be looking through a keyhole at the same time someone else tries opening the door. Viewers seemed to realize this trap was unlikely to work. In response, Jigsaw speaks to Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) while setting up the trap in a later film, and when Hoffman asks how he knows it will work, Jigsaw replies that he doesn’t: he just anticipates the possibilities. It’s not a terrible trap, but it isn’t a good one. Ultimately, it's just not memorable.
The Oxygen Crusher is a great trap. It requires the characters to hold their breath or risk being crushed at their midsection. It’s not the Saw Franchise’s most socially conscious test, and it’s ranked fairly low because only one character can possibly survive, so it is unquestionably murder, no matter what claims Jigsaw makes. The trap was also skewed in favor of the main test subject, so he was put up against a man who was a smoker. The reasoning here is petty: Jigsaw put a man in an unwinnable trap to have him tortured and murdered for the common and mild vice of being a smoker.
Related: Spiral: Unanswered Questions After The Saw Sequel
The Bathtub is the very first trap viewers got to see in the Saw franchise. A man wakes up underwater in a bathtub. Just as he wakes up, the audience sees something fall down the drain. It’s soon revealed that it was the key for the man named Adam (writer and actor Leigh Whannell) to escape. In the later movies, Jigsaw reveals that this was another trap made unwinnable by Amanda. However, Jigsaw is still the one to give the infamous “game over” line before locking Adam in the room, anticipating that he will starve to death.
The Glass Grinder involves glass bottles being broken up and the shards being shot out at high speeds into a man’s back until it kills him. It’s a unique trap, but it left viewers wondering why the protagonist didn’t climb up the trap and knock all the bottles away until they ran out. Viewers were also upset that Spiral wasn’t very gory for a Saw film, thanks to the MPAA, but it still leaves an impression.
Simple in name, the Hand Trap is also simple in execution, but it is very memorable. Addison (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is under the influence of a nerve gas slowly poisoning her. She sees an antidote in a box suspended in the air. She is able to stick her hands in the holes at the bottom of the box only to realize that they have razors on the inside that work like a finger trap. Unable to think straight, she ends up sticking both her hands in the box and is left there to either bleed out or die from the poison.
Fan theories destroyed the original Saw story in Jigsaw and several of the previous films, and traps like the Chain Hangers also don’t measure up to many of the traps in the original trilogy. The victim has been poisoned and must pick from three syringes containing either the antidote, saline, or hydrochloric acid. She and three others are being dragged toward the ceiling and hanged. They’ll go free if she chooses correctly. She can’t decide which one to inject into herself, so a fellow test-mate stabs all three of them into her to prevent everyone else from dying. The acid melts through her neck.
Related: How James Wan Is Changing Up Frankenstein
This trap is intense and shows something uncommon in group traps. The test subjects try to help one another. It’s a long way from Saw V, and while it isn’t among the most memorable traps in Jigsaw, it’s still frightening. In another rare occurrence, viewers get to see the character survive a Jigsaw trap and see the trap go off. It is a little odd that it used multiple wires instead of just one though. Cutting a leg into multiple pieces instead of just cutting it once from the wire on top was purely for the visuals.
Viewers are impressed by the level of gore, but after a franchise filled with strong practical effects, the Laser Collars segmenting a head aren’t an audience favorite. The trap also wasn’t winnable, but Logan’s (Matt Passmore) iconic line that the victim has the choice whether or not to scream does make up for it a little.
The Reverse Bear Trap could theoretically exist, and the similarly looking Death Mask is based on a torture device that actually did. The trap is like a small iron maiden, and the key behind the victim's eye adds another layer to the terror. It’s memorable because it leaves audiences debating whether or not it is doable. Fortunately for fans of blood in their horror movies, the victim fails the trap which closes on his head.
This is the first trap viewers see of the main test subjects in Saw V and gives a great introduction to the characters. It’s a unique design where victims are tied by a noose that will pull them into decapitating blades. It’s reminiscent of the Bucket Room, a game Jigsaw played before the first movie. It’s fairly simple, but audiences questioned whether everyone could’ve survived within the time limit even if they had done everything right, as the people who got their keys first were still scrambling up until the last second. It is an interesting take on how selfish the characters are and how little they do to help one another.
Related: Spiral's New Killer Connection To Saw 1's Fakeout
This trap is higher up than perhaps it should be given that, no matter what, four out of the six people on the carousel will die. However, it is a stand-out even for people who haven’t seen the film. Audiences thought Spiral should’ve brought back Hoffman, and this is one of his most memorable traps. William Easton (Peter Outerbridge) must choose two out of six people to live and is tortured each time he lets someone live. It’s a little less frustrating than the other traps in this film because even though the people on the carousel have no control, at least they aren’t very likable as they have knowingly caused the deaths of many people.
