If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw! For seven years, Lionsgate made Halloween even more of an event than it already was for horror fans. From 2004 to 2010, a new Saw movie was released at the end of every October. In preparation for Jigsaw (read my review), the eighth film in the franchise, I went back and re-watched all of the Saw films. I was flooded with memories of how excited I used to get when Charlie Clouser’s score (specifically, “Hello Zepp“) used to play over the plot reveals, starting quietly before building up in intensity as the franchise’s signature erratic editing sped up and revealed the big twist. This is why people came out in droves to see these films, and the success of each installment hinged on whether or not its twist(s) was/were effective. With Jigsaw being released this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to look back on the previous seven Saw films and their twists to see what the new film has to live up to. Which twist was the best? We’ll tell you!

***MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW***

7. Saw V – The Fatal Five Could Have Survived If They Had Worked Together…and Strahm is Framed/Murdered

First, big thanks to the Saw Wiki for naming the central victims in Saw V the Fatal Five. That’s clever. Unfortunately, the twist in Saw V is not. Saw V is the only entry in the film that could be wiped from the face of Earth and, save for the death of Agent Strahm (Gilmore Girls‘ Scott Patterson), it wouldn’t make a difference to the overall continuity of the series. The bulk of the film is devoted to the aforementioned Fatal Five as they traverse through the rooms in one of John Kramer’s (referenced as Jigsaw from here on out) traps. One member of the group is killed in each room, but the film climaxes with the realization that they were meant to work together to move from room to room as opposed to killing one of their own in each room. What hurts this twist is that its so far removed from anything having to do with Jigsaw (they are being tested because they all had a part in covering up an arson that has no relation to anything else) that it holds no emotional weight whatsoever. That’s saying something because the fablous Julie Benz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter) is one of the victims. What’s shocking is that Clouser’s score starts playing after that when Strahm, who has spent the entire film running around talking to himself, learns that he has been framed by Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and is killed. It lacks the “oomph” of the twists from the other films. While by no means the worst film in the series (that honor would go to Saw 3D), Saw V is certainly the most superfluous. This unexciting “twist” perfectly illustrates why.

6. Saw 3D – Dr. Gordon is an Accomplice

What makes the twist in Saw 3D disappointing is that it is telegraphed so early in the film (and had been rumored long before the film’s release). After being absent for the past five films, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) reappears in the pre-title sequence of what used to be the final film in the franchise. He then disappears again for the majority of the film before popping up in its closing minutes to show us that he’s been working with Jigsaw ever since he escaped his bathroom prison in the first Saw. It make no sense. I mean, sure, Jigsaw would need the help of a skilled surgeon to assist with many of his traps (the skull behind the guy’s eye in Saw II is given as an example), but why would this man join up with this psychopath? It just doesn’t hold up. At least the series finally rid the world of Hoffman with this twist, but it was still a predictable way to end a franchise that has prided itself on its unpredictability up until that point.

5. Saw IV – Takes Place During Saw III, Hoffman is Jigsaw’s Apprentice and Rigg Could Have Saved Everyone By Doing Nothing

Saw IV is the first film to show the Saw franchise losing its grip on its own story. After all, what do you do with a franchise that just killed its antagonist? Set the sequel in a parallel timeline as the previous film, that’s what! Or at least that’s what Saw IV does anyway. Clues are peppered throughout the film, like a random doctor casually mentioning that Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh, Saw III) just went missing, but it still plays well and manages to be quite the jaw-dropping reveal. The way in which the timeline is revealed (Strahm walking into the room where the climax of Saw III is taking place) is well done too. As if one twist weren’t enough, Saw IV crams in two more, the best of which is introducing Jigsaw’s successor: Detective Mark Hoffman. Rather than stop there, it also reveals that Lt. Daniel Rigg could have saved his comrade Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg, Saw II) if he had just sat at home and not played the game. Saw IV tries to cram so much into its climax that it nearly falls off the rails (and Lyriq Bent is not a compelling protagonist), but 2 of the 3 big reveals work, so that’s something.

4. Saw VI – Easton’s Family Isn’t Who You Think They Are

Like Saw V, the bulk of the story in Saw VI is essentially a standalone affair. What makes it more compelling than that film is that it A) serves a commentary on the healthcare system and B) is actually surprising. Throughout the film, William Easton (Peter Outerbridge), an insurance agent for Umbrella Health (haha), moves through Jigsaw’s various trap rooms, sometimes killing and sometimes saving his co-workers during various trials. During all of this, Tara (Shauna MacDonald) and Brent (Devon Bostick) are watching Easton’s game from their caged-in observation room. We are led to believe that they are Easton’s wife and son. Also watching is a reporter named Pamela (Samantha Lemole), who seemingly has no relation to anyone involved. When “Hello Zepp” begins, Easton makes it to Tara and Brent, who are revealed to actually be the wife and child of Harold Abbott, a man that Easton denied insurance coverage to and basically sentenced to death. Pamela is actually Easton’s sister, who is forced to watch as Brent kills him with some strategically placed needles filled with acid. It’s a great, blood-soaked finale, but Saw VI also squeezes in a smaller twist with the reveal that Hoffman blackmailed Amanda (Shawnee Smith) to kill Lynn Denlon in Saw III. The film ends with Jigsaw’s ex-wife Jill (Betsy Russell) putting Hoffman in the reverse bear trap that Amanda wore in Saw. Hoffman escapes and the film cuts to black. Weirdly enough it’s the storyline involving Easton that proves to be more successful, with Hoffman’s story wearing out its welcome by this point. The fact that we know he survives in the end causes Saw VI to end on more of a whimper, a pity considering the film was such a huge step up from the previous sequels.

