Happy Halloween! ScreenAge Wasteland is proud to present our community’s ranking of the Saw movies.
Four people took part in sending us their personal rankings of the 10 Saw movies. We then assigned them points (top spot got 10, last spot got 1) and tallied the scores. In the event that someone hadn’t seen a movie, a multiplier was added to bump that film’s score up to what it would have been if all ten people had seen it.
So come with me if you want to see where each Saw movie landed on our list. And feel free to agree or disagree with where a film ranked in the comments below!
10. Saw 3D (2010) | 6 points
- The 3D gimmick just didn’t along with it being the weakest overall film in all aspects. – Vincent Kane
- Pure garbage. Only saw this one time and that was one too many. – Liquidsoap89
- All I remember from this one is that it’s bad and the blood looked extremely fake. – Marmaduke Karlston
9. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) | 8 points
- There was so much intrigue with this entry due to the involvement of Chris Rock but the detective/thriller approach just didn’t land. Plus the kills sucked. – Vincent Kane
- Moving away from the overly convoluted plots of the past 8 films was the smartest thing Spiral could do. And I have to say, I didn’t hate the premise this time around. Instead of targeting people who have wasted their lives (or whatever contrived bullshit the other ones were about), this Jigsaw copycat is going after corrupt cops. Like I said, I don’t hate that premise and I think a good filmmaker could really do something with it but this is Saw. The only good filmmaker attached to one of these things left the series behind twenty years ago. Any discussion of topical events such as police brutality or whatnot is tossed aside in favor of unfunny Chris Rock shtick, Chris Rock trying to look tough or morose, and scene after scene of Chris Rock trying to act. He is distractingly bad in this and far and away the worst actor in the franchise. Spiral was probably never going to be good but with Rock in the lead, it guaranteed it was going to be one of the worst. – Sailor Monsoon
- How do you make a Saw movie with Samuel L. Jackson in it so uninteresting? Like god damn, what were the people behind this thinking? – Marmaduke Karlston
8. Jigsaw (2017) | 13 points
- I don’t remember a thing about this which is worse than being an awful movie. – Vincent Kane
- This movie gets too much hate. It’s not the best Saw movie, but there are still some good twists and Tobin Bell is never not good as John Kramer. – Marmaduke Karlston
7. Saw VI (2009) | 19 points
- Is this the one with the guy who gets injected with a million needles and melts? If it is, it sucks. The carousel idea with the guy picking which awful person to kill next was an okay idea though. – Liquidsoap89
- One of my least favorite horror movie tropes is how each sequel pretty much features a new cast of characters, setting, and continuity. The Saw franchise is different. Sure, the later sequels get progressively worse, but there’s something about these movies all basically starting off right where the last one left off that makes it so fun to watch. Hoffman isn’t the best protagonist/antagonist, but he’s also not the worst. – Marmaduke Karlston
6. Saw V (2008) | 20 points
- This was the first truly bad entry of the franchise. Slow and boring and the traps weren’t as inventive as previous entries. – Vincent Kane
- An improvement over IV. It’s even more convoluted and messy than IV but this time it kind of works. The tracheotomy scene is great, going behind the scenes of the previous movies is unnecessary but fun, and the twist with the trap at the end is great. – Liquidsoap89
- I really like Scott Patterson’s Agent Strahm and I’m sad that he gets killed off. I could have watched like five more movies with him trying to bring down Jigsaw and his goons. – Marmaduke Karlston
5. Saw III (2006) | 22 points
- Digging deeper into Jigsaw and Amanda’s relationship made for a decent story here while still having some gory traps and a great ending makes this one of the better entries of the franchise. – Vincent Kane
- I’d argue this is where Saw really starts to lean into the torture porn element. The gore is ramped up considerably and the ending is kind of unnecessarily mean. The two simultaneous stories tying together at the end is well done though, and having the dad try to forgive those people is a good concept. The surgery scene is also really well done. – Liquidsoap89
- The Saw movies are all about their endings and this has one of the best. – Marmaduke Karlston
4. Saw IV (2007) | 24 points
- This is where the franchise began to lose me. It had a solid start but became overly convoluted plus the story after the death of Jigsaw didn’t land like they hoped it would. – Vincent Kane
- This is where they start to lose control of things. Things just get out of control and the main guy going through the traps is only in there because he was in a previous movie. He’s got no significance to anything going on. Donnie getting his head crushed is a highlight though. – Liquidsoap89