In this unique trap, a woman is propelled forward on a giant wheel toward spikes meant to impale her through the eyes and mouth. Unfortunately, the woman in the trap must rely on someone else to save her, and, ultimately, Dagen tries but fails.
This trap is designed by a villain who isn’t one of the Jigsaw killers. The victim is smothered to death by wax so hot that it burns and fuses to the skin on her face. It’s violent and memorable. It’s not ranked higher because it’s unfairly designed - chances of success are very low. While tied down, she must push the back of her neck onto a blade and sever her spine. The logistics of the trap knowing when her spine was severed are questionable. The wax also started immediately and was so hot it burned upon contact, so her injuries likely would’ve killed her even if it turned off.
This is another horrifying but potentially doable traps. This is the last Saw film before the prequel and reboot, the latter of which made the list of most disappointing horror movies of 2021. The victim must pull out a couple of his back teeth to read the numbers on them. Thankfully, Jigsaw tells him which teeth. The question of whether someone could gain enough leverage to rip out their molars is up for debate, but the fact that most of the gore is imagined makes it more terrifying.
Related: How Spiral Sets Up A Sequel And Saw 10
This is the first, but not last, time the Reverse Beartrap shows up on this list because it is not the only time it shows up in the franchise. This is an updated, more streamlined version of the one from the original film, which is referenced in the Chucky series, so it isn’t the type of grungy traps signature to Saw, which makes some viewers dislike it. However, watching Hoffman break his way out of it still entertains audiences, especially because he not only smashes his hand to get out of the straps around them, he then pulls himself out of the trap itself once it is partially open, ripping his mouth open.
This is Jigsaw’s first trap. The victim is sitting in a chair and must push his face through a set of knives with enough force to be released, but the chair broke midway through. Watching this evolution before Jigsaw had perfected his tests makes some viewers theorize Jigsaw could be Kevin McCallister from Home Alone. When the chair breaks, the victim named Cecil (Billy Otis) attempts to attack Jigsaw only for him to move out of the way and let Cecil to trip into a mess of razor wire. Kramer’s intentions are more understandable than with some victims, as Cecil injured his wife and caused her to miscarry. However, Jigsaw used Cecil’s struggle with addiction as an excuse instead of admitting it was for revenge.
This is the first real Jigsaw-made device audiences see. Amanda manages to survive by cutting open the stomach of a man who has been drugged and paralyzed in order to find the key to the trap. The trap is a device that intersects throughout the Saw movie timeline, which is why it’s on the list more than once. Jigsaw lies and tells Amanda the man is dead, but he isn’t, and she has to kill him to survive. Jigsaw is blatantly breaking his own rules, especially when viewers consider that he chose her to be his apprentice after this because she managed to survive by murdering someone else even though he thinks “murder is distasteful.” Audiences don’t see the Reverse Bear Trap go off, but watching it destroy the head of a mannequin and seeing Amanda rifling around in someone’s stomach is gory and memorable enough for Saw’s first entry.
The S*** Room is in multiple Saw iterations; however, it is the original’s primary setting. Some viewers think Saw has the best horror movie twist ending. That ending takes place in the S*** Room. Two men who wake up in a bathroom is what started the entire franchise. There are multiple possibilities for how one or the other might win, including sawing off one of their own feet. It’s the most puzzle-like game Jigsaw ever plays – more akin to an escape room than a torture device.
Related: The Dario Argento Films That Inspired James Wan's Malignant
The Antidote Safe is in the Nerve Gas House. It contains a syringe with the antidote. One number of the combination is inked onto the back of everyone’s necks. Xavier (Franky G), Saw II’s excellent secondary antagonist, is the one who figures it out. Not wanting to help anyone else, he leaves Addison to die, cuts his own number off the back of his neck, and attacks the other victims.
Taking place in the first sequel to one of James Wan’s best movies, The Furnace Trap is also part of the Nerve Gas House. A man must solve a riddle and collect two syringes from a furnace. When he grabs the second one, the fire turns on. In his rush, he never solves the riddle or notices the knob to turn off the flames. Seeing (and hearing) the man burn alive makes viewers remember this trap, but it isn’t ranked higher because even the quickest inspection of the furnace before he crawled his entire body inside could've kept him alive.
