For the second Saw film, Darren Lynn Bousman (he also directed Saw III, Saw IV and Repo! The Genetic Opera) joined Leigh Whannell to create the further story of Jigsaw. Bousman had been trying to sell a similar story called The Desperate that became the initial script for this film (Wan was making the underrated Dead Silence).

This time, the traps got bigger and more horrifying, the result of the increased budget. The puppet Billy had been made by Wan out of papier-mâché, but now he was a high tech creation able to deliver all of Jigsaw’s instructions.

Detective Allison Kerry (the returning Dina Meyer) finds a message for her old partner Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) at one of Jigsaw’s crime scenes. There, they find John Kramer (Tobin Bell), who has eight people trapped in a house, including Eric’s son Daniel and the only person to survive one of Jigsaw’s games, Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith). The other six are all connected because Eric has framed them for crimes.

All John Kramer asks of Eric is to talk to him and he’ll make sure that his son survives. But come on. If it was that easy, why would we have a film?

None of the actors were given the last 25 pages of the script and five different endings were shot. That’s how crazy everyone was about keeping the plot a secret.