Click here to copy URL

Saw

Saw

2004

James Wan

Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Monica Potter ...

7.2

107,296

Horror. Thriller. Mystery A young man named Adam (LEIGH WHANNELL) wakes to find himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a decrepit subterranean chamber. Chained to the opposite side of the room is another bewildered captive, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (CARY ELWES). Between them is a dead man lying in a pool of blood, holding a .38 in his hand. Neither man knows why he has been abducted; but instructions left on a microcassette, order Dr. Gordon to kill Adam within eight ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"An efficiently made thriller, cheerfully gruesome, and finally not quite worth the ordeal it puts us through.(…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"There's something impressively loathsome and extravagantly twisted about this horror-thriller (...) It's a serial killer movie with attitude (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Derek Malcolm London Evening Standard	"As a study in the macabre, it barely suffices; as a sick and bloody joke, it's bloody sick."	NEG
United States	Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter	"[It] boasts an undeniably original premise and clever plot machinations that lift it several notches above the usual slasher-film level."	POS
United States	Mark Harrison Den of Geek	"The reason why those who like Saw like it so much was because it’s smart as a whip (...) It has the kind of intelligence that would be missed in the later sequels."	POS
United States	Dennis Harvey Variety	"A crude concoction sewn together from the severed parts of horror/serial killer pics (...) Convoluted screenplay deploys flashbacks within flashbacks"	NEG
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"It has a few moments of nightmare creepiness, but it’s also derivative and messy and too nonsensical for its own good"	NEU
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"On the strength of a grippingly original concept and 90 strong minutes of building action, 'Saw' gets a recommendation, but only if you like this kind of thing (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"It's a series of squirm-inducing moments, with a creepy puppeteer villain, and strong performances. As good an all-out, non-camp horror movie as we've had lately (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Nell Minow Common Sense Media	"[The creators] deserve recognition for aiming high and for providing an engaging if ultimately disappointing ride."	NEU

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.