A tape tells Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) to get into a glass coffin, but untrusting of Jigsaw, he pushes Hoffman in before the tape finishes telling him he’ll die if he doesn’t. Jigsaw had intentionally made the coffin more unappealing by filling it with glass shards like those seen again in the Saw movie timeline during Spiral’s Glass Grinder. Audiences watch a wonderfully gory kill as Strahm is crushed between two walls. The only problem is that Hoffman had previously put Strahm in a trap meant to be unwinnable. This is no different. There is no way Hoffman would’ve died, and he couldn’t let Strahm go. If Strahm listened and got in the coffin, Hoffman would’ve stopped the walls and let him suffocate or starve. Either way, Strahm would lose. Audiences are just grateful he loses in the more memorable way.
The S*** Room is the last portion of Eric’s (Donnie Wahlberg) test. After he loses Jigsaw’s game, Amanda chains him up and closes the door. She doesn’t give him the hacksaw, but he wastes no time smashing his foot with the toilet tank lid, escaping so quickly that he catches up to her even with a pulverized foot. It’s painful, intense, and a significant change from the first film. Some audiences expected Cary Elwes to return as Spiral’s villain, but his character Lawrence Gordon takes hours to bite the bullet and cut off his foot. Eric’s version also takes place more on screen.
Related: Every Major Horror Movie Of 2021 Ranked From Worst To Best
A woman being frozen solid isn’t visually gory, but it’s definitely effective to audiences. The victim is fully nude and hanging from the ceiling in a sub-zero freezer while cold water sprays down every inch of her skin. It’s not ranked higher because she must rely on Jeff who moves at a glacial pace. She is also so cold before Jeff arrives that she has even passed out, so she probably would’ve died even if he had moved faster. However, Chester Bennington’s Saw VII cameo in the Horsepower Trap makes Jeff look cowardly in comparison when he’s not willing to lose a tiny bit of skin from his cheek to save someone’s life.
Easton helps a woman crawl through a maze in a boiler room after a timer is set off. Sections are blocked by steam, and he must burn himself long enough for her to pass them. Jigsaw put the key to the device on her under Easton’s skin through a large cut that’s now stitched closed. They beat the maze, but she tries to get the key by attacking him with a circular saw to cut open his torso. They could’ve retrieved the key by cutting the stitches. Instead, she’s impaled through the head after he defends himself.
While the Saw franchise needs to evolve past John Kramer, audiences won’t soon forget his personal favorite. The Rack itself is reminiscent of a medieval torture device, and the practical effects showing the victim's limbs had head twisting around are well done. Unfortunately, like many of the traps in Saw III, it’s painful to watch because of just how slowly and carelessly Jeff moves. In this case, it results in the deaths of two more people who could’ve survived.
This trap immediately sets up the rules for the test subject. By attempting to save the victim, he inadvertently triggers it, causing it to slowly rip her scalp off by her hair. The trap isn’t what kills her, but watching her scalp peel back and the matching sound effects make viewers shudder.
Related: How A Spiral Joke Creates A Chris Rock Paradox
Throughout the series, Saw travels from the simple bathroom in horror director James Wan’s original to much more complex games, and this is one of the most complicated games in the franchise. It results in three deaths, including that of Eric Matthew whose head is crushed by two blocks of ice. The Judge As I Judge Trap features the Ice Blocks, Electrocution Chair, and Spine Cutter, all of which are part of one of Officer Rigg’s (Lyriq Bent) tests. It is frustrating for viewers to watch multiple people die because Riggs rushes in too soon. Riggs put his team's lives in danger running into unsecured crime scenes in the past, making audiences wonder why he didn’t learn Jigsaw's lesson by his last test.
The Horsepower Trap takes place in the last movie before the series was rebooted once with a prequel and again when the Jigsaw killer was replaced in Spiral. It has a lot of moving parts and multiple gory deaths. The cameo by Chester Bennington makes it a viewer favorite. He nearly rips all the skin off his back; a woman gets her face torn off and smashed by a speeding car tire; a man has his jaw and arms ripped off, another gets hit by the car, and Chester is thrown through the windshield. Audiences also get to see what actually happens when a large ring, almost exactly like the one in the Classroom Trap, is ripped out of a man’s jaw, proving even further that the Classroom Trap was unbeatable, and making the Horsepower Trap more memorable.
The Subway Trap is the first trap in the Spiral movie, taking place shortly before Spiral signposts the killer’s identity. It’s also the trap with the best gore in the movie. It balances the doable with the painful. The victim lets his tongue be ripped out too late and is run over by a train.
