Every Saw Trap Ranked From Worst To Best

20. Saw V - The Pendulum Trap

saw 2004
Lionsgate

Trap: Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a rapist and murderer, was strapped to a table, as a swinging steel pendulum was lowered towards him. He had to crush his hands in two vices in order to escape... but this was actually inescapable. Mark Hoffman set it up to get revenge on Seth, who'd killed Hoffman's sister; he copied Jigsaw to get away with it. After this, Hoffman became Jigsaw's apprentice.

Bar some iffy visuals, this is an excellent opening to an awful movie.

It was a brutal and punchy spectacle that won't fail to make viewers squirm and the subsequently revealed backstory was a great way to bring Mark Hoffman into contact with Jigsaw.

It seems likely the pendulum was a little nod to Edgar Allan Poe, which was a great little detail if that's the case.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.