10 Horror Movie Villains Who Became Smarter In The Sequel

You don't spawn a ten-film franchise featuring some of the most depraved "games" ever seen onscreen, quite literally engineering unsuspecting people's lives, without progressively honing your wicked intelligence.

Always one step ahead of proceedings, the overarching villain of the Saw franchise - John Kramer, aka the Jigsaw Killer - never fails to ramp up the levels of sheer devious planning across his multiple appearances, and the first sequel in his blood-soaked universe is no exception.

You thought disguising himself as a corpse so he could play a spectator to the original Saw's torturous proceedings was bad? This time around, Kramer's genius is partially derived from recruiting his first apprentice; the devious acolytes of the Jigsaw Killer featured throughout the franchise, assisting in his abominable schemes and ensure that Kramer's twisted legacy lives on long past the demise of his mortal husk.

Kramer flips the tables on the police in even more sadistically intelligent fashion this time around, with the reveal that this instalment's "game" was not happening in live time. This macabrely stunning piece of genius allowed John to lure Detective Eric Matthews to the location where the game was supposedly taking place, allowing his acolyte Amanda Young to overpower Matthews before he awakens to a tape recording gleefully revealing the extent of the plot and Amanda's complicity.

You all know the drill from here: Matthews is left to die screaming in the darkness.

Game over and all that.