The Bucket Room starts much like the Necktie Trap except the five victims are being pulled forward into spinning blades. The victims are required to think their way out of the situation. All they have to do is donate a small amount of blood, which can be as little as a few drops from a superficial cut. Although many viewers needed to have Jigsaw’s killer and twist ending explained, the first time these victims are introduced is simple and effective, especially once Logan wakes up too late, and viewers are led to believe he is sliced to death.
Related: James Wan’s Scariest Movie Was Made Before The Conjuring (& It's Not Saw)
The setup of the Mausoleum is memorable and unique. It’s not ranked even higher because it’s rigged for Art Blank (Louis Ferreira) to win so that he can keep participating in the other test Jigsaw set up, similar to Easton and the Oxygen Crusher. Watching two men who would be able to work together except one has his eyes sewn shut, and the other his mouth, is interesting. Once Blank is free, he forces his mouth open, ripping out the thread and causing even more blood.
The Pendulum trap, named for Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, is an unwinnable trap set up by Hoffman – whose test subjects have a lower survival rate than Crystal Lake camp counselors – to murder the man who killed his sister. It doesn’t lose points for being unwinnable because it wasn’t set up by a sanctimonious Jigsaw, but because the victim can’t win, viewers have the benefit of seeing him mangle his hands to beat the trap and what happens when he loses. It’s a have your cake and eat it too trap, and the practical effects as he’s sliced in half are bloody and memorable.
Banks (Chris Rock) wakes up attached to a metal bar with a hacksaw nearby. It’s an obvious throwback to the original, but it’s made better by the bobby pin placed intentionally within reach. Initially, it looks like Banks will have to cut off his hand, but he doesn’t. It’s a better callback than Spiral’s original plan for a Tobin Bell cameo, and while it’s not as gory or memorable as the other traps ranked this high, it’s a fun callback and welcome change of pace. Viewers enjoyed seeing a victim actually outsmart a trap, which also happens with the next entry on this list.
The Water Cube is designed to be unwinnable, but Strahm manages to outsmart it. The glass box around his head is meant to drown him, but he gives himself a tracheotomy with his pen. Hoffman’s mistake – which John Kramer wouldn’t have made – is how Strahm wins. It is a smaller version of the glass cell built by Vincent D’Onofrio’s character in the underrated horror movie The Cell. They both frighten audiences through claustrophobia and build tension before the water even turns on. Drowning is a common fear, and audiences don’t have to try too hard to put themselves in Strahm's position.
Related: The Forgotten John Carpenter Film That Inspired James Wan's Malignant
The victim of the Cycle Trap sold a faulty motorcycle to a man who then crashed and died because the breaks didn’t work. He’s dangled head first over a cone-shaped machine with spinning blades inside. He has to reach a switch at the bottom, and comes close to winning. A fellow victim temporarily stops the trap, which eventually starts up again. When it does, he panics and starts flailing, swinging directly into the blades. While the man did inadvertently kill someone, Jigsaw’s reasoning is still selfish: the crash victim was his nephew. Some viewers also noticed that the Cycle Trap is an unintentional connection between Jigsaw and Spiral because it’s reminiscent of the symbol Spiral’s killer uses.
The Silence Circle is ranked in the top 10 because it's terrifying, painful to watch, and memorable. The key to the victim's escape is attached to a fish hook inside her stomach. Dagen has to pull the key out through her mouth by a string. Spikes attached to a phonometer move closer to her neck every time she screams, and he only has 60 seconds. She can’t stop screaming from the pain, and the spikes stab her through the neck. Saw 3D certainly didn’t subvert any expectations like Spiral, but this trap is a stand-out because the gore is largely up to the imagination, making it even harder to stomach.
A wife and her abusive husband are tied back to back with long spikes connecting them. The spikes go through non-fatal points in her body and through major organs and arteries in his. She must pull them out to kill him and save herself before they both bleed out. This trap loses points because he was abusive to both her and their daughter. Even though she stood idly by for the daughter’s abuse, blaming her and making the trap a little too on the nose in its symbolism does detract from the effect.
The Grain Silo only loses points because as sharp objects drop around the characters, everything misses like they’re in the gun scene from Pulp Fiction. It’s high on this list because unlike the more unique deathtraps, several people actually die by drowning in grain silos each year. To add to the claustrophobia, they slowly begin to be buried alive. Sharp objects begin to fall down on them, and the man in the Leg Wires trap must save them by severing his appendage.
Related: Spiral 2: What To Expect
Feel What I Feel is winnable, painful, filled with gore and practical effects, and the victim is actually a terrible person. He must blind himself by pressing buttons that will drop spikes into his eyes - otherwise, his limbs will be ripped off. He stabs out one eye but can’t bring himself to stab the other, so viewers see him attempt the trap, and what happens when he loses.
