SawMovie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 46 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Carla Meyer

    The slasher scenes, though relatively few, are amazingly evocative for such a low-budget movie. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    Boasts an undeniably original premise and clever plot machinations that lift it several notches above the usual slasher film level. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Saw is a gristle-cut B psycho thriller that would like to tap the sickest corners of your imagination. It has a few moments of nightmare creepiness, but it's also derivative and messy and too nonsensical for its own good. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Does a better-than-average job of conveying the panic and helplessness of men terrorized by a sadist in a degrading environment, but it is still not especially scary. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times |

    Saw is so full of twists it ends up getting snarled. For all of his flashy engineering and inventive torture scenarios, the Jigsaw Killer comes across as an amateur. Hannibal Lecter would have him for lunch. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    An efficiently made thriller, cheerfully gruesome, and finally not quite worth the ordeal it puts us through. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    It's gross as hell. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Becomes exceedingly disgusting when it wallows in the psychological torture of a child, a no-no under any circumstances. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    But humans who live above ground, including horror fans, will find themselves only fitfully entertained and more consistently appalled. Read full review

  • 30
    Variety | Dennis Harvey

    A crude concoction sewn together from the severed parts of prior horror/serial killer pics. Read full review

View more reviews for Saw on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids More grisly than scary; not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie is the stuff of nightmares, even if the inured horror aficionado might not find it scary. The images of torture and death are brutal and explicit, lingering in mind long after the movie ends. There are multiple on-screen deaths, a child's life is threatened, characters die, a father is forced to make terrible decisions to protect his family, and there are no scenes free of peril. There are references to suicide, adultery, drug addiction, madness, and self-mutilation. There is strong language, and characters smoke. Underlying the killer's motive is the notion that everyone deserves to be tortured and that there are no innocents.
  • Families can talk about the killer's motivation, whether the deaths are consistent with that motive, and what the characters might have done differently. They also might wish to talk about the resonance (or lack thereof) of movies where characters face death and re-evaluate their lives and priorities. Do Lawrence or Adam become more appealing characters as you know them better and as their fate looks bleaker? Do their choices become clearer as they reassess their priorities? What do you think the "right" life would be like so as not to attract the killer's attention?
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Exceptionally graphic and disturbing images, constant peril, death by numerous grisly methods, life of a child threatened, reference to suicide, many characters die.
  • sex false3 Sex: References to adultery and molestation.
  • language false5 Language: Very strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Smoking, references to drug addiction.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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