Saw (2004) Reaction: We Nearly Quit Watching Before Calling It a Masterpiece

We went into our first ever watch of Saw expecting it to be disgusting and terrifying, and for the first half of the film that held up completely. By the end, though, we were calling it a masterpiece and applauding it, a total reversal from where we started.

This matters because we came in as total newcomers to the franchise, unsure whether we would even make it through one movie, let alone continue into the sequels everyone in the comments kept telling us about.

The Bathtub Opening and Reverse Bear Trap Were Physically Sickening

The waking up in a bathtub, the dark basement, the reverse bear trap on Amanda's jaw, and the drug addict's dead cellmate all hit hard. The entire first half brought on nausea and a choked-up feeling, like vomit was sitting in the throat, with moments of nearly fainting. That reaction was strong enough to genuinely consider quitting the franchise altogether after just one movie, planning to tell the channel's producers that a replacement would be needed for future Saw reactions.

The Escape Room Instincts Turned Jigsaw's Traps Into a Game Worth Solving

Not everyone reacted the same way. For an escape room fan, it was genuinely exciting watching Adam and Dr. Gordon search the bathroom for clues, following the glow in the dark X and figuring out the hacksaws, the key in the tank, and the cell phone. Describing the trap room, the reaction was: "It's not cool... it's not cool," caught in the middle of admiring the cleverness of the puzzle while also recognizing how horrifying the actual situation was for the characters trapped in it.

Finding Out Leigh Whannell Co-Wrote Saw While Playing Adam Changed How We Saw Him

Midway through discussing the twist that the seemingly dead man in the middle of the room was Jigsaw all along, we paused to look up cast and crew details and discovered that Leigh Whannell, who plays Adam, is also credited as a writer on the film. The reaction to that discovery was blunt: "You twisted mofo." It reframed the character completely, since the actor playing one of the trapped victims had also helped design the entire game.

The Final Verdict Turned Into Full Praise Despite the Discomfort

By the end, the verdict shifted entirely. Put simply: "as much as I hated it, I loved it even more." There was real debate afterward about whether Dr. Lawrence Gordon or Adam actually survives given the six o'clock deadline had already passed, and open confusion over why the character Zep was recruited into Jigsaw's game at all, a question left unresolved after a quick, spoiler-avoiding look at the Saw wiki. Despite nearly quitting partway through, the decision was made to continue with the franchise.

Do you think Zep was just a pawn in Jigsaw's game, or is there a bigger reason he was recruited that the movie never fully explains?