The poster for the first movie.
Saw is a horror movie franchise spanning seven installments. The first installment, released in 2004, was written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell and directed by Wan. Six sequels followed, one per year just before Halloween, with a succession of other directors (Darren Lynn Bousman for II, III and IV; David Hackl for V; Kevin Greutert for VI and 3D, the last film).
The movies concern a serial killer who goes by the name of Jigsaw. His M.O. is that he kidnaps people who are known to have troubled pasts, and then he puts them in a deathtrap to test their will to live. Victims typically must undergo a deadly endurance test, and/or inflict severe physical harm on themselves or others, in order to survive. Those who fail their tests die, usually in extremely gruesome ways. Jigsaw's nickname comes from the fact that he cuts a jigsaw-puzzle piece of flesh from each victim who dies, suggesting that that person was missing a vital part of the human puzzle - the survival instinct.
The series is notable for having an extremely convoluted storyline that spans all seven movies and involves nearly every major and minor character. As a result, it is nearly impossible to talk about the later installments without spoiling something in an earlier one.
Saw in Fanfiction[]
Saw fanfiction can go in one of two directions:
- AU: AU fanfiction is particularly common because of the absurdly huge number of characters the franchise has. (Also, it stems from the fact that in your average Saw movie, at least two thirds of the cast are dead by the time you get to the final six or so minutes.) What is also common in AU fanfiction is improbable shipping between some of the characters, and crack is not uncommon, particularly when pairing people from one movie with people from another.
- OC Death Trap: Given that Jigsaw traps are usually accompanied by huge metaphorical undertones, it is actually very easy to write an OC who gets put into a Jigsaw trap. Mary Sues are not commonly found in this category of fanfiction, since most authors understand that the victim has to have a very messed up life/no appreciation of it, and that victims rarely survive their traps. Almost all Saw crossovers fall into the OC Death Trap category, except that the OC/OC group is replaced with either one canon or a group of canons from another continuum.
Saw badfics in either category include character warping. In the case of the Death Trap, it is also possible for badfic authors to forget the traps are supposed to be metaphorical; almost every trap in the franchise has some significance to the people taking part in it.
Missions in this Continuum[]
- Agents Florestan and Eusabius
- "Playing Pointless Games" (crossover with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)
- "Rivalry Counseling with Jigsaw" (crossover with Harry Potter)