SAW
Written by
James Wan & Leigh Whannell
Darkness.
The soft sound of moving water can be heard in the background.
From the top of the screen a tiny, floating light moves its way
downwards across the screen. As it passes, we see just under
the water part of a young man’s face. His eyes are closed. The
light disappears, and across the darkness appears the title S
A W. The title fades away.
The tiny light appears again, this time floating down at the
end of a tub of water, just near someone’s bare foot. The camera
cuts again to the face of the young man underwater. This is ADAM.
Suddenly, his eyes fly open and he comes to life, opening his
mouth and gasping for air. As he wakes up and struggles within
the bathtub, we see his foot catch on a drain plug, unplugging
it. The water starts to drain, and we see go with the water the
tiny light, which we can also see has some kind of key attached
to it. The room itself is pitch black, but we can still just
barely make him out in the dark. Adam lifts himself out of the
tub and falls onto the floor, coughing and gasping from the shock.
He manages to get to his feet, but as he moves forward he realizes
that his ankle is chained to something. He feels his way over
to a pipe in the corner, reaching down and pulling at his chain
that is attached to it. He cries out, his voice frantic, frightened,
and a bit hysterical.
ADAM
Help! Someone help me! (He stops when
he hears a loud dragging sound somewhere
in the room. He looks out into the darkness
and calls out.) Is someone there? Hey!
(He turns back to the corner to which
he is chained, says in a slightly softer
but still panicked voice) Shit, I’m
probably dead.
Suddenly, from out within the darkness comes a man’s low, raspy
voice. It startles Adam. The voice, we will soon learn, belongs
to LAWRENCE.
LAWRENCE
You’re not dead.
Adam quickly turns in the direction of the voice. Holding his
arms out for balance, he tries to look across the room to whoever
is speaking, but still cannot see a thing.
Who’s that? Who’s that?!
(his voice strangely a bit on the calm
side, and almost irritated with Adam’s
reaction to the situation. This shall
be his tone for many scenes to come.)
There’s no point in yelling, I already
tried it.
Turn on the lights!
Would if I could.
What the fuck is going on? Where am
I? (He turns into his corner, touching
the wall.)
I don’t know yet.
(smelling something; in disgust) What
is that smell?
Shh! Hang on a second, I think I found
something.
With a loud click and an even louder buzzing sound, the very
bright fluorescent lights come to life, lighting up in rows,
starting from Lawrence’s end and moving towards Adam. As they
come on, Adam is nearly blinded by the sudden change from pitch
black to bright white and squints in pain, holding up his arms
to cover his face. In the light we now see that he is in his
mid-twenties, with short brown hair, wearing a dark blue striped
shirt over a white tee shirt and jeans, looking like a drowned
rat from the tub. It takes him a moment but his eyes finally
start to adjust, and he looks around the room. He and we see
Lawrence, who also winces from the glare of the lights, standing
by the light switch and the door. He is on the opposite end of
the room, also chained to a pipe in the corner by his foot. He
wears a blue button-down dress shirt, now soaked with sweat stains.
He is middle aged, mid to late forties, with pale blonde hair
and even paler skin. Dark circles are under his eyes. Both men
are barefoot.
Lawrence’s eyes adjust to the light and he sees across the room.
Then, his gaze starts towards the center of the room, as does
Adam’s, who steps forward as much as he can, a look of horror
on his face. We see lying face down the body of a man who has
blown his brains out, lying in a pool of blood, clad in only
boxer shorts and a tee shirt. In his left hand is a gun, in his
right hand is a micro cassette recorder. A gunshot and a scream
are heard as the camera moves up and in a fast 360° angle above
and circling the man, ending in a full overhead view of him.
The shot cuts to Adam, who reels in shock and disgust.
Holy shit!
He turns towards the tub and leans over, gagging and coughing.
Lawrence in the meantime hops forward the best he can, studying
the body with a look of fear and concern. Adam stops coughing
and turns back around, takes another look at the body and around
the room. He looks down at his chain then starts to completely
freak out, grabbing and pulling at his chain.
(screaming) HELP!!! (He falls back onto
his bottom on the floor as he yanks
at the chain as hard as he can.) HELP!!!
Help!
Lawrence just stands and watches him with an almost embarrassed,
appalled look at his behaviour. It seems that Lawrence, despite
being in the situation he’s in, is above that kind of uncontrolled
reaction. He speaks a bit coldly.
No one can hear you.
