TWENTY YEARS AGO, DR LAWRENCE Gordon took a hacksaw and preceded to free himself from an ankle shackle chaining him to a dilapidated bathtub.
It was a bloody victory for both Gordon and his sadistic captor John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer. Kramer’s twisted games have since inspired nine sequels, videogames, escape rooms and even a theme park ride.
To celebrate the milestone anniversary of the first Saw movie and the recent box office success of the tenth, Saw X, SFX joined three of the franchise’s lead creatives – producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, and editor/director Kevin Greutert – to talk about Jigsaw’s past, present and future.
“We’re all a little shocked we’re here – in a good way,” says Koules. “Mark and I are stunned that…” “…20 years later we’re still making Saw movies,” Burg finishes. “It’s kind of surreal to be looking back on it,” says Greutert. Saw marked the directorial debut of James Wan (The Conjuring, Aquaman). The entire movie was filmed in a converted warehouse in Los Angeles in 2003.
“They shot in chronological order,” Greutert notes, “all the bathroom material first. The first day’s dailies came in and you could tell it was cool, right there. It instilled a sense of dread in the audience, even from the raw footage.
“I didn’t think it was going to be a big hit,” he admits, “but I was very relieved that I’d signed up for something for four months which
