Saw: Every Twist Ending In The Franchise, Ranked

Endings are the load-bearing structure of just about every movie within an ongoing horror franchise. You want to leave audiences on a high note that concludes the film's narrative, yet leaves enough wiggle room and momentum to have them curious for more. Of the serialized horror giants, no one has been consistently better than pulling a buzzworthy fast one year after year than "Saw." 

Ever since the one-location horror sensation blew the roof off the Sundance Film Festival with its jaw-dropping twist ending in 2004, the series' subsequent films have proudly continued the tradition. It'll be exciting for fans and newcomers alike to experience these mind-bending finales now that all 10 "Saw" movies are streaming in the same place on Netflix.

While James Wan and Leigh Whannell are responsible for creating "Saw," it's arguable that the series wouldn't have accrued its sonic identity without Charlie Clouser. Not only has he scored every installment, but the track "Hello Zepp" is essentially the series' theme music. These movies may largely take place within dingy warehouses and police stations, but when that track kicks in, it feels like an entire world is opening up before your very eyes. The rhythm of "Hello Zepp" ebbs and flows in a masterful buildup of anticipation and payoff. Even the worst "Saw" ending is partially saved by Clouser and his ability to keep switching things up. With that, let's take a look at these grand Jigsaw hoodwinks and see what makes the best of the best.

Coming in at the very bottom is "Jigsaw," easily the worst film in the series. There was a lot of anticipation for the 2017 reboot, as it was the first "Saw" movie in seven years. What followed was a distractingly polished legacy sequel whose twists are so bafflingly inane that it sticks out like a sore thumb among the bunch. The finale sees Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) and Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) waking up in a room with surgical laser cutter braces around their necks, with their only means of escape being confessions of their sins. Logan admits his slights against Jigsaw, but the device seemingly kills him anyway. But after Halloran sings like a canary, Logan gets up from the floor and reveals that he's behind the whole thing.

The ensemble trap in "Jigsaw" actually takes place before all the other movies, therefore making this a secret semi-prequel. In a very noticeable clue early on, Logan, the traumatized veteran turned pathologist who mixes up John Kramer's (Tobin Bell) X-ray diagnosis, is one of the bucketheads in the opening trap who seemingly dies offscreen. But Kramer covertly saves him, believing that he shouldn't have to die over a mistake, and makes him the first canonical apprentice. Logan then proceeds to reconstruct a similar game to the one he nearly participated in a decade earlier, with the intention of getting a confession out of Halloran. 

This series has always devolved into convoluted plots, but "Jigsaw" bets all its chips on a deeply unmemorable surprise antagonist who really doesn't sell his moment in the spotlight. The idea that Logan was instrumental in creating the Reverse Bear Trap and then never showed his face again is eye-rollingly stupid.

Kevin Greutert's "Saw X" was considered a return to form for the series because of Tobin Bell's return to the franchise as Jigsaw/John Kramer. With the 2023 film taking place between "Saw" and "Saw II," there was speculation on how much this series could trick audiences. The answer is by playing it really safe.

John ironically ends up finding himself on the other end of one of his traps, thanks to the heinous Dr. Cecilia Pedersen (Synnøve Macody Lund) and her associate Parker Sears (Steven Brand). But since we know the sadistic gamemaster won't die until the events of "Saw III," it's mostly a matter of when he'll make his escape. It comes when Cecilia grabs the bag of cash in the warehouse office upstairs, which triggers both the alarm and the classic Clouser cue. Kramer is able to predict a pattern of bad behavior that ultimately backfires against the scheming pair, so he rigs the room to fill up with a deadly gas (one of his favorites) and allows for only one person to evade being poisoned to death. 

Where the ending of "Saw X" falters is in its lack of surprise. It pits John's adversaries in an anticlimactic fight for survival that's not cruel enough to put a damper on the uncharacteristically sweet finale, in which Kramer walks into the sunrise with Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith). It's simple, yet there isn't that propulsive thrust that carried the other endings. Cecilia's survival feels extra awkward now, given that the proposed "Saw XI" was supposed to pick up from here, yet was unfortunately canned in favor of James Wan's reboot. 

While not the worst entry, 2021's "Spiral" is perhaps the strangest "Saw" film to date. Director Darren Lynn Bousman's return to the series was a spin-off that follows Detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) as he heads an investigation into a Jigsaw copycat who puts corrupt cops in grisly traps around the city.

