With the newest installment of the Saw franchise coming out this week, Spiral is getting fans ready for more grisly, torture-filled content. The film features Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols and Samuel L. Jackson. There are no upcoming announcements for another Saw film as of yet, so after fans watch Spiral, they'll be left craving more horror content.
Thankfully, there's plenty of bloody, torturous horror movies out there to fill the void. Here are six of the best films that are similar to the Saw films in terms of content, shock-factor and gore.
Oldboy (2003)
Directed and written by Park Chan-wook, Oldboy is a Korean neo-noir action horror film. It follows a man named Oh Dae-su who is kidnapped and placed in a hotel-like room for 15 years, without knowing the names or identities of his captors. After his release, Dae-su is still caught up in a tangled web of conspiracies and violence. For fans of the Saw franchise, this film satisfies the torture aspect. While Oldboy focuses more on psychological torture, the level the film takes it to is intense and will startle even the most hardened horror fan. It becomes a tale of revenge that cannot be rivaled by other genre films, including the American remake from 2013. It's a fantastic take on psychological horror that will leave viewers mesmerized.
The Evil Dead (1981)
An iconic piece of horror history, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead has an enormous legacy. But for fans of Saw, the original film is a great thing to watch when feeling the need for some gore. While it certainly is cheesy, the absurd gore more than makes up for it. Ash Williams, played by Bruce Campbell, tries to protect his friends while staying at a rural, isolated cabin. The Evil Dead masterfully combines comedy with horror, with the film launching two sequels, a TV show and a new installment starting production in 2021. This film finds the perfect blend between thrills and laughs, keeping the viewers on the edge of their seat, unsure of what's going to happen next.
A Serbian Film (2010)
One of the most controversial movies of all time, A Serbian Film contains excessively graphic violence and sexual content. Not for the faint of heart, it's a perfect film for adventurous fans of Saw. This is a highly intense, highly disturbing film all-around. It follows an ex-porn star as he struggles to secure income for his family, eventually taking on one more porn movie to help out. What follows during the filming of this movie takes the concept of sexual violence to the highest level and is both psychologically and physically damaging to the main character. A Serbian Film definitely has some gore, but more importantly, it's a torturous film from beginning to end. Even the conclusion provides no relief from the devastation of the graphic plot. While it might be even more disturbing than the Saw films, it's certainly a film that treads in similar disturbing, unthinkable content.
Hostel (2005)
Eli Roth's Hostel is another infamously gore-filled film that featured some shocking scenes of physical torture. Unlike the Saw films, there is no bigger picture of why the characters are being tortured, which makes it all the more terrifying. The film follows a group of college students traveling across Europe when they are enticed to stay at a specific hostel in Slovakia. But the desperate and beautiful women that keep them company there are not what they seem. The college students are lured into a trap that slowly snags one student after another. Hostel makes sure to show each moment of their torture, directly depicting the physical violence inflicted upon them. It's an extremely graphic film that is certainly not for everyone, but if fans can handle Saw, they'll probably enjoy Hostel.
I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
One of the classic revenge films of the '70s, I Spit On Your Grave is so graphic that it has been banned in over four different countries for its disturbing content. After Jennifer Hills is raped in her rented cottage by a group of men, she strikes out for revenge. The entire film focuses on Jennifer's vengeance as, one by one, she kills the men who violated her. The scenes of physical violence are graphic and explicit, hence why the film was internationally banned. The length of time that the film spends on these violent scenes is longer than most traditional horror films, really drawing out the pain and sorrow of the protagonist. While it received mostly negative reception, it's a good film for horror veterans.
Battle Royale (2000)
Based on the book of the same name, Battle Royale is a fantastic horror film that even inspired Quentin Tarantino. In the near future, the Japanese government has implemented a program to curb juvenile delinquency. As such, one middle school class is sent to an island and the students are forced to kill one another until there's only one survivor. Not only is Battle Royale an extremely violent film, but it's children performing the violence on one another. This gives the plot a dark tone that other similar films cannot replicate. Seeing the children struggle with the ethics of the task and the instinctual need for survival is sometimes hard to watch. It's a twisted premise that is perfectly executed by director Kinji Fukasaku. For fans of the Saw franchise, Battle Royale will definitely fill the gap after Spiral, giving viewers a violent, convoluted film that leaves no one unharmed.