Saw (2004)
★★★ — Saw (2004)
In the mid-2000s, horror cinema was casting around for a new direction. The self-aware, teen-friendly slasher cycle that had dominated the late 1990s was running on fumes, and audiences seemed ready for something nastier, more puzzle-like, and a good deal less concerned with being likeable. Saw arrived in 2004 like a bucket of cold water to the face, dropping two men into a grimy, abandoned bathroom with a corpse between them, a cassette tape each, and the dawning realisation that someone very disturbed has gone to elaborate lengths to make them suffer. The conceit is bracingly simple, and it tapped into a cultural appetite for horror that punished its characters not just physically but morally, forcing them to make choices no sane person would want to make. It is, rightly or wrongly, the film credited with kicking off what critics would later label "torture porn" as a subgenre, though the film itself is more restrained than that label suggests.
The film was produced by Twisted Pictures, Evolution Entertainment, and Saw Productions Inc., and it began life as a short film made by director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell on a shoestring. That low-budget, DIY spirit is written all over the finished feature, and not always in a bad way. Wan was a virtually unknown quantity at the time, an Australian filmmaker with little more than that proof-of-concept short to his name. He would go on to a remarkably varied career (his later work includes Furious 7), but Saw is where he announced himself, and the controlled, claustrophobic energy he brings to the bathroom sequences in particular is genuinely impressive work for a first feature. Whannell, who wrote the screenplay, also appears in the film as one of the two men chained to the pipes, which gives the project an appealingly scrappy, everyone-muck-in quality.
The cast assembled around the central conceit is a curious and rather effective mix. Tobin Bell, a character actor with a long list of supporting roles behind him, plays the Jigsaw killer, and his measured, almost donnish delivery gives the character a presence that transcends the usual horror-villain template. Cary Elwes, best known to most audiences for The Princess Bride, takes the lead as one of the two captives, bringing a polished but increasingly frantic energy to a role that demands a fairly wide emotional range. Danny Glover appears as the detective on Jigsaw's trail, and Monica Potter rounds out the principal cast. For those interested in how the mystery thriller and horror genres can overlap, it is worth comparing Saw's cat-and-mouse structure to something like the altogether different pleasures on offer in The 39 Steps, or the more confrontational formal games of Scream (1996), another horror film that has strong opinions about its audience.
The first Saw is a masterclass in low-budget, high-concept horror. It’s smart, tightly written, and built around one of the most iconic twists in modern horror history. The idea, two strangers trapped in a deadly game of morality and survival is chilling, and it spawned a franchise that would go way too far (but that’s another review). The tension is real, the atmosphere is grimy and oppressive, and Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw is so much more than a horror villain, he’s a twisted philosopher with a brand of logic that sticks with you. But man, the gore is needless. The film leans hard on the shock value, and while it works once or twice, by the third blood-soaked trap, you start to wonder if it’s just style over substance. Still, as a debut, it’s impressive. Just don’t go in expecting deep emotional stakes, go for the twist, stay for the traps… but maybe mute during the autopsy scenes.
For me, that tension between genuine craft and cheap shock is what makes Saw such an interesting film to revisit, rather than a straightforward classic. The bones are excellent, the central concept is brilliantly economical, and Bell's performance deserves far more credit than it usually gets outside of dedicated horror circles. But I keep coming back to the nagging feeling that the film doesn't quite trust itself, that it reaches for the visceral when the psychological would have hit harder. If you want to see what this era of horror looked like at its most formally rigorous, something like Moshari is worth your time alongside it. Saw is essential viewing for anyone interested in modern horror, warts and all. Just maybe eat your dinner beforehand.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2004 | Watched: 2025-07-17
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Saw (2004) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Netflix · YouTube TV · Netflix Standard with Ads · MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
Related on Movies With Macca
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More mystery: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · One Way or Another (1975)
