🎶It’s the most wonderful time of the year.🎶
Welcome to Spooptoberfest 2020, a month-long celebration of all things horror. This year, we’re taking a look at my all-time favorite horror franchise: SAW. I know what you’re thinking, “Are you serious? Why?” and obviously there is nothing I can say to fully express why I love this franchise so much, I had such a hard time choosing the order for this list, but I hope to give some insight this year. And yes, I am beyond hyped for Spiral.
With SAW, I want to take every trap from all 9 movies and list my top 10. This is my personal opinion and I am basing my choices on the following criteria:
- Design / Aesthetic
- Pain-Level
- Survivability
- Entertainment Value
Now with some of these, I need to be careful, because if you’re like me and very knowledgeable in SAW lore, then you’ll know that there are many traps that don’t abide by the original rules: a person being tortured and the main player of the game has to free them, two players face each other and one must die for the other to live, and there are traps that are made to kill as opposed to acting as a “tool” to change a person’s life. If I include any traps that fall into either or both of those categories, I will make special note of that.
Without any further adieu, as our lord and savior once said, “Let the game begin”.
The Bathroom
Film: SAW
Where do I even begin? The greatest trap in the entire franchise is unfortunately the very first one we see. It’s also a trap the films come back to again and again, until it all comes full circle at the end. Hell, think we even see it in the Spiral trailer. The Bathroom trap is a strange one when compared to the rest, technically it is a trap, but it’s also an entire game.
Say what you want about the series, but you cannot deny how influential The Bathroom from SAW is. Think about escape rooms. Yes, escape rooms did exist before SAW, but they didn’t explode in popularity until after the release of the film.
Given the correlation of the films and this list, it should come as no surprise that this trap is my #1. The production design, the relationship of the two victims, the secrets the room holds and how they are uncovered, and the impact and influence the trap has on the entire franchise are all why this trap remains my favorite among all the rest in the franchise.
marcus loner 