3. Saw III – It Was Amanda’s Test the Whole Time and Jeff & Lynn are Married

Saw III has the distinction of being the longest film in the Saw franchise. At 108 minutes, the film is the definition of a bloated sequel, as evidenced by its 10-minute climax (it takes up two YouTube videos, seen below). In all honesty, Saw III could have served as a solid capper to a trilogy, but it made $80 million domestically on a $10 million budget so a sequel was inevitable. Anyway, Saw III follows two seemingly separate stories: 1) Dr. Lynn Denlon is captured by Amanda (revealed to be Jigsaw’s protégé at the end of Saw II) and forced to keep Jigsaw alive while a man completes one of his trials. Strapped to Lynn’s neck is a collar that will destroy her skull if Jigsaw’s heart monitor flatlines. 2) Meanwhile, Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) is forced to face all of the people who failed to send the drunk driver that killed his son to prison. In the film’s final moments, the whole ordeal is revealed to have been Amanda’s test. When Jigsaw was no longer able to make traps (due to his inoperable brain tumor), Amanda started doing them for him, but she made them inescapable. Because of this, the victims never learned anything. They just died. Jigsaw knew this and set up an elaborate game with Lynn and Jeff as a test for Amanda. Unfortunately, she fails when Jeff kills shows up and killers her and Jigsaw. Jeff is also revealed to be Lynn’s husband, but since he kills Jigsaw Lynn’s collar explodes and she dies too. Saw III ends in a bloodbath that is both gruesome and cathartic. It’s overstuffed in the best way possible.

2. Saw II – Amanda is In on It & The Video Feed Was Pre-Recorded

The best sequel has the second-best twist(s) in the franchise! In all honesty, it would probably be the number one spot on this list if one of the twists didn’t completely rip of The Silence of the Lambs. In Saw II, eight victims wake up in a house and are told that there is a poisonous gas flowing through the vents that is slowly poisoning them. There are antidotes hidden throughout the house, but each victim must pass a test before acquiring the antidote. Among the the victims are Amanda Young, back in one of Jigsaw’s traps after relapsing some time after the events of the first film, and Daniel Matthews (Erik Knudsen, Scream 4), son of Detective Eric Matthews. While the victims traverse the house, Eric and his team catch Jigsaw, who tells Eric that he will see his son again in a “safe and secure state” if he agrees to talk with him alone until the two hours are over. During their conversation, TV monitors are showing Eric and his team the video feed from the house where the victims are. If there’s one thing that can be learned from the Saw films it’s that you should always do what Jigsaw tells you. Eric Matthews learns this the hard way, as he beats Jigsaw to a pulp and drives him to the house where his son supposedly is. While that is happening, his team tracks down the source of the video and discover that the video feed of the victims was pre-recorded and the game ended long before they even found Jigsaw. A safe opens in Jigsaw’s safe house and Eric is inside, bound and breathing into an oxygen mask. As if that weren’t enough, Amanda is revealed to have been under the tutelage of Jigsaw and she locks Eric in the same room where Adam and Dr. Gordon were locked in the first Saw! Sequels are supposed to outdo the original, and Saw II‘s way of doing that was adding an extra twist into the mix. Making Amanda an accomplice instead of a victim was a fantastic way to one-up the original. It may not be quite as shocking as the moment when Jigsaw stood up in that bathroom, but it comes damn close.

1. Saw – Jigsaw is the “Corpse” on the Floor

What makes the twist ending of James Wan’s Saw so effective is that no one was expecting it. Because of Saw, everyone walked into the sequels expecting some big twist, which automatically dilutes their impact. The ending of Saw works because it still has that element of surprise. Helping matters is that Saw is more of a mystery film than a torture porn gorefest (Saw II is also admirable for this trait), which means the plot is the focus rather than the violence. The plot of Saw is simple: Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes, respectively) wake up in a dingy bathroom chained to the wall with a corpse in between them. Adam is instructed to escape the bathroom while Lawrence is instructed to kill Adam by 6pm or else his wife and daughter (Monica Potter and Makenzie Vega, respectively) will be killed. The man holding them hostage is Zep (Michael Emerson), an orderly at the hospital where Lawrence works. We are led to believe that he is Jigsaw. In the twist that defined the franchise, Lawrence cuts off his foot and escapes the bathroom and Zep is revealed to have also been a victim of Jigsaw, being coerced to hold Lawrence’s family hostage and kill them in order to receive the antidote for a slow-acting poison that was injected into his body. The corpse in the middle of the room then stands up and is revealed to be Jigsaw. That’s right! Jigsaw was in the room the whole time! The twist may seem like small potatoes compared to the batshit insanity that would pervade the franchise moving forward, but it earns its place on the top spot simply for being the first one to do it.

What is your favorite twist in the Saw franchise? Let us know in the comments below! And don’t forget to catch up on the Saw films before seeing Jigsaw this weekend! All of them are currently on Netflix and the Blu-Ray set is just $9.99 on Amazon!