How Many Saw Movies Are There? Every Film From 2004 to 2023

There are 10 Saw movies right now: nine main films and one spin-off, released in theaters between October 2004 and September 2023. Each film below comes with its director and the situation it opens on, and none of it gives away an ending. If you want the viewing sequence rather than the count, the saw movies in order page sets out both release order and chronological order, and the saw movies hub covers the series as a whole.

1. Saw (2004), directed by James Wan
2. Saw II (2005), directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
3. Saw III (2006), directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
4. Saw IV (2007), directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
5. Saw V (2008), directed by David Hackl
6. Saw VI (2009), directed by Kevin Greutert
7. Saw 3D (2010), directed by Kevin Greutert
8. Jigsaw (2017), directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
9. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, the spin-off
10. Saw X (2023), directed by Kevin Greutert

The release pattern is unusual for a horror saga. The first seven films arrived in seven consecutive Octobers, from October 29, 2004 to October 29, 2010, and then the series went quiet for seven years before Jigsaw returned in October 2017. Think of it like a television season that airs on the same night every year until, suddenly, it does not.

Saw (2004) is the film that started the saga, and it opens on photographer Adam and oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon waking up chained by the ankle in a filthy bathroom. A dead man lies between them holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder, and the tapes tell Lawrence to kill Adam by 6:00 or his wife and daughter will die. Their captor is the Jigsaw Killer, who tests people's will to live through deadly games, and hacksaws found in the toilet cistern hint at a way out. It was made for $1.2 million and took about $104 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Tobin Bell plays Jigsaw and is third billed.

Saw II, III and IV were all directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, and together they turn a two man bathroom puzzle into a larger, more crowded game. In Saw II (2005), Detective Eric Matthews and a SWAT team arrest Jigsaw, John Kramer, at a factory, only to see monitors showing eight people locked in a house filling with nerve gas, one of them Eric's teenage son Daniel. Saw III (2006) follows a new game in which a man named Troy must tear chains out of his own body to escape a bomb, while Detective Kerry is kidnapped and strapped into a harness. Saw III took about $165 million worldwide, the highest of the ten according to Box Office Mojo. Saw IV (2007) begins with a tape meant for Detective Hoffman, and officer Rigg is pulled into a fresh set of tests.

Saw V and Saw VI shift the focus onto Detective Mark Hoffman, played by Costas Mandylor, and the agents who start to suspect him. In Saw V (2008), directed by David Hackl, Hoffman is hailed as a hero after a trap kills a convicted murderer named Seth, while Agent Peter Strahm survives a trap of his own and begins to doubt the official story. At the same time, five strangers wake in a grim facility and learn they must pass a series of tests. Saw VI (2009), the first of three films directed by Kevin Greutert, builds its games around two predatory lenders, Eddie and Simone, and then insurance executive William Easton, whose company denies medical coverage to clients. It earned about $68 million worldwide, the lowest of the original seven.

Saw 3D (2010) closed the annual October run, and Jigsaw (2017) reopened the series after the seven year gap. Saw 3D, directed by Kevin Greutert, places a trap in a public setting, and it follows Hoffman as he kidnaps Bobby Dagen, a self-help author who became famous by lying about surviving a Jigsaw trap. Chester Bennington appears as Evan, and an Ozzy Osbourne song plays in the end credits. Jigsaw, directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, starts with detectives chasing a wanted man named Edgar Munsen, then cuts to five strangers in a barn with buckets on their heads and chains around their necks. A recording in the voice of John Kramer sets their tests. The Spierigs did not write the film, but they worked with the writers on changes, according to The AU Review.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is a spin-off, not a main film, and it follows new characters. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and released on May 14, 2021, it stars Chris Rock as Detective Zeke Banks, an outcast on the force because of his past, with Samuel L. Jackson as Marcus Banks and Max Minghella as rookie William Schenk. A figure in a pig mask attacks off-duty Detective Marv Bozwick during a Fourth of July parade, and Zeke notices that the traps match the style of the dead Jigsaw Killer. It is a spin-off set in the same world, so it sits last in the chronological order, and at about $41 million worldwide it earned the least of the ten, according to Box Office Mojo. The spiral saw page has the full detail.

Yes, Saw X is the tenth film by release order. Released on September 29, 2023 in the US and directed by Kevin Greutert, it runs 118 minutes and is the longest film in the series. It is set between Saw (2004) and Saw II, so by chronology it is the second story, not the last. John Kramer learns he has terminal brain cancer and travels to a clinic outside Mexico City run by a doctor's daughter, Cecilia, hoping for a cure. Tobin Bell leads the cast, with Shawnee Smith returning as Amanda Young. The filmmakers decided not to de-age Bell or Smith, according to Yahoo News. For the full chronology, see the saw timeline.

In my opinion, the numbers tell the story of the saga better than any single scene, and the two ends of the run are where the series is most interesting. Saw (2004) is the leanest film of the ten: one bathroom, two chained men, a $1.2 million budget and a gross of about $104 million. Saw II is the sharpest escalation I can think of, because it swaps the two man puzzle for eight people in a nerve gas house and a detective whose son is among them, and it did it on a $4 million budget for about $148 million worldwide. By Saw X the budget was $13 million, still modest, and Kevin Greutert gave Tobin Bell the whole film, which makes it a character piece about John Kramer rather than another race against a clock.

It could be argued that the middle of the run is where the series ran on habit. Saw V and Saw VI both spend long stretches on Hoffman covering his tracks, and Saw VI, at 90 minutes, is one of the two shortest films, alongside Saw 3D. That being said, Saw VI has the sharpest idea of the Hoffman films, because its games are built around an insurance company that denies medical coverage, and the traps match the target. If you are short on time and want the saga's range, I would start with Saw (2004), Saw II and Saw X, and treat Spiral as the optional extra.

An eleventh Saw film is announced but not yet dated. Lionsgate and Blumhouse Atomic Monster announced on September 24, 2026 that Mike P. Nelson will direct, from a screenplay by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock, with James Wan, Jason Blum and Leigh Whannell producing, according to TheWrap. The report gives no cast, filming start or release date, and the official title has not been confirmed. Everything known so far is on the saw 11 page.

Tobin Bell, who plays Jigsaw, is first billed in eight of the ten films, which is as close as the series gets to a fixed anchor. For who else turns up across the saga, the saw cast page covers the returning actors, and the saw box office page compares the grosses.