The week following Nov. 5, I oscillated between complete numbness and waves of crushing anxiety. The world no longer made sense to me; it all felt like a queasy dream.
So that weekend, unmoored from self and sanity, I did what I swore to never do: I watched “Saw” (2004).
Last month marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody birth of the original “Saw” movie, and the subsequent renaissance (or renaisSAWnce) of interest in the now 10 film-long franchise could not have come at a better time.
“Saw” was there for me when I needed it most. When the idea of bubble baths or meditation apps couldn’t calm me down, that zesty little puppet tricycled into my life with an offer of escapist fantasy.
For 90 minutes, put reality aside and chew on this perfect premise: Two men wake up chained in a filthy bathroom with a dead body on the floor between them. They deduce that they are the latest victims of Jigsaw, a mysterious killer who traps people who don’t appreciate their lives in gruesome games that test their will to survive. The men have six hours to figure out how to win the game, or die.
When I started my journey into horror sophomore year, “Saw” represented everything about the genre I wanted to avoid: a meanspirited, trashy gore-fest. I only watched sophisticated, respectable horror, like “Hereditary” (2018) or, uh, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1987).
But I was wrong about you, “Saw.” In addition to the formal note of apology I hand-delivered to actor and director Leigh Whannell’s house, I want to use my column to make things right.
“But I was wrong about you, “Saw.” In addition to the formal note of apology I hand-delivered to actor and director Leigh Whannell’s house, I want to use my column to make things right. “
Although the “Saw” franchise is often considered one of the pioneers of the early 2000s “torture porn” trend, the original installment is more of a twisty bottle thriller with occasional scenes that make you say “yeowch” and “owie” and things of that nature. But there are just as many scenes that keep the gory money shot mostly out of frame – a practice that does not continue in the sequels.
But its lack of torture porn doesn’t stop “Saw” from giving us some of the most iconic and sphincter-tightening scenes in horror history. Most enduring is the “reverse bear trap”: In a flashback we meet Amanda, a previous victim of Jigsaw, targeted for her drug addiction (Jigsaw is #problematic for that one). Her punishment is a headset locking her upper and lower jaws in place, which will rip open in 60 seconds if she doesn’t find the key to unlock it.
Doesn’t it feel nice to be stressed about fake problems instead of your own? The insane plot twists, pigs-in-wigs jumpscares and Shawnee Smith’s eye-acting will keep you so on the edge of your seat, you’ll forget you live in a country where the majority of citizens voted against your human rights.
Edited like a nu metal music video, “Saw” is a veritable time capsule of 2004 nostalgia. If you’re tired of living through these unprecedented times, escape to the super chill years of the Bush administration. Remember pagers? Remember wearing long sleeves under T-shirts? Remember being a one-year-old and having absolutely zero awareness of partisan politics? Those were the good days.
If you’re committed to disconnecting from reality even further, Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes’ bizarre attempts at American accents can push you into a full fantasy world where the United States is not even a real place.
A lot of my friends worry that, with Christian nationalist psychos controlling the Supreme Court, gay marriage could be at risk. That’s a very serious concern, but we have to remember that marriage is a heteropatriarchal institution, and there are many ways to express queer love that transcend traditional marriage. The main characters of “Saw” remind us that radical queer relationships can look like two men rolling on the floor and clutching desperately at each other’s faces while covered in blood. And that’s beautiful.
“Saw” is the perfect escapist movie because it’s nothing like your real life. Saw traps are about having to make choices between two horrific options, like cutting off your own foot with a rusty saw or watching your family die. When you ask why those are the only options, the condescending old man who put you there tells you it’s for your own good. Luckily there’s nothing relatable about that.
And when the game is over and the credits roll, when you have to return to our political reality, try not to get too down about it. If you look like you’re not enjoying life enough, you might end up in a Saw trap of your own.
Niko Kay Smith SC ’25 wishes Billy the puppet had kept his dapper little bowler hat from the original short film. “A Nightmare on 6th St” is TSL’s horror column, where Niko covers their journey from scaredy cat to rabid horror fan, one movie at a time.
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