For all its undeniable flaws, "Spiral" is an entertainingly goofy "Seven" riff that captures the "Saw" spirit in a finale that pits Zeke against his rookie partner, Detective William Schenck (Max Minghella). The latter is revealed as the mastermind who constructed this bloody trail of bodies after witnessing Zeke's partner murder his father in cold blood as a child. Schenck gives Zeke the choice to shoot him, which would let his father Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson) bleed out, or shoot the target that releases Marcus but allows Schenck to escape. Although Zeke chooses Option B, Schenck's plan still ends in Marcus' death.

All the lights go out as Marcus is made to look like he's holding a gun, ensuring that the SWAT team blows him away without hesitation upon reaching the room. The ending to "Spiral" succeeds because it builds to Schenck getting his revenge on the man indirectly responsible for his father's death no matter what. It packs one heck of a punch, especially as a bloodied Schenck, in the midst of his getaway, gives Zeke the same "shush" gesture the cop gave him all those years ago.

Whether it's the strange pink hue of the blood or trying to squeeze a two-part finale into one movie, 2010's "Saw 3D" was a huge disappointment following the highs of "Saw VI." Director Kevin Greutert was dealt an impossible task of delivering an undoubtedly rushed "final chapter," but he ultimately sticks the landing in the last five minutes.

Just as Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) thinks he's tied up all loose ends, he's ambushed by none other than Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). After cutting off his foot back in the first "Saw," the doctor became a secret Jigsaw apprentice who helped with some of the more medicinal traps. He reveals himself after a tape found within John Kramer's will had instructed him to take care of business should anything happen to his wife, Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell).

Everything comes full circle as Dr. Gordon chains Hoffman up in the iconic bathroom trap and essentially leaves him to die in the same darkness as Adam (Leigh Whannell) did in "Saw." It's a rewarding farewell treat to "Saw" fans that may not be all that surprising, considering Dr. Gordon's hilariously suspicious presence earlier in the film, but it makes sense that he would be involved in select traps throughout the series. It's impossible to not have a big dumb grin on your face as Elwes hams it up while imparting Mandylor's Hoffman with the comeuppance he's had coming to him over the last four movies. It saves "Saw 3D" from being a total letdown.

2008's "Saw V" doesn't receive as much credit as the other sequels, but it's still a great middle chapter that expands upon how the twisted partnership between Detective Mark Hoffman and John Kramer came to be. They're truly a match made in heaven, with the former understanding the latter's motivation better than he lets on. 

The first twist involves the final two trap participants learning that all five victims could have survived had they worked together instead of dying one at a time, room by room, leaving them to play the final game while barely alive. This plot weirdly feels separate from the rest of the film — that is, until the final 10 minutes where Hoffman's plan comes into place.

In the present timeline, we're treated to a fun cat-and-mouse game between Hoffman and Special Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson), who's valiantly searching for evidence with which to catch Jigsaw's surviving successor red-handed. A final tussle between the two leads to Strahm not listening to his tape all the way through. As a result, Hoffman's entrapment in the glass box keeps him safe as the walls literally close in on Strahm and crush him. With Strahm's death comes a frame job that Hoffman had set up for the special investigations team to find, as a way of diverting the trail away from himself. Much like his sadistic mentor, Hoffman has a great sense of predicting behavioral patterns, and his "gotcha" provides the perfect lead-in to arguably the best "Saw" sequel.

How could the "Saw" franchise continue on after the death of Jigsaw? Well, 2007's "Saw IV" proves its case with a double whammy of a prequel, chronicling how John Kramer came to be the evil gamemaker, in addition to the birth of his successor. 

The central plot follows SWAT Lieutenant Rigg (Lyriq Bent) being put through a series of tests that require him to acknowledge the victims in their traps, and then leave them to take care of it of their own accord. If he doesn't, Detective Mark Hoffman and the missing Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) will die. Rigg fails his test and, in the process, unleashes a smorgasbord of twists.

First up is the revelation that "Saw IV" is an sidequel, taking place at the exact same time and warehouse as the game in "Saw III." If that wasn't crazy enough, it's then revealed that Hoffman is the secret Jigsaw apprentice everyone had been looking for the whole time, especially since Amanda Young couldn't have put Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) in the Angel Trap all by herself. Rigg's test was a grooming of sorts, but his failure results in Eric's death as well as his own. This ending firmly cements Hoffman as the de facto series antagonist from here until "Saw 3D," and it's a tremendous kickstart to the series' second waves of films. It recontextualizes the tape Hoffman listens to at John's autopsy after the coroners find it residing in his stomach.

