Exclusive Interview: Saw VI Writers Plan the End of the Series and Threaten Our Writer With a Grotesque Death Trap (Part 2)

Share on Facebook posted 10-18-09 by Angelo D'Argenio

Continuing our Saw VI interview series, we asked the writers of the past several films, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, how they plan to wrap up the series and where they get the inspiration for the sick and convoluted death traps that Saw is known for. Read on to see how they draw murderous inspiration from everyday life, and to see how it all adds up to a thrillingly repellent end to the Saw series, and a grisly end for us here at 30 Ninjas! (Let’s just say we’ve added a few extra locks to our office doors and windows.)

Saw’s Gruesome Future

30 NINJAS: Where do you guys want to see the Saw franchise go in the future? Is there anything that you have locked up in your minds that you really want to get on screen but that hasn’t gotten there yet?

MARCUS DUNSTAN: If at all possible, I would love the final entry of the Saw series to feel inevitable, and yet crash with this ultimate surprise, a surprise that outdoes every previous twist and a resolution that seals it in the canon of our films. That will be a hell of challenge for other series to rival. I think the integrity of the series now has had a backbone of being protected fiercely by the directors, the actors, and the producers.

PATRICK MELTON: Everyone likes the idea that it all comes full circle and in the end it all ties up nicely and I think that’s the goal, because most of these franchises, horror especially, are more like one-offs. You know, you do one and the only continued character is the killer. These are very different because they are so serialized. There are certain favorites that we have in the back of our heads that we have always kept in there, that we want to get back to, and little things that we have put in, and we are trying to get to see a resolution at the end. So once the dust has settled you can watch all of them in a row, and they all sort of complement each other. That’s sort of where this has been leading, and that’s where we want it to go, but we will see. We will see.

Our Harrowing Future

30 NINJAS: Do you guys ever find yourself imagining complicated Saw-like traps when you are annoyed by, say, friends, family, or a pesky interviewer who just won’t stop asking you questions?

PATRICK: (laughs) Well, narrowing it down even more, I think the traps are more difficult to come up with as we go on, so you are always looking for something. It’s not like, “Oh, I just want to kill this person”; it’s more like, “Hmmm, this person is especially obnoxious, and they happen to be … let’s just say an interviewer … so if they were in a trap, what would be the irony in it? What would we have to do?” So yeah, sure, I think with everything we do, in the back of your mind, you are using it.

MARCUS: Well, here’s one for you. If we were to come after you, sir, Jigsaw would say something like …

(and this is where Marcus Dunstan started doing one of the best and creepiest Jigsaw impressions ever heard.)

NORMAL MARCUS: … and then as the lights go on, you will be confronted with welding torches, and if you look right at them you will be blinded, but if you walk through them your flesh will melt away in streaks like tape ribbon.

30 NINJAS: That is amazing! We are looking forward to that. Put that in Saw IX or something!

MARCUS: Well, there you go. (laughs)

PATRICK: Yeah, there you go, man. I don’t think I could possibly top that one.

30 NINJAS: Then I guess this leads me to my next question: The Jigsaw Killer, is it really you guys? Your secret is safe with us … and all of our readers.

MARCUS: The only real Jigsaw Killer is the box office — if it turns up zero, that is.