Saw Recap

Thanks to the Mark H. Harris About.com Guide to Horror and Suspense, we have a recap of all the Saw movies, leading up to Saw VI which opens this weekend. Select theaters around the country will be airing a marathon of all the Saw movies tomorrow, topped off by a midnight screening of Saw VI. Visit fandango.com or movietickets.com for tickets. A list of the theaters can be found here.

If you don't mind some spoilers, here's a recap of the story up 'til now, with the trailers.



Saw (2004)

Adam and Lawrence are chained in a bathroom, victims of Jigsaw, a serial killer who puts people in deadly traps so they can appreciate life. Lawrence is told he must kill Adam by 6 o'clock; he's given a bullet for a gun held by a dead body in the center of the room, the loser of a previous "game." Lawrence's wife and daughter are held captive in their home by Zep, Lawrence's co-worker, who will kill them if the doc fails. Lawrence's family escapes with help from ex-cop David Tapp, but Zep kills Tapp and goes to the bathroom to kill Lawrence, who has sawed off his leg in order to escape. Adam kills Zep before realizing that he's a pawn; the real killer is John Kramer, the body lying in the room, who shuts Adam in the room to die.





Saw II (2005)

Police find Jigsaw, but he holds them at bay with video of eight people -- including Detective Matthews' son Daniel and Amanda, the only escapee from Jigsaw's games -- trapped in a house filled with a deadly gas. The eight try to find an antidote to the gas that's locked away in a safe, most dying from traps in the process. One of the eight, Xavier, stalks Amanda and Daniel when he realizes that numbers to the safe's combination are printed on the backs of their heads, but they manage to kill him. Matthews forces Jigsaw to take him to the house but ends up chained in the Saw bathroom, discovering that the events on the video had happened way earlier and that Amanda is now Jigsaw's protege. She locks him in the bathroom to die.





Saw III (2006)

Six months later, the games continue, but cops Rigg and Hoffman find that the new traps are uncharacteristically inescapable. A sick and dying John/Jigsaw has two people kidnapped: Jeff and Lynn. Jeff's test is to decide whether to save the lives of three people he blames for the death of his son (he doesn't), while Lynn has to keep John alive until Jeff is done (she does). Amanda, disillusioned by John's plan, shoots Lynn (thus failing John's test of compassion) and reveals that she set up the inescapable traps. Jeff, who turns out to be Lynn's husband, shoots Amanda and then kills John (thus failing his test of forgiveness). As the door to the room shuts, he realizes that John is the only person who knows where Jeff's daughter is hidden.





Saw IV (2007)

John and Amanda are dead, but there's a new killer, who kidnaps Hoffman and places him in a trap with Matthews before informing Rigg that his two colleagues will be killed in 90 minutes. However, he warns Rigg to walk away. Rigg's reckless heroism leads him through a series of tests in which he must either help or hurt people trapped in the killer's games. FBI agent Strahm, on Rigg's trail, questions John's ex-wife Jill, who reveals that he was a caring man who became cynical after a robber caused her to miscarry. Strahm tracks Rigg to a factory and encounters Jeff from Saw III, killing him in self-defense. Rigg's arrival triggers Matthews' death, with Rigg shot in the process. Hoffman reveals himself to be the killer as Rigg dies.





Saw V (2008)

Hoffman places Strahm in a trap and rescues Jeff's daughter but is surprised when Strahm is found alive. Hoffman is hailed as a hero, and the police declare the killings over, but Strahm suspects of Hoffman. He discovers that Hoffman killed his sister's murderer and made it look like Jigsaw did it, incurring the wrath of John, who blackmailed him into helping with the games. Hoffman meanwhile plants clues that make Strahm's boss, Erickson, believe that Strahm is Jigsaw's accomplice, while also setting up five new victims in a trap. Strahm tracks Hoffman to a warehouse, where a recording tells him to get into a box, but instead he shoves Hoffman inside, not realizing that the room's walls will close in and crush anyone not inside the box.

Previous post about Saw V can be found here.



Saw VI (2009)

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.



Previous post about Saw VI can be found here.


If you see Saw VI, please feel free to post a review of it in the comments section of this post to share with others. Thanks!