Hello, HorrorWeb(bers)! I had to step away from a crazy busy Halloween season to bring this anniversary up. I don't know why everyone is not crowing from the rooftops that Saw was released on October 29th, 2004 (that's 15 years ago if my mathin' is correct).
One of the interesting things about Saw is the parallels between it and some of the other horror movie greats. Friday The 13th was criticized for being just plotless killing. Halloween took flack for showing you some of the murders "through the eyes of the killer" and Saw, and eventually, the entire franchise was branded "torture porn".
The other big item that I found really interesting about the Saw movies is that the mythology grew as the series continued. We had other killers instead of and alongside the original Jigsaw, we saw attempts to justify his brutality and we saw additions that seemed to be thrown in just to sell masks (exactly what's the deal with the Rasta-Pigs, other than they are awesome?).
At its heart SAW was an incredibly creative movie (based on a short film) with a fantastic twist at the end. The subsequent movies with their more elaborate traps and twists made things a little less believable but I have to say that I never met a Saw movie that I didn't like. Yes, there were some I didn't understand, but I still liked them. I would also recommend that you dip back and check out 2017's "Jigsaw" which I found to be a VERY worthy entry in the franchise.
We will have a new Saw movie starring and at least partially written by Chris Rock very soon as production wrapped in August. In the meantime, if you're looking for a horror movie for the Halloween season, grab up the original Saw on its 15th anniversary.