Very Few horror film franchises have had as much of an impact as ‘Saw.’ The series has established itself as a cultural phenomenon with its gory traps, perverted moral issues, and a legendary antagonist in John Kramer (also known as Jigsaw). However, you might be shocked to hear that certain elements of the movies were based on real incidents, even if they may appear to be pure nightmare fuel directly from the brains of horror experts.
Yes, the atrocities shown in ‘Saw‘ are not purely fictional. Is ‘Saw‘ based on a real story, then? Not quite, but the spooky psychological aspects and twisted mind games certainly have terrifying real-world roots.
Jigsaw’s Origins In ‘Saw’
The man who brought Saw to life, Leigh Whannell, didn’t have to look far for the foundation of Jigsaw’s character. In fact, he found it within his own life. Back when Whannell was 24 years old, he started experiencing severe migraines. Concerned that something was seriously wrong, perhaps even a brain tumor he visited the hospital for an MRI scan and a series of medical tests. That’s when the concept of Jigsaw took root in his mind.
During an interview with The AV Club, Whannell explained how this experience led him to the character of John Kramer, “Instead of a doctor telling you, ‘You have a year to live, make the best of it,’ this guy would put people in a situation and say, ‘You have 10 minutes to live. How are you going to spend those 10 minutes? Are you going to get out of it?‘”
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This morbid idea became the foundation for Jigsaw’s philosophy forcing his victims to confront their mortality in the most gruesome way possible. It’s chilling to think that a simple hospital visit could spark one of horror’s most notorious villains, but Whannell’s experience proves that real life can be just as terrifying as fiction.
The Bizarre True Crime That Inspired Zep
Remember Zep Hindle from the first Saw movie? The seemingly innocent orderly who gets caught up in Jigsaw’s deadly games? Well, his character was influenced by an even stranger real-life event that left James Wan, the film’s director, genuinely terrified. According to a Saw II DVD featurette, Wan recalled reading a story about a man who would break into people’s homes in the middle of the night, not to steal anything, but to tickle their feet. Yes, you read that correctly. He was a serial tickler.
Even weirder? When police finally caught him, he insisted that he wasn’t acting alone. The man claimed that he was being forced to commit these bizarre crimes by an unknown figure. Apparently, he even received a jigsaw puzzle piece in the mail, instructing him to carry out his creepy assignments.
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Wan described his reaction to the story,”It was the creepiest thing I’d ever heard. I was so frightened. I remember after hearing that story, I slept for the next two, three nights with a hammer by my bedside.”
This unsettling real-life case gave birth to the character of Zep, who much like the real-life tickler, claimed he was forced into committing his actions. It just goes to show that sometimes reality is stranger (and scarier) than fiction.
Spiral And The Harsh Reality Of Police Brutality
While the ‘Saw‘ franchise has always focused on psychological horror, its 2021 installment, ‘Spiral: From the Book of Saw’, took a different approach. Unlike previous films, which played with the idea of personal morality, ‘Spiral‘ wove real-life social issues, specifically police brutality into its narrative.
The film follows Detective Zeke Banks, played by Chris Rock, as he uncovers a Jigsaw copycat killer targeting corrupt police officers. The story is eerily reminiscent of real-world cases of police misconduct and injustice. Director Darren Lynn Bousman explained how real-life events influenced Spiral, stating in an interview with MSN (via Io9), “I mean, sadly, the reality is this [police brutality] has been an issue long before [the deaths of] George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. This has been going on for years and years and years… [But] we always want to say something with the Saw movies. Even though they’re buried in blood and violence and guts and gore, there’s always messages to them.”
How ‘Saw’ Sequels Lost Their Real-World Edge
While Saw started with eerie real-life inspiration, the later movies veered into more outlandish territory. Jigsaw’s disciples took over, creating even more elaborate (and, let’s be honest, ridiculous) traps that strayed far from the franchise’s original concept. And while James Wan had a hand in producing the sequels, he only directed the first movie and co-wrote Saw III meaning he wasn’t steering the ship for the increasingly absurd later films.
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As the franchise grew, it became more about shock value and less about the deeply unsettling psychological terror that made the first movie so iconic. While the Saw films still have their fair share of fans (and Saw X proves the franchise isn’t going anywhere), the chilling real-life inspirations that shaped the original are what truly make Saw a terrifying masterpiece.
