Let's play a game, twerp!
This page lists references to the Saw franchise in other media.
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Anime & Manga
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: "The How", the soundtrack that plays in the climax of "WHODIDIT", when Ramona explains the full details on how Scott disappeared and who's behind it, has a very similar chord progression to "Hello Zepp".
Films — Live-Action
- Most films directed by James Wan after Saw feature at least one cameo appearance from Billy the Puppet.
- Dead Silence: In a Freeze-Frame Bonus at the hidden room, one of the puppets on the floor is Billy, whom Mary Shaw's signature dummy in this film shares its name with and has a similar appearance to.
- Death Sentence: A graffiti art of Billy can be seen in the background of the underground parking lot.
- Insidious: There's a chalk drawing of Billy in the classroom's blackboard at the scene where Josh sits behind his teacher's desk.
- In The Invisible Man (2020), another graffiti of Billy appears on a highlighted street wall.
- Saw is one of the films parodied in Scary Movie 4, wherein there's a reenactment of the Bathroom and Billy the Puppet is a major character. One of the movie's posters is also a reference to the two severed fingers featured in most posters of Saw II, depicting three fingers forming the "4" in Scary Movie 4 (similarly to the original fingers representing the "II" in Saw II's title), with the added silliness of one finger being surgically extended and another having a Hello Kitty bandage. In fact, the movie's parodying of Saw received Approval of God for its Bathroom set to be officially used in Saw III (which was produced and released shortly after Scary Movie 4).
Literature
- In A Boy Made of Blocks, Matt and Clare watch an all-night Saw marathon during their weekend vacation from parenthood.
- Cold Days: According to Harry, the Winterfae thought the Saw movies were hilarious.
Live-Action TV
- Glee: In "The Hurt Locker Part 2" Sue locks Kurt and Blaine in an elevator. To communicate with them, she uses a version of Billy the Puppet that's designed to look like her.
- The Office (US): In "Koi Pond", Dwight dresses up as Billy the Puppet for Halloween.
- In Castle, Alexis is reading The Pit and the Pendulum, citing it as "the original Saw."
- Two and a Half Men: In a scene set in the future, a poster of "Saw 33" can be seen in the background.
Music
- "The Jig Is Up", by Ice Nine Kills, is based on the franchise and sung from Jigsaw's point-of-view.
Video Games
- Dreamkiller features a cinema in the future with a poster for "Saw 29".
- Persona 5 has a theater that can play a movie titled Pach-Saw. The premise affectionately parodies the premise of the first Saw movie, with two people locked in a room with a killer elephant by a mysterious person who calls it a "game".
- Affectionately parodied, along with healthy doses of other horror films, in The Jackbox Party Pack’s Trivia Murder Party, in which an unseen serial killer puts his victims in "super fun" life-or-death games, involving, among other things, self-mutilation, keys, and distrust and deadly choices between players, as retribution for not knowing tidbits of trivia.
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location: Funtime Foxy's gimmick taking place in a dark room that you can illuminate with flashes of light is similar to the scene from the first movie where Adam is looking through his darkened apartment, using the flash of his camera to navigate.
Web Animation
- Happy Tree Friends: The dentist mechanism that Nutty has to wear after breaking his teeth in "Chew Said a Mouthful" has a fair resemblance to the Reverse Bear Trap.
Web Videos
- The Cinema Snob:
- In the review of Saving Christmas, Brad says that the opening logos have "sound effects from a Saw movie". He had made a similar remark when Midnight Screenings reviewed the film.
- In his review of The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, Brad says of the "Wobble with your Wiggle" number, "Blink twice if Jigsaw is making you do this", due to Cary Elwes singing the song.
- In his review of A Talking Cat!?!, Brad quips "The more the Saw movies went on, the more Jigsaw's rules got really stupid".
- Honest Trailers:
- In the trailer for Home Alone, the narrator describes the film as Ferris Bueller meets Saw.
- The first movie was given its own trailer.
- In the trailer for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the film is given the honest title Saw for Kids.
- The Nostalgia Critic: In "Rise of the Commercials", Critic complains about a Crash Test Dummies toy in which they're Strapped to an Operating Table and are beaten to pieces, saying "There's playful violence, and then there's Saw".
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: The episode "Sore", which covers Yugi's duel with Arkana, has a cameo by Billy the Puppet who tries to challenge Yugi to a game. Arkana directly says, "This episode is a parody of the Saw franchise!" The episode involved Yugi and Arkana getting shackled into a death trap where only the winner of their duel would escape.
Western Animation
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Tag", Gumball decides to put an end to the escalating feud between his father and Mr. Robinson via a family-friendly take on a Saw trap, complete with a pre-recorded message. The two are locked in a trash bin, and the key to their freedom is inside a cake, which Richard wolfs down before the game's rules are fully explained. While trapped, Richard and Mr. Robinson manage to resolve their feud peacefully, at least until the police arrive to bust them for violating their house arrest.
- In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "The Marines", Frylock, who ran away to Canada to avoid having to join the Marines, ends up trapped in a barn (with 'Canada' emblazoned on the side) with a reverse bear trap on his head as a Billy Expy taunts him. The puppet isn't...uh...very good at making traps.Frylock: I just took [the trap] off. Here it is. See, right here.
Puppet: Oh wow, shoot.
Frylock: It was only a twist tie. - The Fairly OddParents!: In "Certifiable Super Sitter", Vicky puts Timmy and Chloe in a Saw-inspired challenge while dressed in a Billy the Puppet-esque persona (known as "Tricky Vicky") on a TV screen.
- In the pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel, one of the partially obscured demons among the background crowd seen during Charlie's initial entrance to the 666 News set bears a fair resemblance to Billy the Puppet.
- The Loud House: The episode "Fool's Paradise", in which Luan lures her family into a prank-laden trap on April Fools Day, is basically played out like a G-rated Saw movie.
- Rick and Morty: In "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender", Rick, while blackout drunk, rigs Worldender's lair to trap the Vindicators in a Saw-inspired death trap to prove to them that they're bland, cliched and unimportant.Morty: Rick is... Is this a Saw thing? Are you seriously Saw-ing the Vindicators?!
Rick: Morty, I'm a drunk, not a hack.
Drunk!Rick: You break the rules, lose the game, or try to leave, you will die! Like in (burp) SAAAAAAAAW!
Rick: (genuinely embarrassed) Well, I-I-I think we've seen enough. I'll just figure out how to unplug this. - Robot Chicken:
- The final sketch from "Boo Cocky" involves the cast of Saved by the Bell being held by Jigsaw.
- In another sketch, Billy the puppet gets upset when a victim mocks him for riding a tricycle, so John decides to teach him how to ride a bike.
- The Simpsons:
- The subplot of "Wedding for Disaster", in which Homer is kidnapped and put in a small room with only a jalapeno-laced lollipop (thanks to Patty and Selma wanting to prevent his remarriage to Marge), is based on the Saw films.
- In "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?", Bart takes his new "brother" Charlie takes to see Sever V with him.
- South Park: In "Tsst", Cartman gets sent to the principal's office for poisoning a student's milk, chaining his leg to the school's flagpole, and leaving him with an antidote just out of reach and a chainsaw to free himself with. All because he called him chubby.
