person or book cover
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon Saw single work   film/TV   horror  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 Saw
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The first film in the Saw franchise, Saw introduces 'Jigsaw', a killer whose complex and sadistic traps are designed to 'test' his victims.

Exhibitions

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18667821
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       2004 .
      person or book cover
      Screen cap from promotional trailer
      Extent: 103min.p.
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Related Works

form y separately published work icon Saw II Leigh Whannell , Darren Lynn Bousman , ( dir. Darren Lynn Bousman ) United States of America (USA) : Twisted Pictures , 2005 Z1872347 2005 single work film/TV horror

The sequel to the 2004 slasher film Saw, Saw II continues the narrative of 'Jigsaw', the killer whose complex and sadistic traps 'test' his victims. This film also reveals his apprentice, Amanda.
form y separately published work icon Saw III Leigh Whannell , James Wan , ( dir. Darren Lynn Bousman ) United States of America (USA) : Twisted Pictures , 2006 Z1872351 2006 single work film/TV horror

The third film in the Saw franchise, Saw III shows 'Jigsaw' growing increasingly weak from his incurable cancer, and his apprentice starting to add her own twist to the games that they force their victims to endure.
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Works about this Work

10 Years of Homegrown Horror Hits : Talk To Me and the Golden Age of Aussie Horror Jessica Balanzategui , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 8 August 2023;
James Wan : The Fantastic Voyage Of Aquaman Gill Pringle , Erin Free , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 24 December 2018;
Dead Heart : Australia’s Horror Cinema Geoff Stanton , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 31 October 2018;
Conjuring Up a Familiar Haunt James Wigney , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 16 June 2016; (p. 34)
Paratexts and the Commercial Promotion of Film Authorship : James Wan and Saw Tyson Wils , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , December no. 69 2013; 'This article discusses one way Malaysian-Australian James Wan (b. 1977-) (1) can be considered or constructed as an author. Wan is best known for the film Saw (2004), which he co-wrote with Leigh Whannell (2). Saw was made for around $US1.2 million but grossed just over $US103 million worldwide at the box office (3). Saw also turned out to be the first instalment in a seven-part series. Wan and Whannell have both claimed that they did not make Saw with the intention of producing a sequel, even though at the end of the film the criminal mastermind John Kramer (aka Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell) escapes leaving one of his victims, Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell), locked in an industrial bathroom. In what would become an iconic moment for the film series Kramer turns off the lights and closes the room’s large sliding door saying to Stanheight “Game Over” (not only is this scene directly referenced at the end of Saw: The Final Chapter [2010], but the idea of playing a “game” is developed in various ways across the series)...' (From Author's introduction)
Shock-Horror End of an Era Vicky Roach , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 7 November 2013; (p. 46)
Bouncing Back into Frame Philippa Hawker , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 8 November 2013; (p. 5)
Paratexts and the Commercial Promotion of Film Authorship : James Wan and Saw Tyson Wils , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , December no. 69 2013; 'This article discusses one way Malaysian-Australian James Wan (b. 1977-) (1) can be considered or constructed as an author. Wan is best known for the film Saw (2004), which he co-wrote with Leigh Whannell (2). Saw was made for around $US1.2 million but grossed just over $US103 million worldwide at the box office (3). Saw also turned out to be the first instalment in a seven-part series. Wan and Whannell have both claimed that they did not make Saw with the intention of producing a sequel, even though at the end of the film the criminal mastermind John Kramer (aka Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell) escapes leaving one of his victims, Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell), locked in an industrial bathroom. In what would become an iconic moment for the film series Kramer turns off the lights and closes the room’s large sliding door saying to Stanheight “Game Over” (not only is this scene directly referenced at the end of Saw: The Final Chapter [2010], but the idea of playing a “game” is developed in various ways across the series)...' (From Author's introduction)
Conjuring Up a Familiar Haunt James Wigney , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 16 June 2016; (p. 34)
Time Is Wasting : Con/sequence and S/pace in the Saw Series Steve Jones , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Horror Studies , November vol. 1 no. 2 2010; (p. 225-239)

'Horror film sequels have not received as much serious critical attention as they deserve this is especially true of the Saw franchise, which has suffered a general dismissal under the derogatory banner Torture Porn. In this article I use detailed textual analysis of the Saw series to expound how film sequels employ and complicate expected temporal and spatial relations in particular, I investigate how the Saw sequels tie space and time into their narrative, methodological and moral sensibilities. Far from being a gimmick or a means of ensuring loyalty to the franchise (one has to be familiar with the events of previous episodes to ascertain what is happening), it is my contention that the Saw cycle directly requests that we examine the nature of space and time, in terms of both cinematic technique and our lived, off-screen temporal/spatial orientations.' (Publication abstract)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 6 Jul 2012 09:59:29
James Wan
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