Crooked Table Podcast: ‘Saw’ (featuring Lucy Buglass)

It’s the most terror-filled time of the year. This episode, we’re taking a look at one of the most influential horror films of the 2000s: James Wan’s 2004 release Saw. In addition to seven (soon-to-be eight) sequels, the film kickstarted Wan’s directing career long before Insidious, The Conjuring, Furious 7, and Aquaman. But is Saw just a disposable bit of “torture porn” like so many of its imitators?

Lucy Buglass joins the show to help us tear into that very question. We’ll discuss how Saw serves as a springboard for not only Wan but also screenwriter/star Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man). And we’ll consider whether the first film’s legacy is upheld by its sequels. We’ll even ask the question everyone has been wondering for the better part of 20 years: did Saw invent escape rooms?

So keep your pig mask handy, queue up your creepy puppets, and prepare yourself for a modern horror classic. We want to play a game. And it’s Saw.

SYNOPSIS

Photographer Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) and oncologist Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) regain consciousness while chained to pipes at either end of a filthy bathroom. As the two men realize they’ve been trapped by a sadistic serial killer nicknamed “Jigsaw” and must complete his perverse puzzle to live, flashbacks relate the fates of his previous victims. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon’s wife (Monica Potter) and young daughter (Makenzie Vega) are forced to watch his torture via closed-circuit video.