After the millennium, few horror films left as profound an impact on the genre as Saw, directed by James Wan. Made on a mere $1.2 million budget, Saw not only launched the career of Wan—who would later create Insidious and The Conjuring—but also brought the “torture porn” trend into the mainstream. Without this 2004 classic, we likely wouldn’t have had films like The Collector, Hostel, or The Human Centipede, and there would be far fewer of Rob Zombie’s cinematic rampages.
Though Wan himself stepped back after the first installment (serving as executive producer on sequels and contributing the story for the third film), this didn’t stop Lionsgate from pushing the franchise forward, with the eleventh installment set for release soon. In honor of the original Saw’s 20th anniversary, here are ten intriguing facts about this now-iconic horror franchise.
1. The iconic puppet, Billy, was created by James Wan himself
“The Poltergeist clown scene terrified me. I watched it at a young age—around five or six—and it remains one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever seen,” Wan told Vulture. His fascination with dolls and puppets explains the creation of Saw’s infamous puppet, Billy. Wan crafted Billy using clay, papier-mâché, paper towel rolls, and painted ping pong balls for eyes. In the original short film, Billy even wore a top hat, which was ultimately scrapped in favor of a simpler look in the feature film. The puppet became so popular with fans that it even appeared in two other Wan films: Death Sentence and Dead Silence, both released in 2007.
2. Jigsaw’s character was inspired by the screenwriter’s migraines
“I was 24, working a job I hated, and suffered from migraines almost daily,” recalled Leigh Whannell, the screenwriter and one of the stars of the first Saw film. “I panicked and went in for a complete health check, including an MRI. As I sat in the neurology department awaiting results, the concept of Jigsaw took shape in my mind. I started wondering: What would I do if I learned I had only a short time left to live? Then I imagined a character who knew his time was limited and wanted others to realize the value of life. Instead of a doctor telling you to make the most of your last year, a mysterious figure would trap you in a situation where you had only ten minutes. Would you survive?” Jigsaw’s mythology was born from this premise.
“It’s interesting to see what resonated with viewers. For James and me, Saw was about the two characters trapped in that room, but audiences fixated on the traps and Jigsaw himself, so that’s where the sequels focused too,” Whannell reflected. “In retrospect, I think the later installments changed the way people view the first movie, as if it was about Jigsaw and his traps, which it really wasn’t.”
3. A Saw Comic was released in 2005
Following Saw’s phenomenal success, merchandise was inevitable. Alongside video games (Saw, Saw II: Flesh & Blood), Saw: Rebirth—a comic book by R. Eric Lieb, Kris Oprisko, and Renato Guedes—was released in 2005. It portrays John “Jigsaw” Kramer as a disillusioned toymaker who, after learning he has a terminal illness, survives a suicide attempt and begins to value life in a new way. Inspired by his near-death experience, he sets out to help others appreciate their lives through unconventional means.
4. DreamWorks was interested in Saw—but James Wan declined
James Wan initially approached smaller Australian studios with Saw but found little interest. After a year, he filmed a short proof of concept to pitch to American studios. DreamWorks Pictures and Gold Circle Films made offers, but neither agreed to keep Wan as director or cast Whannell in a lead role.
“If DreamWorks had taken it, it would’ve become their version: ‘This summer, Michael Bay presents: Saw, starring Josh Hartnett and Michael Douglas,’” Whannell joked. “They probably would’ve added car chases, maybe with the puppet driving one!” Instead, producers Gregg Hoffman, Mark Burg, and Oren Koules took out a second mortgage on their office and founded Twisted Pictures, raising a modest $1.2 million budget for the first film.
5. After skipping Saw II, James Wan returned for the third film—to honor a friend
“People expect directors to do trilogies, but I rarely want to make a sequel after the first film,” Wan explained. “By the time I could even think about Saw II, I felt I’d said everything I wanted to and was ready to move on.” So why did he return for Saw III?
“After hearing about the passing of Gregg Hoffman [producer of Saw and Saw II], Leigh, James, and I met for lunch,” said Saw III director Darren Lynn Bousman. “We knew the film would go forward with or without us, so we decided to do it ourselves as a tribute to Gregg, who had envisioned a trilogy from the start.”
6. Blood donation drives were regularly organized around premiere dates
In 2004, two marketers from LionsGate Entertainment came up with a unique idea for Saw’s upcoming premiere: organize voluntary blood donation drives, offering participants free tickets to a screening of the horror film. The event, dubbed “Give ’Til It Hurts,” was initially intended as a media stunt, but even the first drive collected nearly 2,000 liters of blood. For Saw II in 2005, the donation events were organized in collaboration with the American Red Cross. However, after the release of Saw IV, these events were discontinued.
7. The first Saw film turned out the way it did because the creators realized they didn't have enough footage
With a budget of just over one million dollars, the first Saw film was shot in only eighteen days. However, by the end of production, James Wan and Leigh Whannell realized they simply didn’t have enough footage to fill the intended runtime—and with a tight budget, their options were limited. “When we realized this, we just started combining shots...or tried to degrade them so they’d look like security camera footage. We even used still shots from the set photographer to fill in gaps,” Wan shared in an interview with The A.V. Club. “These inserts, like the newspaper clippings, security camera shots, or stills, were just a necessity. People now call it ‘experimental,’ but really, we were just forced into it.”
8. The iconic Needle Pit scene in the second film was a massive challenge for the crew
For many, the Saw franchise is defined by its traps—especially the infamous “needle pit” scene in Saw II. In this 2005 horror, Xavier Chavez (Franky G) throws Amanda (Shawnee Smith) into a pit filled with syringes. The crew initially replaced the needles of 40,000 syringes with fiber-optic tips for safety, but feeling it wasn’t enough, they ultimately used around 120,000 syringes, along with foam peanuts and manure for a more disgusting look. Prepping these syringes reportedly took five days, and they even created a prosthetic arm for Smith to use in scenes where needles are pulled from Amanda's arm.
9. Saw VI was the first non-porn film in spain to receive the strictest rating
The Saw series is known for its graphic violence, but the 2009 release of Saw VI was a watershed moment for the franchise. It became the first non-pornographic film in Spain to receive the strictest “adults only” rating from the ICAA (Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts). This rating limited its initial release to only eight theaters specializing in adult films. In 2010, the studio released a toned-down version with the most intense scenes removed.
10. The bathroom set for Saw III was borrowed from Scary Movie 4
The Scary Movie franchise, known for its satire, inevitably took aim at Saw. In 2006’s Scary Movie 4, the iconic puppet Billy became a main character, and the set designers even recreated the bathroom from the original Saw. Ironically, the Saw III team then borrowed this set for their own film’s bathroom scene. So, in a way, it’s hard to tell who had the last laugh!
