The Saw movies present a hilariously dumb moral dilemma. The series constantly reminds us that Jigsaw isn’t actually a serial killer. Even though he 100% is. Constantly, characters would claim that because John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, doesn’t actually land the killing blow on the unfortunate souls who find themselves in one of Jigsaw’s traps. Instead, Jigsaw puts the decision onto the victim. Only, that’s a load of baloney.
To Jigsaw’s credit, he and his apprentices put a lot of effort into the traps. Creating deadly traps designed for specific victims, that offer said victims a chance to escape and turn their lives around. However, not all traps actually have a means of an escape, or at the very least, are incredibly difficult to escape from. With that in mind, here are the most inescapable traps in the entire Saw franchise.
10 Horsepower Trap – Saw VII (2010)
Ripping tape, glue, or even a plaster from your skin really hurts, right? So, of course, Saw VII implements this idea in a horrific trap. Imagine waking up in a car with your bare back gorilla glued to the seat, and your job is to peel yourself away in order to live to see another day, as well as save the lives of your friends, whose fates are all in your hands.
Yeah, well, we’ve already lost before this trap can begin. Leaning forward even slightly will peel layers off your skin, which looks excruciatingly painful. Not only that, but it would be difficult to gain the strength and momentum to peel yourself away from the car seat, let alone in a short amount of time.
9 The Needle Trap – Saw II (2005)
Trypanophobia, or the fear of needles, is an incredibly common fear. But even those who don’t suffer from that fear, will undoubtedly suffer with this daunting trap. In a pit full of broken and unsterile needles, you must find the one key that can earn your freedom. Your chance of survival and finding the key is very low, let alone the pain of crawling through broken glass and needles.
8 Silence Circle – Saw VII (2010)
While the Silence Circle isn’t impossible to escape from, it sure does look painful. The trap sees its victim sitting in a chair strapped down with a straight jacket, sharp metal poles aimed towards their neck, and a string with a hook tied to it, hanging in her stomach. The aim of this trap is for another individual to pull the string out from the victim’s stomach. It already seems difficult enough. However, add in the fact that if the victim raises the volume of the voice over a certain level, hence the trap’s name, the metal poles will impale the victim’s throat. An impossible requirement.
7 Pound of Flesh – Saw VI (2009)
This trap from Saw VI forces its victims to balance the scales by using their own flesh, by any means necessary. You can cut off your leg, arms, fingers, or any other part you deem to weigh a lot. With that, not many are actually willing to cleave off their own body parts, while it’s not impossible, the trap requires a lot of willpower.
6 Reverse Bear Trap – Saw VII (2010)
The Reverse Bear Trap is easily the best and most famous trap in the entire franchise. Appearing in the very first Saw movie, it’s been a staple of the franchise in pretty much every movie sense. The first time we saw the reverse trap, it was actually one of the easiest traps to escape from, but by the time Saw 3D: The Final Chapter rolled around, it had become inescapable. In Saw 3D, before one of the franchise’s most iconic, yet incredibly bizarre twists, John Kramer’s wife, Jill Tuck, is placed in a chair with her hands tied down, and the trap placed on her head. The key is nowhere in sight, and there is no way Jill can get her hands free.
5 Angel Trap – Saw IV (2007)
Jigsaw’s apprentices tend to design and build traps that are impossible to win. An abuse of their power, and something in which the Jigsaw killer never believes in. John Kramer always gave his victims a means to escape. A painful, but guaranteed method of survival. In Saw III, Amanda was the first of Jigsaw’s disciples to build an inescapable trap. Canonically, that’s not entirely true, what with the franchise’s infamous flashbacks. But it is the first time we witness an inescapable trap as an audience.
The trap suspends its victim in the air, with a machine impaling and clamping onto their ribs. A jar of acid is suspended close to you with a key at the bottom. The task seems easy enough. Retrieve the key to free yourself from this trap, only the key is inches out of reach, a purposeful design to kill its victim. There is no chance of escape, and all you can do is accept your fate.
4 Water Cube – Saw V (2008)
Victims placed in this trap, are left with no means of escape, leaving their chances of success plummeting to zero. The poor victim who wakes up in this trap will find their head encased in a large glass box, with water quickly rushing in. The glass is bulletproof, and there is no way of breaking it. This trap is designed only to kill. However, if, by some miracle, you have one, a pen, and two, some deeply impressive survival skills, then there is still hope for you. But otherwise, we’re afraid to say, that there is zero chance of escape.
3 The Pendulum – Saw V (2008)
In one of the more elaborate traps in the entire franchise, this horrific trap was created for Detective Mark Hoffman to take vengeance on the man who murdered and abused his sister. This trap predates Hoffman’s working under the tutelage of John Kramer, and Hoffman created this elaborate trap to pin the murder on Jigsaw. The Pendulum is one of the many inescapable traps in the franchise, and even if you do what is intended to set you free, by crushing your hands, the pendulum will not stop lowering until it has painted the walls red.
2 The Venus Fly Trap – Saw II (2005)
Could you ever imagine having to gouge out your own eye with a scalpel? Yeah, us neither. But Saw II brings our nightmare to life in this horrific, yet quite simple trap. All one has to do is retrieve the key that has been lodged into their eye, to release the neck brace from their neck, before it closes, crushing and piercing the victim’s skull. This is another trap that isn’t necessarily impossible, but it requires a lot of willpower, and the time that Jigsaw allows certainly isn’t long enough.
1 The Razor Wire Maze – Saw (2004)
The original Saw has some of the simplest, yet most iconic traps in the entire franchise. Especially compared to some of the elaborate traps later on in the series. One of those was the razor wire maze trap, which required the victim to weave through layers of hanging razors in order to find the exit before the time runs out, closing the door, locking you in forever. However, due to how many razors there are, and how little time Jigsaw allows, there is no way you’re getting out of there alive. You will either bleed out, or be trapped inside, waiting to die of dehydration and starvation.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
