What Makes Jigsaw Such a Compelling Villain?

by Alex Goode

The Saw franchise is my favorite when it comes to horror movies. Not because of the gore, not because of the timeline, but because of the characters. More specifically, John Kramer (aka "The Jigsaw Killer"). I don't think he's the best horror villain, but I do find him to be the most interesting. But why exactly is that? What makes Jigsaw such a compelling villain? Well, I am going to try to answer that question to the best of my ability.

One thing I find fun about him is the fact that he isn't supernatural. He's just a man. When he died in the third movie, that was it! He stayed dead. Yeah, he still appeared in the films in the form of lore-destroying flashbacks, but he remained deceased in the present day. That is very refreshing! The amount of times Freddy or Jason have come back from the dead is outrageous, so it's nice to see a one-and-done horror villain. I mean, the guy had his throat slit and then he had an autopsy performed on him. Pretty sure he's dead. It's just a shame that the franchise began to rot after the third movie.

Another thing that draws me to this character is Tobin Bell's outstanding performance. This man was born to be Jigsaw. The voice, his demeanor, the way he talks. He is a criminal mastermind, and Tobin portrays him flawlessly. Every time he is on-screen, you better pay attention to him cause something bad is most likely about to happen. Bell's performance especially shines in the scenes where a little bit more of the character's backstory is revealed. So, in other words, all of the post-Saw III flashback scenes (which there are a surprising amount of). And, yes, a lot of those scenes do in fact bust the lore wide open, but that's another topic for another day.

This is also a villain with a motive. A really disturbing motive, but he still has a legitimate reason for why he does what he does. Life has dealt him a very poor hand: Diagnosed with cancer, lost a son prematurely, and then somehow managing to survive throwing himself off a cliff. His body sure is pretty selective when it comes to what hurts him. Because of this, he decided to put criminals in life-or-death situations that, more often than not, involves self-mutilation in order to escape. Yeah, the jump from "survivor" to "serial killer" here is a really steep one, but his dedication to the cause is worth noting. He genuinely feels like he is making the world a better place by putting bad people in these traps. If they die, then that's one less murderer in the world. If they live, then they either end up joining Jigsaw's crew or they slowly become better people through therapy. I think the survivors did therapy. The movies never showed that aspect of it.

Is he a psychopath? Yes. No question about it, he's got a couple screws loose. But, can you really call him a "bad guy"? Well, that all depends on your perspective. He certainly doesn't think he's done anything wrong. As for me? Well, yes, what he does is definitely not the way you should handle a problem you have with someone. But, I have to admit, his intentions are commendable. As traumatizing as it is, his method has worked on a few people. True, almost all of them turned into raging psychopaths, but the madness of his method does work sometimes. I think his heart is in the right place, he just takes actions to the highest extreme possible.

He truly believes he is serving justice, and I have to commend him for that. Now, I'm not saying "Go out and torture people", no. I'm not that crazy. But I am saying that he is a very compelling character with a good heart and a decent grasp on morality.