'Jigsaw': A Guide to All 'Saw' Films So Far | THR News - video Dailymotion

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A lot happened before 'Jigsaw,' so here's a guide to all the killers who have helped John Kramer.

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00:00The blood under the fingernails of our victim, it's John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer.

00:04New movie franchises are as convoluted as Saw, which returns Friday with its first

00:10installment in seven years. Jigsaw takes place 10 years after the apparent death of

00:14the Jigsaw killer, who created elaborate traps for his victims, who were then faced

00:18with the decision to go through excruciating pain or die a gruesome death.

00:22To fully enjoy Jigsaw, it helps to know what happened leading up to the new film.

00:25The Hollywood Reporter's horror movie destination, Heat Vision, has got you covered

00:29with a streamlined guide to what you need to know from the Saw films so far.

00:33John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell, was a civil engineer expecting his first child with his

00:38wife Jill Tuck. But then everything went wrong when they lost the baby and he was

00:41diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Kramer and his wife separated, a deep depression

00:45ensued and he decided to end his life by driving his car off a cliff. Kramer survived

00:50the crash and overcame a copious amount of pain to crawl to safety. The Jigsaw killer was born.

00:55Kramer crafted a philosophy built on awakening people who seemingly had no respect

00:59for human life and giving them an appreciation for it. Kramer adopted the alias Jigsaw

01:04and used his engineering experience to devise dangerous mutilating traps for his victims.

01:09He saw them as tests or games that the victims had to overcome. Jigsaw's first victim was

01:13Cecil, the drug addict who was responsible for the death of his child. Cecil, played by Billy

01:18Otis, survived the first trap but met his end in 2007's Saw 4. Jigsaw then began plotting the traps

01:24and tests for dozens of victims. Eventually, a few people passed his tests, many of them

01:28actually becoming his disciples. Kramer's final goal was to train a successor to carry on

01:33his work before he died of his cancer. Mark Hoffman, played by Costas Mandalore, was a

01:37relentlessly loyal detective who had a severe mental breakdown after his little sister was

01:41beaten to death by her boyfriend. After he was apprehended, Seth was acquitted on a

01:45technicality which caused Hoffman to lose faith in the justice system. Hoffman, who had been

01:50investigating the Jigsaw killer, set Seth up in a Jigsaw-style trap of his own, one that Seth

01:54couldn't win. It killed him in 2008's Saw 5. John Kramer found out about what Hoffman had done

02:00and punished him by putting him in a trap of his own. Eventually, Hoffman became Kramer's

02:05apprentice after they realized their interests aligned. Aw, isn't it sweet when murderers find each other?

02:11Amanda Young, played by Shaunie Smith, was a drug addict who, after surviving one of his traps,

02:16felt she'd been helped by Jigsaw in 2004's Saw. Kramer kept a watchful eye on her and

02:21eventually brought her into his inner circle as an apprentice. But it turns out Amanda had been

02:26involved with Cecil the night he assaulted Jill and was partially responsible for the death

02:30of Kramer's unborn child. What? This led to Hoffman blackmailing her into killing Lynn,

02:35another participant in Jigsaw's games. Hoffman knew that shooting Lynn would eliminate Amanda

02:40as she was immediately then killed by Lynn's vengeful husband. Once Kramer became more

02:44and more distant from her, Jill began to suspect he was a killer after Cecil was found dead.

02:49Looking through Kramer's workshop, she found photos of Cecil confirming her worst suspicions.

02:54After Kramer's death, Jill received a letter from Kramer, written before he died, asking her to give

02:59Detective Hoffman a test Kramer designed for him. Jill gave Hoffman the test but didn't give him the option

03:04to survive that she was supposed to because she wanted to kill Hoffman and to end Kramer's work

03:09once and for all. But of course, in 2010's Saw, the final chapter, Hoffman found a way to get

03:14out of the trap and then hunted Jill down and killed her with the same trap.

03:18Lastly, there's Dr. Lawrence Gordon, played by Carrie Always. He was one of the first on-screen test

03:23subjects in the Saw films. In Saw, he eventually cut off his own foot to survive Jigsaw's trap.

03:29Somehow off-screen, Kramer then recruits Dr. Gordon to become an apprentice,

03:34unbeknownst to Amanda Young or Detective Hoffman. Now, why Dr. Gordon goes along with Kramer

03:39is never actually explained in the film. I mean, hey, we told you it was convoluted.

03:43Before succumbing to his cancer, Kramer anticipated Detective Hoffman killing Jill

03:47and told Dr. Gordon to kill Hoffman if he ever hurt Jill. After Jill's death, Dr. Gordon

03:52and two other unknown accomplices capture Detective Hoffman and lead him to starve to death

03:57in the same room Dr. Gordon had to saw off his own leg in the first film.

04:02Full circle is such a beautiful thing, you guys. After these events, Dr. Gordon

04:06and his two accomplices are left to continue to carry out the work of the Jigsaw killer.

04:10To read more on the timeline of the Saw and Jigsaw franchise, head to THR.com and tell us

04:15which film has been your favorite so far. And will you be heading to the movies this weekend

04:20to catch the latest installment? Let us know in the comment section.

04:23For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.

'Jigsaw': A Guide to All 'Saw' Films So Far | THR News

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