A young man named Adam wakes to find himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a decrepit subterranean chamber. Chained to the opposite side of the room is another bewildered captive, Dr. Lawrence Gordon. Between them is a dead man lying in a pool of blood, holding a .38 in his hand. Neither man knows why he has been abducted, but instructions left on a microcassette order Dr. Gordon to kill Adam within eight hours. If he fails to do so, then both men will die; Dr. Gordon’s wife, Alison, and his daughter will also be killed. Recalling a recent murder investigation by a police detective named Tapp, Dr. Gordon realizes he and Adam are the next victims of a psychopathic genius known only as “Jigsaw.” With only a few hours left to spare, they must unravel the elaborate puzzle of their fate in the midst of mounting terror. The killer has provided them with only a few clues and two handsaws--too weak to break their steel shackles, but strong enough to cut through flesh and bone.

A deranged convict seeks revenge on the attorney who improperly defended him.

Three aspiring ad-men take a weekend in the wilderness, brainstorming for their first assignment: to overhaul the image of a once-household cleaning product, Claractix. While in the woods, a girlfriend's mysterious disappearance sparks a harrowing descent into unreality. Personalities contort into extremes and visits are made by a specter from Claractix campaigns of the past as the film careens towards its startling climax.

Three friends accidently hit and kill someone while they are driving drunk. They opt not to tell anyone about the murder and, in time, they pretend to forget about it. Their crime comes back to haunt them the following summer when they each start receiving mysterious letters from someone who knows what they've done.