The Saw franchise is one of the most well-known within the horror genre, and one of the big reasons for that is the traps that take place throughout the movies. Serial killer Jigsaw's inventions test his victims, who normally have to sacrifice something in order to learn a lesson in a bid to escape and survive.
Over the course of the Saw movies, there are some extremely simple traps; then there are some overly complicated ones that just provide gore and torture. However, while a few of the traps end up being iconic, others can be a little too silly; almost to the point where they should have been reconsidered and better thought out.
10 The Public Execution Trap (Saw: The Final Chapter)
This trap is an interesting one simply because it takes place in public. However, while it's a bold statement, that is also one of its problems; as there are so many people just watching, it's almost not believable that they wouldn't try to break down the glass and actually help, rather than just gawping at the torture.
Another issue with this trap is all three of the people involved are quite unlikable. The girl at the top has been physically intimate with both men, and between the two, they have to decide who dies. It's a lose-lose situation really and isn't a trap that can be escaped. While it's not a bad trap, there are a few tweaks to be made here.
9 The Wire Maze Trap (Saw)
This trap takes place in the original movie and is actually simple in comparison to things the franchise would go on to create. However, it is one that really needed to go back to the drawing board because it was almost impossible to actually survive.
In this trap, the victim crawled through a razor wire maze. However, the problem was there was simply too much wire throughout the small cage for the victim to have ever stood a chance, so this needed a slight rethink.
8 The Exploding Puppet Trap (Saw IV)
Agent Perez meets her end within Saw IV, but it isn't to a particularly great trap. Here, she enters a room with Peter Strahm and sees one of the Billy Puppets. This one tells her to make sure her next move is a wise one, but then the puppet begins whispering things.
Naturally, she leans in to take a closer listen and this is when the head of the pet explodes, with shrapnel launching into her head. However, this isn't inventive and doesn't teach a lesson as others do.
7 The Pendulum Trap (Saw V)
On paper, the pendulum trap is a good idea. Seth has to trap his hands, crushing them to the point where he cannot use them anymore in order to stop the blade which is swinging above him from cutting his stomach apart and killing him.
However, this is one of the traps that is rigged to the point where it is actually impossible to escape. That isn't the purpose of the Saw traps, as they're supposed to teach a lesson and be possible to escape from. Yet when Seth crushes his hands, it doesn't stop the blade. As a result, this trap is a joyless watch because there's no way of surviving from the get-go.
6 The Pain Train (Saw: The Final Chapter)
While the pain train trap does end up just being part of Jill's dream in Saw: The Final Chapter, it plays out like it's real. However, much like the pendulum trap, this one is also impossible to escape, with Jill imagining herself tied up on a chair as she's split in half by a spike.
Thankfully, this one doesn't end up being the actual trap, as that would be a disappointing situation, and in the end, Jill dies at the hands of a much more iconic trap. Be that as it may, the dream trap isn't exactly up to Jigsaw's standards.
5 Classroom Trap (Saw III)
Some of the traps across the Saw franchise have suffered from being a little bit too over the top, and the classroom trap in Saw III was an example of that. First off, the victim had chains tied to different parts of his body, which he had to rip off to get out of the room. One of the chains was even placed in his mouth.
The victim only had a short period of time to escape before a bomb of nails exploded, thus killing him. To make matters worse, the door was actually sealed shut. Overall, this was another impossible trap that just had way too much going on.
4 The Knife Chair (Saw IV)
There's no denying this trap is as painful to endure as it is scary to watch. In order to escape, the victim literally has to push their face through a set of knives. It's going to seriously hurt and leave permanent scars just so the victim can learn a so-called lesson.
However, in comparison to the huge setup that normally comes with these traps, this particular one is just a little forgettable and boring. It's literally just a chair and some knives, which leaves a lot to be desired given the convoluted devices seen in other parts of the franchise.
3 The Pig Vat Trap (Saw III)
The Saw traps are notorious for being gruesome situations where people are likely to lose blood and limbs, or deal with a lot of physical and mental suffering. However, that's not really the case in Saw III with the pig vat trap; a man is tied to the bottom of the vat as pig guts are sprayed at him.
This tank fills up until he eventually has nowhere to breathe unless Jeff burns his son's belongings and gets the key. While it plays on the mental aspect well by bringing up Jeff's son's death, the actual trap itself isn't anywhere near as scary as others.
2 Oxygen Crusher Trap (Saw VI)
This trap is a frustrating one to watch because the whole point of the Saw franchise is meant to be about testing people who have done things wrong in Jigsaw's eyes. In Saw VI, it is William Easton who is put through his paces, and he competes against the janitor from his building who has done nothing wrong.
The trap sees the steel rods push further into someone's ribs every time they breathe. However, the janitor has a medical condition and is a smoker, therefore it isn't a fair game. Not only isn't it fair, but it actually favors the man it's supposed to be punishing, thus making no sense at all.
1 The Metal Casket Trap (Saw: The Final Chapter)
Out of all the traps used within the Saw franchise, the metal casket trap is one of the weakest. This is the first trap for Bobby Dagen's character, but it isn't a hard one in reality. This one sees him suspended above a pit of knives inside a metal casket.
All he has to do is swing back and forth to get past the situation, jumping at the right time to survive. While the traps are supposed to be beatable, this one just felt a little bit too simple for the franchise.
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