- Donnie Wahlberg deserved better (okay, maybe not). – Marmaduke Karlston
3. Saw X (2023) | 28 points
- The best story of the Saw franchise that focuses more on characters with a solid performance by Tobin Bell. Could have used better kills to help put it over the top though. – Vincent Kane
- This movie just didn’t work for me. Too many convenient elements and the whole thing about him needing to be in the trap to survive just makes no sense. – Liquidsoap89
- Saw X has the distinction of being the best sequel in the franchise and also one of the worst-written. Everything involving John Kramer and his battle with cancer is top-notch. For about 30 minutes or so, it actually feels like a movie. You’re rooting for him to find a cure even though you know he doesn’t. It’s weird being invested in the arc of a mass serial killer but the film does a great job of creating sympathy for a monster. It’s everything after the cancer business that the film falls flat on its face. I was immediately taken out of the film every time a new game was played. The traps are so comically impossible to solve that the film contradicts its own lore. If the difference between living and dying and learning a lesson and proving you want to live by doing impossible tasks is just 60 seconds, you don’t want to teach them anything and you certainly don’t want them to live. If that was the only thing wrong with it, that would be one thing but it also has a twist so fucking stupid, your brain will start to melt if you think about it for five seconds. It’s a movie with almost nothing but giant flaws but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a great time with it. – Sailor Monsoon
2. Saw II (2005) | 30 points
- I think the sequel is the perfect Saw movie. It improves upon what made everyone fall in love with the original while expanding the scope of the series, moving from a confined bathroom to a larger house of traps. Saw II helped to solidify Jigsaw as a compelling antagonist, and it deepened the mythology surrounding him. Also, I think the twist was better as well. – Vincent Kane
- I feel dirty believing this is better than the first, but this is a dirty series and it’s deserved. It’s got one of the most iconic traps (the needle pit) and the setup to the twist is probably the best in the series. – Liquidsoap89
- I’m not hot on this one like everyone else seems to be, but it does have some great twists. Fuck that needle scene. – Marmaduke Karlston
1. Saw (2004) | 36 points
- Helped solidify and ignite the gore porn phase of horror in the 2000s but was able to tell a compelling story and introduce the iconic Jigsaw villain. Incredible atmosphere and unique kills just helped launch this horror franchise. – Vincent Kane
- It’s all about the twist and what a twist it is. Fun story about this movie: the first time I saw it was on a bootleg DVD from China. The scene played where they listened to the tape and heard something being whispered. They play it back and immediately after you hear what was whispered the power at my house went out. I thought the movie had caused it and was afraid I was under attack. Takes a powerful movie to accomplish that. – Liquidsoap89
- James Wan’s Saw is a grimy psychological thriller that traps its audience as firmly as its characters. What begins as a low-budget horror film evolves into a meditation on pain, desperation, and moral choice. The appeal of Saw lies in its grimy, oppressive aesthetic, a cross between Hitchcockian suspense and a grisly game of chess. Yet, unlike Hitchcock, who veils violence in mystery, Saw is visceral, unapologetically showing us the lengths to which humans will go when cornered. Wan builds his horror with blunt but effective strokes—decay and decay only. Every cut and flashback tightens the noose, reminding us that survival in this world comes at a psychological price. And here lies the film’s twisted genius: it isn’t merely gore for gore’s sake but a systematic dissection of fear and morality. Jigsaw’s “games” challenge us with a ruthless question—what would you do to survive? Its morality warped to its darkest edge, revealing that for some, salvation might come only through pain. If the sequels stayed true to this vision, it would be the greatest series ever but of course, the law of diminishing returns and the need to go bigger and meaner meant the traps become more and more implausible till the only thing they have to offer is their ridiculous twists. This is the purest distillation of the premise and the only one that delivers great traps that are believable and a twist you can’t see coming. – Sailor Monsoon
Sometimes, you can’t beat the original. Although props to Saw II for coming in second and Saw X for managing to be the first good Saw movie in over a decade.
Thank you to everyone who participated in SAW’s sixteenth community ranking!
Do you agree with our ranking? How does your ranking of the Saw films look? Share your thoughts in the comments!