In the early 2000s, it was James Wan and Leigh WhannellHis hit “Saw,” which has been credited (or by less generous critics, blamed) for helping to popularize the prevalence of so-called “torture porn.” Cruel, visceral and desperate, the low-budget crime thriller captivated audiences with its shocking and nightmarish torture sequences, spawning ten sequels (and counting), video games, a slew of parodies and a new horror icon in Billy . puppet. But as writers, directors, stars and subplots came and went, editor Kevin Greutert remained the lifeblood of “Saw,” lending the franchise its breakneck pace and frantic, high-octane editing.

The brainchild of Australian film students James Wan and Leigh Whannell, “Saw” is a 2004 horror thriller that follows the cat-and-mouse game between the police and “The Killer,” who kidnaps his victims and subjects them to “deadly tests.” .” Told in a convoluted series interwoven with overlapping non-linear subplots, Cary Elwes’ Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Leigh Whannell’s Adam are at the center of it all, finding themselves chained by pipes at opposite ends of a filthy bathroom with a dead body bloody between them. .

It’s a messy, violent, claustrophobic movie with a great ending, but it’s in the editing where “Saw” really comes together, as Greutert said Letterboxd in an interview last year. At a modest hour and 43 minutes, the film moves at an almost breakneck pace, which Greutert says is by design: “James Wan has often talked about the idea of ​​’Never being boring,’ which sounds obvious, but… I think we try harder than the average film to make sure it moves. Every cut I make, there’s a very strong reason behind it, even if it’s a very short clip, which is usually in a Saw movie.

What’s most remarkable about the prevalence and influence of Saw’s trap sequences in horror (and pop culture in general) is how little of the film’s runtime it actually consumes. When you think of “Saw,” you think of scary traps, buckets of blood, and a gruesome display of body horror, but “Saw” on the page is mostly a police procedural that follows the cat-and-mouse game played by a serial killer with the police, at “Se7en”. It’s a chilling chamber drama built around the power of Cary Elwes’ performance, an eerie slow burn that creeps toward a stunning twist (“Game over”), only one that happens to be delivered with an extra bit of brutality.

But while the brutality may come in small, concentrated doses (at least, in the original “Saw”), the twisted innovation of Wan’s trap designs combined with Greutert’s chaotic, fast-paced editing makes for an anxiety-inducing viewing experience . someone desperately trying to break and cut their way out of a Jigsaw trap. And while the franchise has no shortage of spine-tingling pitfalls that highlight Greurert’s penchant for quick cuts, repurposing footage and breaking continuity, no pitfall is a better showcase of Greurert’s distinctive editing style for the “Saw” films than the nightmare that began. everything, reverse bear trap.

Worn by Shawnee Smith’s badass heroine Amanda, the reverse bear trap is the first time we witness one of Jigsaw’s aberrant creations at work in real time, rendered in sharp detail as Dr. Gordon and the audience watch her Amanda recounting her experience to the police. . Created by Stuart Prain and redesigned by Wan and special effects supervisor Thomas Bellissimo, the reverse bear trap is terrifying enough on its own merits – even in a vacuum, watching it open and shatter a Styrofoam mannequin’s head is horrifying.

But Amanda is not in a vacuum. She wakes up dizzy and strapped to a chair in production designer Julie Berghoff’s gritty, gritty world with the taste of “blood and metal” in her mouth — and when the countdown begins, “Saw” kicks into high gear. As Smith writhes and struggles, the camera flies in dizzying, discordant circles, quick cuts and sharp zooms fly past nu metal noises.

In Jigsaw’s games, time moves differently, and Greutert stretches the duration of a minute as excruciatingly as possible, speeding up and slowing down footage, reusing and cutting clips over them to make 60 seconds seem like a lifetime. But just when it seems the nightmare will never end, the trap is over as quickly as it began, and Greutert’s strange inclinations take a back seat until another victim needs punishment.

As one of the forerunners of the “torture porn” subgenre, the franchise is often accused of reveling in excessive violence over story – and while that’s certainly true of some of the later installments, Greutert and Wan’s use of gore in the first “Saw” is deliberate and paired by necessity.

While later special editions and director’s cuts feature extensive carnage, the original theatrical cut of “Saw” relies on the shock value of self-mutilation and the power of Cary Elwes and Shawnee Smith’s performances instead of a wave of blood. There are splatters of blood as Amanda searches a man’s stomach for the key to her freedom, or Dr. Gordon breaks her leg, but it’s the pace, the sense of desperation, not the carnage that makes the early “Saw” traps so terrifying. .

Of course, not all “Saw” movies are created equal. Once Leigh Whannell leaves as a writer after “Saw III,” the franchise begins to gain its current reputation for excess — excessive plot twists, excessive gore, and excessive flashbacks. But while “Saw” 4-9 are more successful than previous installments, even the weaker entries have their charm and cult following, thanks in large part to Greutert, who remains with the franchise as editor on all but one. of the “Saw” movies.

Although the nuances and novelties that made the first Saw such a groundbreaking piece of horror cinema begin to wane as the series drags on, Greutert continues to deliver the kind of top-speed, straight-ahead editing that made the early trap sequences. so memorable but turned up to eleven. Transitions has gotten so weird that it borders on the comical, as if the franchise itself is aware of how untethered and intertwined its story reels have become and instead decided to commit itself wholeheartedly to the show — hence “Saw 3D”.

Not to understate the importance of Greutert’s presence in the DNA of the “Saw” series, it’s worth noting that “Spiral: From the Book of Saw,” the “Saw” movie that looks and feels the least like the franchise’s homegrown style, is the only installment for which Greutert did not serve as lead editor. When Greutert finally returned to the director’s chair (and editor’s suite) with “Saw X,” it was to usher the series into what could optimistically be called a new golden age.

Under Greutert’s direction, “Saw X” opened to the best critical reception in the franchise’s history and a formidable showing at the box office. But beyond guiding the “Saw” movies back to being the most critically-received and culturally relevant they’ve ever been, “Saw X” is also a testament to how spending decades in the dirty green world of Jigsaw she was equipped to understand the pulse. the tone and interior of a “Saw” movie like few others do.

His intense familiarity with the franchise is what made “Saw X” such a hit, especially with longtime fans — Greutert places the narrative right in the middle of “Saw’s” messy timeline, just as the previous entries did , but actively works to subvert the tropes. and plot twists that fans have come to expect from the movies.

Especially in a cinematic landscape where so-called “elevated horror” is becoming the status quo, it’s worth wondering how a scrappy franchise that seemingly epitomizes a subgenre that fell out of vogue 10 years ago continues to find success. Even as it struggles narratively, the “Saw” franchise (with Kevin Greutert at the helm) continues to prove itself the bedrock of the horror world, churning out bold, reckless and gory new installments with no end in sight.