History Main / SawBladesOfDeath

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. On the path to the hiding place of the Holy Grail, the first trap is a pair of whirling saw blades that come out of the wall and floor. If the person trying to pass by isn't on their knees, the saw blade in the wall will cut off their head.
* ''Franchise/JamesBond''

* ''VideoGame/{{ThirtyXX}}'': Dustria level features groups of sawblade-like traps at the bottom of some areas.

** ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'': A truck from City Escape level pulls out three saw blades when chasing Sonic.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[spoiler: Kirumi's execution. In addition to the thorned vine she climbs up, piercing her hands all the way, saw blades then appear, which will certainly cut her if she continues. '''''And she does'''''.]]

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': The level "We Don't Go to Ravenholm" is essentially a SurvivalHorror level with very little conventional ammunition, but fortunately there are plentiful gigantic circular saw blades that can be turned into projectiles with the recently acquired Gravity Gun.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy'' and its predecessor ''Meat Boy'': Saw blades is the main obstacles in the game. Some are still, some move back and forth and some move in circles.

* ''WesternAnimation/ILostMyBody'': Naoufel works in a carpenter's workshop full of circular saws, but he has a poor attention span and keeps multitasking, so, [[TooDumbToLive when he tries swatting a fly that's perching next to one of the saws]], ''without even turning the saw off beforehand''... [[AnArmAndALeg guess what happens]]

In RealLife, circular saw blades are used for cutting materials into smaller pieces. In fiction, they're often used for [[AnArmAndALeg cutting ''people'' into smaller pieces]]. Their nasty, sharp appearance makes them ideal {{Deadly Disc}}s, and they can be repurposed either as gruesome melee weapons or dangerous projectiles.

In RealLife, circular saw blades are usually meant for cutting logs and pieces of wood into smaller pieces. Not so in fiction.

In video games, for an example, saw blades can be found on the floor, often covered with blood, to show their true intent. The player needs to avoid them at all costs. Why are saw blades placed on the floor or middle of the room, is usually a mystery.

They also appear frequently in {{Death Trap}}s or during a LumberMillMayhem sequence.

# DeathCourse, when it's part of a more or less linear series of deadly traps.
# ChainsawGood when chainsaws are used as weapons instead.

* ''Videogame/DwarfFortress'' lets ''you'' deploy these against your enemies for once, in the form of Large Serrated Discs of various metals (or glass if you want something cheaper). Not as heavy as Giant Axe Blades, but they're still sizable and hit three times per Disc. Nothing but available materials and time stops you from putting ten of them in a single tile, ensuring anything that cannot avoid traps will be reduced to a scattered heap of LudicrousGibs as soon as they step into it.[[note]][[RealityEnsues Just be aware that so many gibs might jam up the mechanism.]][[/note]]

* ''Videogame/DwarfFortress'' lets ''you'' deploy these against your enemies for once, in the form of Large Serrated Discs of various metals (or glass if you want something cheaper). Not as heavy as Giant Axe Blades, but they're still sizable and hit three times per Disc. Nothing but available materials and time stops you from putting ten of them in a single tile, ensuring anything that cannot avoid traps will be reduced to a scattered heap of LudicrousGibs as soon as they step into it.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[spoiler: Kirumi's execution. In addition to the thorned vine she climbs up, [[NightmareFuel piercing her hands all the way]], saw blades then appear, which will certainly cut her if she continues. '''''And she does'''''.]]

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''Film/SawIII'' Jeff kills Jigsaw by slitting his throat with a hand-held circular saw.]]

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Mounted saw traps are a prominent security feature of the White Palace, even more so in the area aptly called the Path of Pain. Both are covered in fixed and mobile sawblades that [[PlatformHell the Knight has to carefully deflect and bounce off of in order to navigate the area]]. This appears to be a family trait of the Pale King, whose daughter Hornet is seen wielding her own saws in trailers for ''VideoGame/{{Silksong}}''.

** In [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the original game]], the sixth and final world, [[EternalEngine Scrap Brain Zone]], has buzzsaws as hazards. Some of them are stationary and Sonic has to run under them when they are raised, and others chase after him, requiring him to outrun them or jump over them to dodge them.

