Among horror movies, the Saw series has a certain unfavorable reputation. The series began with 2004’s Saw, followed by Saw II, Saw III, and so forth. With the passage of time, the Saw movies have widely been seen as declining artistically, and are best known today for their excessive gore. But there is still some merit to even the most redundant entries in the franchise–assuming, of course, that you have a strong stomach.

“It definitely is different from your general thrillers,” junior Dominic Barrett says approvingly. So, with Saw XI up and coming, let’s take a look at what gives the Saw flicks such longevity.

Saw and its sequels center on the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). Having a unique appreciation for life thanks to his terminal brain cancer, Jigsaw kidnaps people he feels take their lives for granted. These poor souls are deposited into “games:” Jigsaw’s cheery term for a series of inventively brutal death traps, often themed around the supposed faults of their victims.

As Jigsaw instructs his victims in some seriously chilling audio messages, their only way to escape is to complete painful challenges in a given time period. A man who secretly self-harmed, for example, must crawl through razor wire to escape a room being filled with poison gas. (Not for nothing does this series have a grim reputation.)

Jigsaw might initially seem understandable, in his own homicidal way. His stated goal, after all, is to push his victims to appreciate their lives, which hopefully causes them to abandon their vices and reach their full potential. It does make sense that exposing people to danger would suddenly cause them to rethink their lives and values.

But the Saw franchise shines by holding a mirror to this image. Jigsaw may say that he is helping people, but most of his victims do not survive his deadly traps, for very human reasons. They were too panicked to think clearly; they couldn’t endure the pain or injury required to escape; they had to make difficult moral choices; sometimes they tried to complete the task, and simply ran out of time. Jigsaw is also prepared to place his victims’ loved ones in traps, expanding his violence to people who had nothing to do with his designs.

In order to develop its theme, the Saw franchise draws on a remarkable cast of characters. Of these, the most memorable is decidedly Jigsaw, whose past is fleshed out incrementally from film to film. We gradually come to understand how and why this once harmless man became a master manipulator, chilling even when he is bedridden. Tobin Bell carries the franchise, appearing in nine of the ten Saw films yet released. His performance of Jigsaw combines sharp, incisive intellect with a troubling coldness and detachment, at times juxtaposed by stark self-righteous outrage.

This is juxtaposed by the attitudes of Jigsaw’s apprentices, victims of his traps who have been recruited to his cause. One of the most interesting parts of the Saw movies as a whole is observing the dynamics between Jigsaw and his crew, how his paternal moralizing conflicts with their inexperienced impulsiveness. I won’t mention anyone by name, as the revelation of who is secretly working for Jigsaw is a key plot twist in many of the movies. Still, each accomplice has their own fascinating personality–from loyal acolytes, to cunning planners in their own right, to simple vindictive thugs.

Characters like these help keep the viewer’s attention through each movie’s roller-coaster plot. Victims move from one inventive death trap to the next, and it’s never certain who will live or die. One never knows what else Jigsaw has in store for them. All the while, members of law enforcement investigating Jigsaw edge closer to understanding his past, and the true nature of his game. Each movie ends with a plot twist that turns the film on its head, showing crucial moments we did not see, or recontextualizing ones we did.

And to round it all out, the films (especially early in the series) look and sound amazing. Jigsaw’s death games typically take place in sparse locations with dark or muted colors. The sets build a sense of unease, aided in no small part by the chilling string score. In some scenes, the camera swings around trap victims as they cycle through different reactions to their predicament: initially horrified, briefly defiant, and finally, preparing to comply with Jigsaw’s demands.

I will reiterate that the Saw films can get gruesome. This is not a horror experience for the faint of heart. But for horror fans who like their scares visceral, this franchise can’t be beat. “I definitely have found scenes that made me very uncomfortable,” Barrett admits. “But you should go into that with an open mind, because it’s part of a story.”