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Saw
Lions Gate Films Inc.

Saw reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 46 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.4 out of 10
based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 139 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong grisly violence and language

Starring Leigh Whannell, Cary Elwes, Monica Potter, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Tobin Bell, and Michael Emerson

Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life, a deranged, sadistic serial killer is abducting morally wayward people and forcing them to play horrific games for their own survival. Faced with impossible choices, each victim must struggle to win back his/her life, or else die trying. (Lions Gate Films)


GENRE(S): Horror  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Leigh Whannell (also story)
James Wan (story)
 
DIRECTED BY: James Wan  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: February 15, 2005 
Video: February 15, 2005 
Theatrical: October 29, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Film Threat Heidi Martinuzzi
May be the best independent horror film to have come out since "The Blair Witch Project." It's certainly better than "Blair Witch", and more fun, more gruesome, and more macabre. In a very delightful way.
Read Full Review
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
The filmmakers piece it together with almost clockwork perfection and deliver it with masterful misdirection, creating the most ingenious, eccentric and brazenly jaundiced psycho-thriller to come along in years.
Read Full Review
80
Empire Kim Newman
As good an all-out, non-camp horror movie as we’ve had lately.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Wan's tense, grisly cinematic morsel won't go down easy. But once it hits bottom, Saw is oddly satisfying, though the gag reflex never entirely goes away.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Saw is for hard-gore horror aficionados only.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer
The slasher scenes, though relatively few, are amazingly evocative for such a low-budget movie.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Horror fans will find plenty to shriek about. Everyone else should keep their distance.
Read Full Review
70
Slate David Edelstein
Less a classical narrative than an ingenious machine for inducing terror, rage, and paralyzing unease.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Boasts an undeniably original premise and clever plot machinations that lift it several notches above the usual slasher film level.
Read Full Review
67
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Saw is a gristle-cut B psycho thriller that would like to tap the sickest corners of your imagination. It has a few moments of nightmare creepiness, but it's also derivative and messy and too nonsensical for its own good.
Read Full Review
60
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
It's brutal horror, where anyone can die at any time, and gorehounds will love it. Average folks may find it too intense.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times Stephen Holden
Does a better-than-average job of conveying the panic and helplessness of men terrorized by a sadist in a degrading environment, but it is still not especially scary.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Saw is so full of twists it ends up getting snarled. For all of his flashy engineering and inventive torture scenarios, the Jigsaw Killer comes across as an amateur. Hannibal Lecter would have him for lunch.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Leah McLaren
Let's just say this: It's a lucky thing I wasn't shackled to my seat in the theatre during this movie. I'd be limping home.
Read Full Review
50
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
As long as Saw stays in that big, nasty bathroom, all we need to believe is the knot in our stomachs.
Read Full Review
50
Premiere Aaron Hillis
Spoiled by its own insatiable desire for envelope-pushing flair; it’s wider-scoped when it should be intimate, splashy instead of subtle, icky but not scary.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Wan's debut feature is a twisted, squirm-inducingly nasty bit of work, which isn't a criticism because that's exactly what he and cowriter Leigh Whannell had in mind.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An efficiently made thriller, cheerfully gruesome, and finally not quite worth the ordeal it puts us through.
Read Full Review
50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's gross as hell.
Read Full Review
50
Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
The film is a squeamish exercise, like watching a cruel child pull the wings off flies - especially the climactic scene, which is so gory it would turn a coyote's stomach.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Mark Holcomb
With its toilet-bobbing and blood spurting and Elwes's fey, Vincent Price–like mugging, Saw succeeds in capturing something like Takashi Miike by way of William Castle. Happy Halloween, indeed.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly Kim Morgan
A story that's so ridiculous you'll at least be entertained by the outrageous plot contortions to come.
Read Full Review
38
USA Today Mike Clark
Becomes exceedingly disgusting when it wallows in the psychological torture of a child, a no-no under any circumstances.
Read Full Review
33
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
What makes Saw so awful is that it starts with a clever premise and then completely blows it.
Read Full Review
30
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Saw has its moments, and most of them are brutal in the extreme, but ultimately it's one tremendous misfire that will either leave you laughing or, possibly, gagging. Not what I'd call a winning combination.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Desson Thomson
But humans who live above ground, including horror fans, will find themselves only fitfully entertained and more consistently appalled.
Read Full Review
30
Variety Dennis Harvey
A crude concoction sewn together from the severed parts of prior horror/serial killer pics.
Read Full Review
30
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Though dumber than a box of rocks, Saw forges ahead with the kind of conviction and energy that will keep bad-cinema junkies sitting bolt upright.
Read Full Review
25
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Where "Seven" seemed to radiate diabolical evil, Saw just radiates idiocy.
Read Full Review
25
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A gore movie with no teeth.
Read Full Review
25
New York Post V.A. Musetto
Promoted as "the year's scariest movie," it's anything but.
Read Full Review
20
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Sicko horror film from Australia, whose sadism is topped only by its absurdity.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 139 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

D M. gave it a7:
Considering the limited resources for this film (and the fact that it was supposed to be a low-budget straight-to-DVD movie), they really showed that a decent story can pull any bad film out of the water. Of course, there are the bad sides. The best actor doesn't really "act" for the whole movie, and the gore jumps the limit between scary and funny/annoying. But horror is a dying genre, and it's been a while since there has a film with such a neat thriller ending.

Spider A. gave it a7:
A well made thriller, good for horror fans. A bit overacted at times, but a good waste of an hour and a half. People should check out the superior sequels as well.

John F gave it a1:
A depressingly predictable movie that will only appeal to those who like to see people being tortured. There really is nothing else to the movie.

Furbydude gave it a0:
SAW was excruciatingly boring. you may go ahead and watch the whole film... if you want to waste 2 hours of your whole life that you may never get back.

Jason S. gave it an8:
Great story and music. In the same vein as seven.

T C gave it a9:
This movie is in no way perfect but its exciting and most importantly fun to watch. if you love movies were they have you think this is a movie to watch especially the sequels. I can almost garantee that you will enjoy this movie if you love getting excited, disturb, and just plain out scared of what might happen next. I can't wait for Saw IV!

Jacob H. gave it a7:
Saw is a good movie. But is pretty boring.

Read more user comments...

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