Clue Symbols

Movies

Short Film

Clue Symbols
Information
Appearances	Saw (2003)
Purpose	Leading David to the key for the reverse bear trap
Used by	Unnamed killer

“	There is only one key to open the device. It is in the stomach of your dead cellmate. Look around, David. Know that I'm not lying.	”
	— The killer informs David about the key.

Clue Symbols are symbols from the Saw franchise, appearing in the original short film Saw.

History

David's Test

In June 2003, a psychopathic killer targeted a hospital orderly named David. One day, David was about to leave the hospital after ending his shift. However, while waiting for the elevator, the killer suddenly approached him from behind, knocked him out with a bludgeon, and took him to an abandoned location. He strapped David to a chair and put a mechanical contraption on his head. This device was hooked into David's upper and lower jaws. He also abducted another man and injected him with an opiate overdose, rendering him unable to move or feel anything. When the kidnapper prepared David's game, he made the second victim swallow a key and painted a black question mark on his stomach. After finishing all of his preparations, the killer left the building.

Shortly afterward, David woke up. Although initially confused, he quickly panicked upon realizing he was trapped. David desperately tried to free himself from the chair but stopped when a TV turned on next to him. A mechanical ventriloquist puppet appeared on-screen and introduced him to a perfidious game. The doll described the device on his head as a "reverse bear trap" and demonstrated its deadly function on a mannequin's head. The trap would rip David's mouth open if he did not free himself within 60 seconds. To do so, he had to cut the key to the device from the stomach of his supposedly dead cellmate.

When the TV turned off, David panicked again. After initially struggling, he ultimately freed his arms from his restraints. However, as he got up from the chair, a metal pin was pulled out of the deadly device, setting off the timer. David eventually spotted the seemingly lifeless body of his cellmate and the black question mark painted on his stomach. After a brief hesitation, David realized his cellmate was not dead but only paralyzed. Nonetheless, he took a knife lying next to him and repeatedly stabbed the helpless man.

After killing him, David searched through his stomach for the key. When he eventually found it, he unlocked the trap and freed himself only moments before its activation. Horrified by these events, David started crying when the mechanical puppet approached him on a tricycle. It congratulated him for his survival, telling him he had finally learned to appreciate his life. In a panic, David fled and ultimately found a way out of the building. (Saw)