Kevin Greutert's "Saw VI" is rightfully the angriest film of the series, as the 2009 film targets the parasitic health insurance companies whose methods are more aligned with Jigsaw's mantra than they would care to admit. At the center of this film is William Easton (Peter Outerbridge), a top-level executive who rejected John Kramer's coverage years before his death. Rather than introducing the individual games from behind the Billy puppet, Kramer makes this death labyrinth a personal affair with tapes from beyond the grave. 

William has always been the most compelling "Saw" protagonist, because he starts out as an apathetic executive who slowly comes to terms with his role as an executioner of a different kind. Just when you think he's beaten the clock and won his game, "Saw VI" throws a series of delicious curveballs.

The ultimate test doesn't belong to William, so much as the mother and son of a client who died as a result of his coverage denial. Judgment falls upon them to make the call as to whether he lives or dies, with Devon Bostwick's Brent pulling the lever that pumps him full of hydrofluoric acid. No one does operatic horror melodrama like "Saw." Behind the glass is Jill Tuck, putting the Reverse Bear Trap 2.0 on Mark Hoffman's face per John's wishes. The family's test sets off the trap, but the vindictive apprentice manages to wriggle his way out before it goes off. It's a great ending that pulls the rug out from everybody.

Darren Lynn Bousman had the herculean task of picking up where James Wan left off, and 2005's "Saw II" ends up being a successful handoff, giving Tobin Bell the opportunity to flesh out what John Kramer is really like when he's not lying on the floor. "Saw II" sees Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) cornering the infamous Jigsaw killer in one of his warehouse hideaways, but it's not as easy as he thought it would be.

At the other end of the room are a bunch of monitors capturing what appears to be a livestream of an ensemble game in progress, with Eric's troublemaking son Daniel (Eric Knudsen) among them. After listening to enough of John's musings on life and death, Eric gives in to his worst tendencies and convinces the sadistic mastermind to bring him to the house where the game is taking place.

The way "Saw II" all falls into place is beautiful to watch, with the first big twist being that the central game already happened — it was prerecorded in a different house and transmitted to Jigsaw's lair. Daniel is literally within Eric's sight the entire time, in a literal "safe and secure state" behind John. To make matters worse, in spite of being put in the games again, Amanda Young is revealed as the Jigsaw apprentice primed to carry on her mentor's work. You feel just as stupid as Eric for not recognizing all of the clues in plain sight, whether it be Amanda knowing how to find the tape that starts the game or John's direct language.

"Saw III" was originally envisioned as the grand finale to the horror saga, so it only makes sense that the trilogy capper would spare no expense in wrapping things up with a bang. With John Kramer on his deathbed, he kidnaps Dr. Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) and tasks her with keeping him alive, while she's wearing a shotgun collar that's set to go off if he dies. 

Meanwhile, a labyrinth game is being played by Jeff (Angus Macfayden), a grieving father with revenge on his mind for the death of his young son. The film bounces back and forth between the diverging stories, in addition to providing some context to the relationship between John and Amanda in the previous two movies. As everything comes to a head, it's revealed that all four characters are actually tied to one another's fates.

First the impulsive Amanda shoots Lynn in the stomach after receiving a mysterious note (which we learn more about in "Saw VI"). Jeff arrives and shoots Amanda in the neck, revealing that Lynn is his wife. This was largely Amanda's test to prove if she was capable of keeping someone alive in spite of her worst impulses. After she dies, Jeff is given one final test, to forgive John for all the pain he's wrought upon the Denlon family. Unsurprisingly, Jeff fails and slices John's throat with a saw blade, setting off Lynn's collar. The alternate ending to "Saw III" is even meaner, but the threequel truly drives home that, for all his self-righteousness, Jigsaw's experiments were (and always will be) a failure until the bitter end.

How could this not be No. 1? While the melodramatic flair of the other twist endings has kept up the series' momentum across 10 films, the closing moments are what propelled "Saw" from an indie horror chamber piece into one of the most prolific horror franchises of the 2000s. 

Most of the 103-minute runtime consists of Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam shackled by their feet on opposite ends of the most disgusting bathroom you've ever seen. Together, they attempt to figure out how they got there and who's behind the whole thing. This is all done while there's a supposed dead body in the middle of the floor, which holds the instruments they need to play the Jigsaw killer's game. In the wake of Dr. Gordon slicing his foot off and Adam bashing one of Jigsaw's accomplices in the head, we watch horror history being made as the "corpse" on the floor suddenly gets up.

In that moment, Adam and every audience member in the world is introduced to the legendary Tobin Bell as John Kramer, a cancer patient who puts people in life or death scenarios that test their character and their will to live. It's one of the best horror movie twists ever, and should arguably be considered as one of the greatest movie plot twists of all time.