8. Saw V (2008)

Saw V brings on a new director, David Hackl, for a very tense showdown between Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor)—the lead investigator of the new Jigsaw murders and secretly the killer’s apprentice—and FBI Agent Peter Strahm. It’s refreshing to see Scott Patterson, known for his role as Luke in the cozy series Gilmore Girls, take on a darker character, especially as he becomes the latest victim of Jigsaw’s deadly tests.

But the cat-and-mouse game between Hoffman and Strahm could have been much more exciting; instead, the entire film feels like a bland, hurried stepping stone to better ideas involving Hoffman as Jigsaw’s successor. The only thing Saw V has going for it are memorable traps that involve spilling enough of your blood to fill a beaker, a head trapped in a box that fills with water, and a group of victims with chains around their neck having to work together to acquire the key without backing into a wall of razor blades.