11 Surprise Movie Villain Reveals Everyone Loved

4. Jigsaw - Saw

Memento Ending
Lionsgate

These days, the Saw franchise - like so many long-standing horror franchises - is one looked at as being a cliche-riddled series that's overstayed its welcome. But for a good few years there, Saw was a franchise that shocked the horror genre to its core.

Of course, playing a part in that were the twists and turns thrown up in those early entries. Y'know, before the whole franchise became convoluted twist after illogical turn.

In terms of the shocks of the Saw series, they don't get more jarring and jaw-dropping than the big reveal of the original 2004 Saw movie.

That film's huge reveal saw it explained how the mysterious Jigsaw Killer who had been tormenting Leigh Whannell's Adam and Cary Elwes' Lawrence was actually posing as a dead corpse in the same room as them - that 'corpse' standing up in the picture's closing minutes to reveal himself as John Kramer, as played by Tobin Bell.

What cements this reveal as such a popular one amongst film fans, is the simple fact of how utterly shocking and out of left field the reveal was upon viewing it for the first time, bringing a welcome sense of freshness and awe to the horror genre.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.