Saw V’s Electric Bathtub is a gorier interpretation of a similar death in 2002’s movie The Ring. The three remaining test victims find a bathtub full of water in the middle of a room. Around the room are five current coils all attached to cords with different attachments on the ends. They must connect each one to the water. If all five were still alive, they could each hold one and suffer a small shock. Instead of finding a way to divide up the shocks, they kill one woman, throw her in the tub, and attach all five lines to her, including one fitted with a hook that they shove into her head. Seeing her body get electrocuted is very effective, especially considering that, unlike most Saw traps, it's not bloody.
Gory horror movies aren’t as controversial as they once were, and later entries in the franchise like Saw VI take full advantage of this. Pound of Flesh sticks in everyone’s memory. In order to donate more flesh than his test-mate, the male victim begins cutting away portions of his stomach. The much smaller woman manages to win by taking a cleaver and cutting off nearly her entire arm. While only one person can survive, watching the two victims fight to beat one another by cutting away more of their own bodies as screws are drilled into their temples is a truly frightening experience.
This is the culmination of Saw V’s group trap. Recently, horror movie director Mike Flannagan has taken several opportunities to show his skill at portraying hard-to-watch hand mutilations, but Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep have nothing on Saw V. The victims have to give up 10 pints of blood using table saws. If they had helped each other, they’d have to give two and a half pints each, but now they must donate five-a-piece and hope to survive. They saw their hands and forearms completely in half. It’s a painful viewing experience, but it can also be seen as a payoff after watching the five victims needlessly murder one another only to be punished for it.
Related: Malignant: Why James Wan's Aquaman Follow-Up Is A Divisive Horror Movie
The Reverse Bear Trap is part of what made Saw so popular in the 2000s, but Jill Tuck’s (Betsy Russell) time in the contraption ranks so high above the other two times it’s used partially because it's the bulky original instead of the streamlined version put on Hoffman. The main reason Jill beats Amanda is that viewers who have stuck with the series from the start are rewarded when they finally get to watch the trap go off, which is a bloody and glorious sight.
The Needle Pit has always been near the top of every list. It’s one of the most painful experiences ever put to film, making the Needle Pit one of Saw’s worst traps (in a good way). Amanda is picked up and tossed into a pit of syringes in order to dig for a key. Once the shock wears off, she violently shovels the syringes with both hands to horrified gasps from the audience. It’s a visceral viewing experience that raddles anyone who watches it. This might be because not everyone can relate to having a limb quickly ripped off, but the sensation of being stabbed with a needle is pretty accessible, making it a lot more realistic and a lot scarier when Amanda is thrown into a pit with hundreds of them. The Needle Pit instantly causes viewers to shudder.
This is the original unwinnable trap (before Adam’s test was retconned over a plot hole). It’s the first overtly win-proof trap, and it leaves a huge impression. While sometimes interchanged with the Needle Pit, The Angel Trap wins out on this list because the trap’s construction is so great. Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer) is strung up in the air by a trap that’s also bolted into her ribs. She is told that she must reach into a jar of acid to get a key before it dissolves. She is also told that the trap will release once it’s unlocked. She loses a significant amount of flesh fishing out the key only to discover it doesn’t release The Angel Trap. This results in one of the most painful deaths in a series full of painful deaths. Her ribs are ripped open in a gruesome scene that resembles outstretched wings. All of this contributes to why the Angel Trap is the best trap in the Saw franchise.
Next: Saw Theory: Why Amanda's Traps Were Impossible To Beat
Joséphine Michèle (Josie) is a movie and TV features writer for Screen Rant. Josie's writing experience comes from their background in academia. They have a degree in Economics, specialized in pre-law, and minored in both political science and applied mathematics. During their time as an undergrad, Josie worked as a writing tutor for college and graduate students. Josie's love of both movies and writing started very early. As a kid, Josie could memorize the words to just about every movie they saw and constantly wrote scripts and plays that they would perform with their cousins. Josie also enjoyed playing the scores for their favorite movies on the piano and still has great respect for every element of film-making. Josie's favorite movies tend to be horror films, and they are a huge fan of the genre with a few of their favorite franchises being Saw, the Conjurverse, Child's Play, and A Nightmare on Elm Street; however, they don't discriminate and are happy to recommend movies and TV shows from any and every genre. Josie's special talent is the ability to hear a film score and name the movie it's from and/or the person who composed it, even if they've never seen the film before. Josie's ultimate goal is to become a screenwriter and director, but don't be fooled, they are still pursuing their academic career as well.