While the tenth “Saw” will be released in theaters at the end of the year, did you know that only one film in the horror saga was banned for those under 18 when it was released in French theaters?
John Kramer, alias Jigsaw (or the puzzle killer in VF), will be back next October in Saw X, the tenth installment of the horrific Saw saga that began nearly two decades ago. The opportunity to remember that each opus, with its share of traps, each more horrible and Machiavellian than the other, was banned for children under 16 for its French release. All except one, which was released to those under 18, is rare for a film other than pornographic, as this list proves.
The part of the franchise prohibited for those under 18 in the context of its French exploitation is Saw 3, released at the end of 2006. A decision taken after several professional film organizations seized the commission for the classification of cinematographic works to request a second deliberation the film’s ban (initially limited to those under 16), due to the violence and sadism emanating from the torture scenes.
Saw 3 fully plays the card of torture porn and gore. On the menu: tearing of the rib cage if the victim does not grab a key dipped in a jar of acid, pig offal bath or even structures twisting the limbs … A horrible program which seduced the spectators French, Saw 3 being the franchise’s biggest hit in France with more than 770,000 admissions. Would its unprecedented ban have made it possible to attract more audiences?
“The film is aimed at an audience that would no longer fall into the traps of the first film”said director Darren Lynn Bousman when the film was released. “The spectators are a bit like the adversaries of the Puzzle Killer, they are more seasoned, they know his methods. Then you have to go further to trap them. (…) The traps combine surprise, horror and a ingenuity that always places the victim in front of an extreme case of conscience.”
Love, Baise-moi, Saw 3…11 films banned for those under 18 in France
We will note more flexibility on the other side of the Atlantic, Saw 3 having been matched in the United States with an R classification, which allows people aged 17 and under to see the film accompanied by an adult. But it was not without difficulty: according to producer Dan Heffner, it took no less than seven appeals to the MPAA, the American film classification body, for the third installment in the saga not to be awarded a an NC-17, which marks an unconditional ban on 17 and under.
Saw X, the tenth installment in the saga, will be released in French theaters on October 25. Who will have the right to go see it?
The “Saw X” trailer: