Saw III director explains 'one of the most brutal' scenes so disturbing he had to fight for movie rating

As the third Saw film celebrates two decades on our screens, the director of the cult favourite previously revealed how one of the most 'brutal' scenes almost stopped the movie from getting an R-rating.

Released on October 27 2006, the movie follows serial killer Jigsaw as he attempts to carry out one final series of deadly tests while his health is rapidly deteriorating.

John Kramer, who is known as the iconic Jigsaw, is suffering from a terminal illness and so his apprentice, Amanda Young, is helping him carry out his final plans.

But it was the inclusion of one particular scene that meant director Darren Lynn Bousman had to repeatedly plead with execs at the MPA (Motion Picture Association) to get the movie rated-R in the US.

It is over what has become known as a brutal sequence known as the 'freezer room'. It involves a naked woman called Danica being restrained in a freezer before she is subjected to freezing water.

She then catches hypothermia and dies while frozen solid and wrapped in ice. She was placed in the freezer trap after is was revealed she was the sole witness to the hit-and-run crash that killed Jeff Denlon's son Dylan years before.

Over the years, the freezer scene has received a noticeable amount of discussion in Reddit forums, describing it as 'one of the most brutal' scenes in the franchise.

It's noted as one of the most painful tests in the movie series that is often forgotten about.

Bousman explained that the film repeatedly received an NC-17 rating because of this sequence specifically, which stands for 'No One 17 and Under Admitted'.

It is classed as the strictest motion picture rating issued by the MPA in the United States.

However, both the first and second Saw films had received R ratings, meaning that children under 17 require an accompanying parent or adult guardian to view the movie in a theatre in the USA.

Bousman explained how he sought advice from horror director Rob Zombie, who suggested a different approach to presenting the scene, as he fought to get the film reduced to an R-rating.

In a post on X from 2021, Bousman wrote: "Saw III trivia. I had to call @RobZombie and ask for help with the MPA.

"Saw III received the NC-17 half a dozen times. Rob gave me advice on how to get that R."

In an interview Bousman explained that showing more of the scene in wide shots and cutting some scenes viewed as 'sexualised' helped him secure the lower rating, making the film more accessible to audiences.

He previously told BloodyDisgusting: “I remember a decade back having such a hard time getting the ‘R’ rating on SAW III.

"At the time, the issue was the naked woman being frozen to death. I remember going back and forth trying to get that scene approved.

"I became so frustrated that I reached out to Zombie because he had always been given the ‘R’ on his films, which I felt were more intense and violent."

He then went on to describe how the scene was made to be 'more sad and tragic' with wide shots, which also took away the sexuality of the scene.

“Basically, the more I cut out and tried to cut around the scene, the more shocking it would become to the viewer," he went on to explain.

"By inserting wide shots, the scene became sad and tragic. It also took away all sexuality – the very last thing I wanted was that scene to feel sexual in any way.

"I ended up writing an email to the MPA stating my case, and eventually, they allowed it to stay."