* {{Franchise/Saw}}:

** Played with in the Bucket Room from ''Film/Jigsaw'', where the victims are in front of a wall of circular saws closing on them. Although the saws are harmful, making the slightest contact with them is necessary to pass the trap (meaning they'd only need a small finger slit at minimum), as Jigsaw exactly instructs by referring to this act as a "blood sacrifice".

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''Film/SawIII''Jeff kills Jigsaw by slitting his throat with a hand-held circular saw.]]

** [[spoiler: At the end of Film/SawIII, Jeff kills Jigsaw by slitting his throat with a hand-held circular saw.]]
** In the Steam Maze from Film/SawVI, William and Debbie are given a similar hand-held saw to cut out the key inside William's body, which is necessary for Debbie to free herself from the harpoon contraption she has attached. [[spoiler: Although William tells Debbie that he's willing to cut himself, Debbie immediately tries to use the saw to try to kill William instead, making her lose all the time they could have used until the harpoon kills her.]]
** The main components of the Public Execution Trap from Film/Saw3D are a pair of circular saws, one within the range of injuring and potentially killing Brad and Ryan on the table they're on opposites sides of, and another pointing at Dina, which will rise to her if Brad and Ryan don't move their saw to fight each other. [[spoiler" Although Brad and Ryan initially fight (with Ryan landing a brief hit on Brad), they ultimately let Dina die instead once she exposes her infidelity to the two of them.]]
** Played with in the Bucket Room from Film/Jigsaw, where the victims are in front of a wall of circular saws closing on them. Although the saws are harmful, making the slightest contact with them is necessary to pass the trap (meaning they'd only need a small finger slit at minimum), as Jigsaw exactly instructs by referring to this act as a "blood sacrifice".

* Series/{{Knightmare}}: One of the many rooms a dungeoneer may end up entering is the Corridor of Blades, where they’re standing on an InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt, with saw blades jutting out of the walls. Their teammates would be tasked with telling them which way to run to dodge the blades, and the dungeoneer themselves would have to move out of the way. This trap had the highest body count of the show, due to how it was instant death if either the team or the dungeoneer messed up once, and the speed of the blades only made it harder for both to react in time.

# DeathCourse as one of its supertropes.

# DeadlyTrainingArea.

** In the Steam Maze from FilmSawVI, William and Debbie are given a similar hand-held saw to cut out the key inside William's body, which is necessary for Debbie to free herself from the harpoon contraption she has attached. [[spoiler: Although William tells Debbie that he's willing to cut himself, Debbie immediately tries to use the saw to try to kill William instead, making her lose all the time they could have used until the harpoon kills her.]]

* Naturally, ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' includes a few instances, but not nearly as often as you would think.

** ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' has two helicopters with tree-clearing circular sawblades (ten on each) suspended below them attack Bond in his CoolCar. A missile takes out one, but the other saws his car in half lengthwise. The sequence is viewable on YouTube here: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DZPEgKcXU]].

* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' gives us what looks like a ''Franchise/Saw'' style trap with two characters strung up by their wrists and a massive lumber saw attached to a cart, [[SadisticChoice with a lever deciding who gets it]]. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a massive fake out, as Josh, one of the two strung up, was the one who built the trap and was never in any danger. The saw will disembowel the fake body he was hiding behind regardless of choice.]]

* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'': In arcade port, when the player receives a GameOver, the "continue" screen features the protagonist tied down while a saw blade slowly lowers while the time counts down.

* Series/{{Knightmare}}: One of the many rooms a dungeoneer may end up entering is the Corridor of Blades, where they?re standing on an InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt, with saw blades jutting out of the walls. Their teammates would be tasked with telling them which way to run to dodge the blades, and the dungeoneer themselves would have to move out of the way. This trap had the highest body count of the show, due to how it was instant death if either the team or the dungeoneer messed up once, and the speed of the blades only made it harder for both to react in time.

# DeathCourse

They also appear frequently in {{DeathTrap}}s or during a LumberMillMayhem sequence.

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