7. Jigsaw - Saw
I coined this phrase a few articles back and have grown quite fond of it since: Jigsaw is the creator of the Rube Goldberg Murder Machine. The Saw films are essentially Mousetrap for psychopaths. But it's because of this that Jigsaw earns a top spot, mostly because he got everyone swept up with what new, creative ways he could find to kill people. The sequels were "meh" for me, but when I saw the original in the theater I was floored. It was cool and original and scary and tense and perfect. And though it might have been extreme, it even had a solid message about humanity. What gives me the chills is that jigsaw is a moral killer with a sort of code, albeit a very distorted one. What lands him on the list is that, theoretically, Jigsaw could pick any of us and throw us into his murder mazes. Why? Because whatever he deems as wrong or inappropriate or an act that shows a devaluing of one's life means Jigsaw will be coming for you. The reason the original is so chilling is because these guys did some pretty shady things. Did they deserve torture, probably not. But as the movies were stretched out it felt like Jigsaw (and his successors) were kidnapping people and putting them through hell because they were throwing their glass bottles out with the trash and not recycling them. It became tedious. But that's not to forget how important that first film is and what it did for the genre. It was an exciting gust of wind, was original, and popularized horror in a new way, not to mention it raised the gross/shock bar to the next level. (Which is good or bad depending on your persepctive.) Jigsaw, in his initial outing, is the perfectly mad movie killer. Knowing what he stands for and his methods, and that we're all guilty of something, does that mean Jigsaw would come for us?