Saw

Saw is a 2004 American horror film, directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell as two men who find themselves chained in a dilapidated subterranean bathroom, with one being ordered to kill the other or his family will die. It is the first installment of the seven-part Saw franchise.

After waking up in a tiny cell, two men find themselves victim of a serial killer who plays games with his victims and gives them one last chance to survive.

If they wish to live, they each have to play their own game as the killer has told them on an audio script.

As the film goes on, connections between the victims and the true identity of the never-showed-up killer are revealed.

The film series as a whole has received mostly mixed to negative reviews by critics, but has been a financial success at the box office .

While the films are often compared to Hostel and classified as torture porn by critics, the creators of Saw disagree with the term “torture porn”.

Writer Luke Y. Thompson of OC Weekly argued that, unlike Hostel, the Saw films actually have less torture than most in the sense of sadism or masochism, as Jigsaw believes that those who survive his methods will be stronger people for it. He called him a kind of a “(deranged) philanthropist”.