I’m a moderate fan of the Saw movies. They’re somewhat gratuitous, but clever. The twist at the end of the first one really pulled it into the 4 star territory. The twists in the sequels haven’t matched, but they still manage to surprise in some ways.
When I went to see Saw III and IV, I was somewhat confused by certain story points. Unlike other horror series that merely remake the previous entry or give you expository recaps, Saw behaves more like an episodic television show. Each film centers on specific characters, and the plot bends back on itself, jumping around in time to visit events from the previous films a different point of view.
For this year’s Saw V, I didn’t want to go in unarmed. Instead, I studied up first. I watched Saw I on Friday, Saw II and III on Saturday, then Saw IV on Sunday before heading to the theater for V.
I treated it like a research project. Who’s alive and dead at the end of each film? What was each person’s vice that deemed them worthy of Jigsaw’s tests?
Was it worth it? I think so. I wasn’t confused at all during part V. Instead, I followed along, not distracted by thoughts of “who’s that guy again?” and “wasn’t that guy already killed?”
I might as well share my research with any other OCD horror fans out there. The following database is full of spoilers for parts I-IV, but I did not update it with info from V.
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