Saw II (2005) is a horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, in his feature debut, and written by Leigh Whannell and Bousman. It is the sequel to Saw (2004). Police capture John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer (Tobin Bell). But on his monitors, eight people are trapped in a house filling with nerve gas. One is the son of detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), and another is Jigsaw survivor Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith). The film grew out of an unrelated script by Bousman and was rushed into production after Saw‘s opening weekend. It opened to a Lionsgate record over Halloween weekend, 2005. It remains the highest-grossing Saw film in the US and Canada, though critics were unimpressed.
At a glance
| Release date | October 28, 2005 (US and UK) |
| Director | Darren Lynn Bousman |
| Writers | Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman |
| Based on | Characters created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell |
| Starring | Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Beverley Mitchell, Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Erik Knudsen, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell |
| Runtime | 93 minutes |
| Rating | R (US), for grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content |
| Budget | $4 million |
| Box office | $147.7–152.9 million (sources differ) |
| Franchise | Saw: second film; followed by Saw III (2006) |
Plot summary
A police informant wakes with a spiked “death mask” locked around his neck. The key has been sewn in behind his eye, and he can’t bring himself to cut it out. At the scene, Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) finds a message for her former partner, Eric Matthews. A SWAT raid on the factory that made the mask’s lock finds John Kramer waiting, with screens showing eight people trapped in a house. Among them are Eric’s son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) and Amanda Young, Jigsaw’s only known survivor.
A nerve agent will kill the prisoners within two hours. John promises Eric that if he plays by the rules and simply talks with him, he will see Daniel again “in a safe place.” John explains that his work began after a suicide attempt following his cancer diagnosis gave him a new appreciation for life. Inside the house, the prisoners learn that all of them except Daniel were framed by Eric. Then the violent Xavier (Franky G) starts hunting the others for the numbers written on their necks, which make up the safe’s combination.
Spoiler section: the ending
Daniel kills Xavier. Losing patience, Eric beats John and forces him to lead him to the house. Too late, Kerry realizes the footage was recorded days earlier. As Eric’s timer runs out, a safe in the factory opens to reveal Daniel alive, breathing through an oxygen mask. Eric, alone in the house, is attacked by a pig-masked figure. He wakes chained by the ankle in the bathroom from the first film. A tape reveals that Amanda became John’s apprentice after surviving her trap and means to carry on his work. She seals the door and leaves Eric to die.
Production and behind the scenes
A sequel was greenlit right after Saw‘s opening weekend. James Wan and Whannell were busy with Dead Silence, so the producers needed a new writer and director. Music-video director Bousman had written The Desperate, a script studios rejected as too similar to Saw. Saw cinematographer David A. Armstrong passed it to producer Gregg Hoffman. Bousman worried he’d be accused of plagiarism, but Hoffman and his partners, Mark Burg and Oren Koules, saw it as the basis for the sequel, and Whannell revised it. Within two months Bousman was in Toronto. It was Hoffman’s last film; he died on December 4, 2005.
Bell returned though he wasn’t contractually obliged to. Smith, who hadn’t expected the first film to succeed, was paid $150,000, plus a $100,000 bonus if the film grossed over $50 million. The budget rose to $4 million, from just over $1 million. The 25-day shoot ran from May 2 to June 6, 2005, at Cinespace Film Studios, with production designer David Hackl building 27 sets on one stage. For the “Needle Pit,” the crew modified 120,000 syringes with fiber-optic tips and filled the rest of the pit with styrofoam and other materials. Billy the Puppet got remote-controlled eyes and a servo-driven mouth. Kevin Greutert edited, and Charlie Clouser scored.
Release and reception
Lionsgate’s teaser poster of two severed fingers forming a “II” was rejected by the MPAA and pulled, and it became the soundtrack cover. A “Give Til It Hurts” Red Cross drive collected 10,154 pints of blood. The film opened on October 28, 2005, with $31.7 million, a Lionsgate record and the studio’s widest release at the time. The opening also lifted Lionsgate’s stock by 8%. Box-office sources differ on its total: about $87–88 million in the US and Canada, and between $147.7 million and $152.9 million worldwide. The DVD sold 3 million units in its first week, then a record for a Lionsgate theatrical release.
It holds 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and 40 on Metacritic, with a “B+” CinemaScore. Variety‘s Robert Koehler wrote that “cooking up new Rube Goldberg torture contraptions isn’t enough” to escape the first film’s shadow. Entertainment Weekly said it was “just barely a better B flick than Saw” and praised Bell. Bell was nominated for Best Villain at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.
Legacy and influence
Saw II turned a surprise hit into a franchise. Where Bell was mostly unseen in Saw, here he is a central character who explains his philosophy face to face, and the film pairs a group game with a detective story before a final twist reframes the whole timeline. Revealing Amanda as John’s apprentice, determined to continue his work after his death, gave the series the succession storyline it would keep returning to. Its Halloween-weekend release and Red Cross blood drive (in its second year, after one for the first film) became part of the Saw brand. Saw X (2023), set between the first two films, revived the blood drive and gave Bell more screen time than any other entry. Saw III followed a year later; see Saw III.
Trivia
- Bousman stood in as the hooded figure who places the key behind the informant’s eye. Some viewers guessed it was Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) from the first film, which Bousman said was not his intention.
- Knudsen filmed while ill with the flu, which he felt suited his poisoned character.
- Billy the Puppet was originally built by Wan from household materials, including paper towel rolls and papier-mâché.
- The remains of Adam and Zep from the first film are found in the bathroom.
- Mudvayne’s “Forget to Remember” video was also directed by Bousman.
Related links
- Jigsaw, Amanda Young and Billy the Puppet (characters)
- Saw franchise
- Saw (2004), Saw III (2006) and Saw X (2023)
- Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith (cast)
- Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman (writers)