For nearly a decade Saw remained a staple of Halloween, with a new movie being released every year at the end of October. The series highpoint was arguably in its first two sequels, before the diminishing returns led to a 3D gimmick for this final entry (final at the time).
Saw III was among that highpoint, and remains one of the better entries in the franchise. So in honor of its 15th anniversary today, we thought it would be fitting and fun to look at 15 facts about Saw III!||
1. Saw III was greenlit less than a week after the release of Saw II, based on that movie’s strong opening weekend.
2. Introduction of Detective Hoffman, who was named after Saw producer Greg Hoffman, who passed away after the release of Saw II.
3. The original idea was to have Rigg be the main character, however Lyriq Bent was unavailable due to filming Angela’s Eyes. So he only appears briefly at the beginning. Rigg did however become the main character in Saw IV.
4. Prior to filming, Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith spent a few weeks together, bonding as friends so that their relationship on screen would feel genuine.
5. Since the previous bathroom sets used in Saw and Saw II had already been taken down, they borrowed the set from Scary Movie 4 which had done a Saw parody.
6. Bahar Soomekh (Dr. Denlon) was not a fan of horror films and reported having nightmares during the shoot.
7. Despite being one of the most bloody scenes in the film, the MPAA demanded zero edits of Jigsaw’s brain surgery scene. Most likely because it played out more like a typical medical show than a slasher film.
8. Initially, the freezer scene victim Danica was going to be wearing a T-shirt and panties, but the producers felt that once sprayed with water, it would become too sexualized. And that having her naked from the start was actually less sexual.
9. Leigh Whannell admitted that the scene of Amanda sarcastically telling Dr. Denlon to kill her with the axe was his way of addressing internet commenters from criticizing the plot. He figured that these were the questions they would ask, so he would incorporate them into the script.
10. Amanda grabbing Dr. Denlon and throwing her against the wall was not scripted. Thus Bahar Soomekh’s shocked reaction was real.
11. There was an entire fight scene shot between the two of them that was ultimately cut.
12. While the pigs for the Pig Vat Trap weren’t real, the maggots on them were. The production team “disinfected” them just in case someone swallowed one by mistake.
13. This was the last movie in the franchise to have series creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell directly involved as writers. They were credited as executive producers going forward, but had minimal involvement, as they moved onto other projects like Dead Silence and the Insidious series.
14. Nominated for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards but lost to The Descent.
15. Remains the highest grossing movie in the Saw franchise, with a worldwide gross of $164 million on a $10 million budget.
Which of these did you know already? Which ones surprised you? Let us know in the comments!
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