Adam stops pulling at the chain, stands up and looks to Lawrence,
his breathing fast and heavy. His voice is not yelling anymore
but still just as hysterical.
What the fuck is this?
Calm down, just calm down. (He knows
that to remain calm is to remain in
control, something he must be no matter
what the situation.) Are you hurt?
Adam looks down at himself, shrugging slightly.
I don’t know...yeah!
Lawrence moves over to the pipe in the corner, leaning against
it for support.
(calmly) What’s your name?
(sarcastic) My name is Very Fucking
Confused! (demanding) What’s your name?
What’s going on here?
(internal eye roll; he’s getting more
and more aggravated with Adam’s behaviour)
My name is Lawrence Gordon, I’m a doctor.
I just woke up here, just like you.
(He reaches up, wipes his face with
his sleeve)
Adam kneels back down facing the pipe, pulling at his chains
once more, but not with his prior panic. He winces at the metal
biting into his skin.
(in pain) Ah!
Lawrence looks at Adam with a look that seems to say I’m stuck
in here with THIS guy? He then glances down at the body.
Recognize him?
Adam continues to pull at his chains, does not and will not look
at the body, just shakes his head.
(sharply) No.
(trying to get SOMETHING out of this
kid) Well, do you have any idea how
you got here?
No.
What’s the last thing you remember?
Nothing. (he sits back onto the floor,
stops pulling at his chains for a moment.)
I went to bed in my shithole apartment,
and woke up in an actual shithole. (He
raises his left leg slightly, starts
trying to pull his foot out of the iron
cuff. He glances to Lawrence, who has
moved over to the wall to his left,
bent over slightly and resting a hand
against a pipe.) So what about you,
huh?
(He shrugs slightly, shaking his head.)
Well there’s...there’s not much to tell,
really. (Across the room, Adam gives
up with the chain for the time being
but remains sitting on the floor.) I
was on my way home from work and uh,
I don’t remember anything else.
Adam just sits there, glancing over to the body and then focusing
on it much more. The initial panic has worn off for now, replaced
simply with fear and shock. His voice is a bit softer.
First dead body I’ve ever seen. Look
different in real life. They don’t move.
Lawrence slowly lowers himself into a sitting position against
the wall. He pokes slightly at the iron cuff around his foot.
From the looks of these chains, someone
didn’t want us to go very far either.
Suddenly, Adam leaps up, lifting up his shirt and exposing his
abdomen. His panic is back, but not at full force like before.
He studies himself then glances to Lawrence.
Can you see any scars?
(looking at him strangely) What?
Huh? This is what they do man, (he gestures
to his stomach, where there are in fact
no scars.) They kidnap you and drug
you and before you know it, you’re in
a bathtub and your kidneys are on eBay.
(A ridiculous theory to us and to Lawrence,
but Adam states it with conviction.)
(a scoffing tone in his voice) No one
has taken your kidneys.
(disbelief) How can you tell from way
over there?
(matter of fact) Because you’d either
be in terrible agony, or you’d be dead
by now. Trust me.
What are you, a surgeon? (He lowers
his shirt and turns and bends down to
prod at the chain around the pipe again.)
Yeah. (He sighs. He’s getting tired
of Adam already. He speaks sharply.)
So, you gonna tell me your name, or
what?
Adam stands back up, turns to Lawrence, his voice once again
calm.
Adam.
(getting to his feet, his voice a bit
calmer) Well Adam, what we need to do
(he leans with one hand outstretched
against the pipe to his right. Adam
watches him, scared but calm) is start
thinking about why we’re here. Whoever
brought us there could’ve killed us
by now. But they didn’t. They must want
something from us. (He looks up and
around the room) Question is what. (He
sees something up on the wall, moves
forwards a bit towards it. We see that
it is a brand new clock on the wall,
ticking away. It reads currently at
10:22.) That clock.
What about it?
It’s brand new. (squints, studying it)
(not getting what he’s implying) So?
(sighs; it’s quite simple, why can’t
Adam see it?) So, someone obviously
wanted us to know the time. (Adam looks
a bit confused still, mulls over that
information. Lawrence thinks for a moment.)
Wait, I think I may be able to reach
that door.
Lawrence moves over as far as the chain will allow him to the
giant, wooden sliding door, pushing against it as hard as he
can. In the meantime, we see Adam thinking. He pauses, then reaches
down and starts going through his pockets. There is nothing in
the front two, but in his back left pocket he pulls out a plastic
baggie with a white envelope in it. He unfolds the baggie; the
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Karoline_Blackburn