3. Saw II (2005)

Director Darren Lynn Bousman, who took over for James Wan, is instrumental to the Saw series.. His more frenetic and stylized vision shifted the Saw movies from psychological thrillers to more bloodthirsty spectacles. Saw II establishes what would become the franchise’s signature elements: elaborate, grisly traps and a series of twists that unfold and collapse like a house of cards. In this sequel, Donnie Wahlberg delivers a heated performance as Detective Matthews, who is desperate to save his son after ambushing Jigsaw’s hideout.

And Saw II heightens the tension by having a large group of strangers (including Amanda, a survivor of a previous trap) being tested by Jigsaw at the same time. While this would become the norm as the series rolled on, it was a big step up from two guys stuck in a bathroom in the first movie. In a twisted, Saw version of a haunted house, they must navigate an abandoned factory filled with deadly contraptions. One of the franchise’s most legendary traps makes an appearance here: the giant needle pit. The genuinely surprising, right-under-our-noses conclusion gives new meaning to the trope “the call is coming from inside the house.”