How many saws are there

The man Jeff encounters drowning in a vat of freshly milled, rotting pig intestines is the franchise at peak gross. As with all Saw movies, every element is connected, but by III , the plot starts requiring some yarn to keep track of. How many tasks can a few serial killers possibly take on? The answer is, more than you could possibly imagine.

There are extra points for emotional nuance, and that keeps III from drowning in an ocean of sameness. On the downside, Dina Meyer dies in the rib separator , and she is missed. Signature device: The acid injector A very entertaining thing happens in the sixth movie: Saw tunes into society at large and focuses its punishment on predatory lenders and amoral insurance companies. Pretty much everyone put through a Jigsaw test in this movie earns their living by exploiting high-risk mortgage recipients or revoking medical insurance from people with preexisting conditions.

Saw was always a morality tale, but VI lines up the hammer and hits the nail square on the head. A police detective who has taken over as the heir to Jigsaw is trying to outsmart the FBI.

One presumed-dead character comes back, and there are lots of flashbacks to Team Jigsaw rigging traps together that were showcased earlier in the franchise. And boy, do we hear a lot about the rules in Saw II. In the Saw IV flashbacks, John designs his first traps for Cecil and in Jigsaw , Logan implies that he survived one of the earlier tests and became John's first apprentice, thus confusing the timeline even further at a late stage in the franchise.

In Saw IV' s flashbacks, John adopts the idea of "Instant Rehabilitation one person at a time" and continues on his killing ways, using traps revealed in Jigsaw to be designed by Logan. John's eventually labeled the Jigsaw Killer by the media when his signature of jigsaw puzzle-like pieces of flesh being removed from the victims is discovered. Jigsaw's controversy eventually leads—as revealed in Saw V —to a copycat killer in the form of a cop named Mark Hoffman who would become a very important character.

Having kidnapped and blackmailed Mark, Jigsaw annexes him to his cause. Mark eventually designs traps to be used in the first movie, where the timeline does not get simpler. Prior to the first Saw movie, Amanda Young becomes the first known survivor of Jigsaw's games. As revealed in Saw II , she takes to him like a father figure and says his games benefitted her life, becoming another apprentice before the first movie even starts. Saw technically starts with Amanda kidnapping Adam Stanheight for the game.

Jigsaw, however, also goes for kidnapping his doctor who diagnosed him with cancer, Lawrence Gordon. This movie introduces Jigsaw's ideas and blood-soaked games. An important moment that leaves a lasting impact on future entries is Jigsaw helping the doctor and making him another accomplice, adding to the list of things that don't really make sense about the apprentices. This means that technically within the timeline, by the time that the events of the first movie take place, there are already 6 different Jigsaws.

Another game is underway, with Amanda serving as a red herring. His apprentice Amanda Young Shawnee Smith kidnaps both of them. Kramer takes a cocktail of meds to slow his vitals, and lies in the underground room. Flashbacks: After his wife Jill leaves him, Kramer tries to commit suicide but fails.

Kramer sets his first trap for Cecil, cutting out a piece of his skin shaped like a puzzle piece, leading to his nickname, the Jigsaw killer. Jill receives instructions from her dead ex-husband. Flashbacks: The media frenzy surrounding Jigsaw leads to a copycat killer in the shape of Detective Hoffman. We learn it's Hoffman who created the trap for Seth Baxter at the start of Saw V to appear like a Jigsaw killing, as Baxter murdered his sister.

Kramer finds out and enlists Hoffman to help his mission. Easton dies. Under instruction from her husband, Jill puts Hoffman in a bear trap, which he survives.

Flashbacks: Kramer asks Easton to fund an experimental therapy for his tumor that may save his life. Easton denies him coverage. Soon after, Cecil became Jigsaw's very first victim. John Kramer finds out and recruits Hoffman to his cause. We also learn Amanda Young was partially responsible for Jill's miscarriage, information that Hoffman used to blackmail Amanda into murderingDr. Saw 3D takes place just a few weeks after the events of Saw VI.

Based mostly on the fact Hoffman's face is mostly healed from getting bear-trapped to hell in Saw VI. Lawrence Gordon Cary Elwes survived after the end of the first Saw long enough to cauterize his severed leg on a pipe and pass out. John Kramer discovered him in the hallway and eventually convinced him to become yet another Jigsaw acolyte, with Gordon working behind-the-scenes in every subsequent Saw movie.