The 10 most outrageous traps from the Saw franchise

polygon.com:

Horror series are known for escalating gruesomeness. The body count in the original film often feels downright cute in comparison to a few sequels later, when barely anyone in the cast is left unmutilated.

This is especially true for the Sawseries, which began as James Wan’s low-budget introduction to the film industry (he’d go on to direct The Conjuring, Furious 7, and Aquaman) and turned into the most famous slasher franchise of the modern era. And with each new sequel came another chance to upgrade the “traps” the series became famous for.

So, to celebrate Saw X, the 10th installment in the series, here’s a countdown of the 10 most ludicrous traps Jigsaw and his many, many copycats and proteges were able to devise — one from each movie before Saw X, and a bonus one from the world of video games. As the plotlines became more and more convoluted, and the seeming immortality of Jigsaw’s legacy became increasingly baffling, the intricacy of the traps would race to keep up.

[Ed. note: There is a considerable amount of gore to follow.]

The traps in the early Sawfilms are admirably low-rent, and thus have also never been more relatably visceral. Many of them center around things like “barbed wire everywhere” or “glass on the floor” or “a lot of shotguns.” These are all things that don’t necessarily scream “criminal genius” as much as “weird guy with a lot of time on his hands.”

So the reverse bear trap, which attaches to the victim’s face and is set to rip their skull apart, mouth first, stands out and would become the perverse mascot of the nascent series. Combine that with the fact that, in order to unlock it, Amanda has to dig the key out of someone else’s stomach, and you have the gory Rube Goldberg machine that set