20 Years Later, Let’s Admit That ‘Saw’ Is a Psychological Thriller and Not Just Torture Horror

Saw’s legacy is often remembered for its inventive traps, but the original film is actually a psychological thriller – not horror.

Twenty years ago, a now-iconic voice first said: “I want to play a game,” in James Wan’s Saw. Now, it wasn’t Super Mario Bros. or Kingdom Hearts that Tobin Bell’s John Kramer wanted to play, but the kind of game where he puts unsuspecting people in death traps and performs his best Riddler impersonation to give them confusing clues on how to escape. Since the average person pushes a door that says “pull,” it’s no surprise that most people die during these activities because they struggle to follow instructions.

In the franchise, Kramer, aka the Jigsaw Killer, dies – though he sort of comes back through convenient flashbacks and interquels – but he inspires a whole troop of acolytes who believe a bear trap over someone’s face is a good way to have them repent their sins. Due to the gory nature and the gnarly deaths of the Saw movies, most people classify it as a horror. However, the original film is more of a psychological thriller – in line with something like David Fincher’s Seven – and here’s why.

Why Saw is actually a psychological thriller

The core premise of the Saw series centers around the fact that people value life only when death appears close. After John Kramer received a terminal cancer diagnosis and survived a self-inflicted car crash, he decided to impart this lesson to the world. While his methods remain questionable, one cannot dispute that the message is good: People should live the best life possible because it can be gone in a heartbeat.

However, Kramer doesn’t pick up randoms off the street – no, he targets people whom he sees to be disrespecting their own life or the lives of others. To put it bluntly, he stalks people. Essentially, Kramer and his disciples play god and force people to confront their misdeeds in an effort to change their ways. While the traps push the body to the limit – and Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) shows that he likes to cheat in these games – they are meant to offer a chance of survival through some form of sacrifice and the resiliency of the human spirit.

Yes, seeing someone cut off their leg, or offer a pound of flesh, proves to be a gruesome sight; however, the connected question in all these movies is, why are these people in this predicament? In typical Saw fashion, there’s often a link between the trapped individuals and previous victims or even how they tie into the overall story. Each of the films offers a mystery to be solved, while they serve as pieces of a larger puzzle. The first movie sets this all up, though, posing the crucial question: Why is Jigsaw doing what he’s doing? It’s not like certain horror franchises where someone puts on a hockey mask or a mold of William Shatner’s face and murders people because they’re – checks notes – simply evil. There’s a purpose to what he does and it’s about finding out his motivations here.

Sure, the franchise goes off the rails and makes less sense over time

James Wan and Leigh Whannell remain the forefathers of Saw. The pair conceptualized the original story, while Wan directed the 2004 film and Whannell wrote the script and starred as Adam. However, Wan left the franchise after the first film and Whannell remained on scripting duties up until Saw III. Their creative departures – specifically Whannell’s – become evident in later films. At this point, yes, the movies turn into unapologetic torture horror with each film making a renewed effort to outdo the traps and gore of what came before.

Also, the movies make a lot less sense moving forward. The death of John Kramer changes the trajectory of the series, shifting the focus to the people he inspired into becoming copycat killers and continuing his life’s work. For example: Someone like Detective Mark Hoffman puts people in traps because he’s a sadist and shows no interest in helping them turn their lives around. It goes against Kramer’s values, but somehow, we must believe the original Jigsaw never saw this side of his protege at all. Right. If Kramer had even the faintest hint that Hoffman might not play the game fairly, he becomes a hypocrite for allowing him to continue in the first place. Or is this the case of having to crack a few eggs to make an omelet? Don’t ask us – ask the screenwriters of this mess.

The filmmakers try to figure out a way to untangle the narrative webs and make some semblance of sense – particularly the films in which Kevin Greutert directs – but there’s no denying something is lost when Jigsaw dies. Unsurprisingly, the Saw franchise jumped the shark and turned Saw X into an interquel as a way to revive Kramer.

Even James Wan confirms Saw was meant to be a psychological thriller

It’s all too easy to sit here and argue the semantics of Saw‘s genre classification, but who better to settle the argument than the original filmmaker himself? In a September 2024 interview with Esquire, James Wan explained why he loathed the fact so many people focused on the torture element of Saw. He said:

“I found it really kind of lazy. Leigh [Whannell] and I took three years to write the script, to make this crafted thriller, but it seemed like everyone was focusing on the trap aspect of it.”

Jason Blum – another one of Wan’s longtime collaborators – stated something similar, explaining how a lot of Hollywood took the wrong message from Saw. Blum said:

“The original Saw was really a detective thriller that happened to have two elements you don’t see in a traditional detective thriller: a huge twist and a gruesome premise. Other studios looked at Saw and imitated its gruesomeness.”

It’s true. A number of clones, such as Hostel and The Collector, popped out of the woodwork, inspiring an entire new subgenre of horror. In fact, even the Saw franchise itself can be accused of falling into the same trap. That being said, it’s remarkable how even after 20 years, people still look at the original Saw through the wrong lens. Put the traps to one side and take a look at the story to see what it’s really about.

For a deep look at the entire Saw franchise, check out Creepy Catalog’s article, The Rise and Fall of Jigsaw: Making Sense of the Saw Franchise.