As Saw VI hits theaters this weekend, let’s look back at the fright franchise's most screamingly sexy ladies.
In 2004, the original Sawheralded a new approach to terror that ushered in its own extreme movie genre, dubbed by those who disapprove to be “torture porn.”
Just as Saw indirectly begat Wolf Creek (2005), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), and Eli Roth’s Hostel (2005) and Hostel Part II (2007), it also spawned sequels that have become an annual cinematic happening every Halloween weekend.
The follow-up roster thus far is Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008) and, now, Saw VI (2009).
For all its spectacular violence, the Saw cycle has been surprisingly skingy, but it does not skimp on stocking the screen with sexbombs who have appeared nude elsewhere.
One caveat: ferociously sexy villainess Shawnee Smith, who’s appeared in every Saw movie so far, has still not done a nude scene. Why does she torture us so?
Until Shawnee strips, then, allow Mr. Skin to point you in the Saw sirens’ proper naked directions.
1. JULIE BENZ
See Her in Saw(s):V
The Buzz: Fresh-faced, hard-bodied blonde Julie Benz is most familiar as Rita, the clueless mom married to a serial killer on Dexter. Julie’s breakout role came in Jawbreaker (1999), and she’s worked steadily (and aged beautifully) since then, notably returning to the big screen in Rambo (2008). In Saw V, Julie saves herself by fatally neck stabbing a fellow victim of evil mastermind Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). Those things happen.
Jig Off:Darkdrive (1996)
(1:08) Julie brings rapid acceleration to this sci-fi tale of an auto-intensive future, flashing her headlights and even some back bumper as she rides a guy to glory in the sack.
*
2. DINA MEYER
See Her in Saw(s): I, II, III, IV
The Buzz: Delectable Dina Meyer debuted as Detective Allison Kerry in the very first Saw and returned for the next three sequels. You’ll have to see the last of these to find out why Dina didn’t return for Saw V. Elsewhere, this curly-maned athlete and dancer portrayed Batgirl on the superheroine TV series Birds of Prey, a Romulan in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and she flashed her fabulous fanny in Poodle Springs (1998). Dina’s debut nude scene, in the cult classic Starship Troopers, remains legendary.
Jig Off:Starship Troopers (1997)
(0:30) As Dizzy Flores, Dina soaps up with her fellow male and female grunts in a coed Intergalactic Marines shower. Later on, she busts out her bombers while on intimate maneuvers with a dude while bivouacking.
*
3. BETSY RUSSELL
See Her in Saw(s): IV, V, VI
The Buzz: In the mid-1980s, the B-movie bombshell seemingly most destined for A-list stardom was D-cupped lovely Betsy Russell. She appeared, oftentimes nude, in some of the era’s most enduring exploitation favorites: Out of Control (1984), Avenging Angel (1985), Tomboy (1985), Cheerleader Camp (1987), and the film for which she will ever remain immortal, Private School (1983). After a great nude scene in Delta Heat (1992), Betsy slipped away from show business until her amazing comeback in Saw IV, where she plays the ex-wife of the man who became Jigsaw. Now Betsy is as permanent and potent a fixture in the Saw series as that scary puppet on the tricycle.
Jig Off:Private School (1983)
(0:19) What is the greatest topless horseback-riding movie scene of all time? This is the greatest topless horseback-riding movie scene of all time: bare-breasted Betsy mounting a steed and galloping all over the titular campus with her ample upper anatomy bobbing in time to every hoof beat.
*
4. DEBRA McCABE
See Her in Saw(s): III
The Buzz: The only babe to actually go nude in a Saw movie, Canuck knockout Debra McCabe rose from small parts on Canadian TV to her Saw III breakthrough to ongoing roles of interest, including the character Emily Nuez on the north-of-the-border teen phenomenon Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Jig Off: Saw III (2006)
(0:42) The crime for which Jigsaw punishes Debra’s character is not responding properly when she witnesses a tragic automobile accident. In accordance to the Saw scales of justice, she is strung up, full-frontally nude, in a sub-zero ice chamber and sprayed with freezing water. Maybe you think you’ve seen stiff nipples before, but Debra clearly aims to set some kind of record here.
*
5. EMMANUELLE VAUGIER
See Her in Saw(s): II, IV
The Buzz: French-tongued, Vancouver-born vixen Emmanuelle Vaugier not only shares the first name of one of cinema’s great erotic icons, she delivers an appropriate smoldering intensity with her every performance. Emmanuelle’s sorry Saw fate was to have her arm trapped in a razor-slicing device, but she triumphed anew in the super-powered title role of the action romp Painkiller Jane (2005). She also landed at #31 on Maxim’s Hot 100 countdown of the world’s sexiest starlets in 2006.
Jig Off:40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
(0:09) Emmanuelle debuted nude with a topless swim in Hysteria (1998), but her most prominent unclothed exposure to date happens here, while she bucks and moans atop Josh Hartnett in bed.
*
6. KAREN CLICHE
See Her in Saw(s): VI
The Buzz: The last name of five-foot-ten temptress Karen Cliche is pronounced “kleesh”, which is fitting, as there is nothing clich whatsoever about this supermodel-beautiful up-and-comer’s rise to stardom. Karen’s first film, Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde (1999), not only revealed her transfixing nude form, it set her on track for an impressively varied career that mixes sex (MTV’s Undressed) with horror (Vampire High), comic-book action (Mutant X) and science fiction (Flash Gordon). All this, of course, makes Karen a perfect addition to the roster of Saw knockouts. Welcome to the gore house, gorgeous.
Jig Off: Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde (1999)
(0:09) Karen canoodles nude in bed with Adam Baldwin, showing off her taut, deliciously tiny-teated torso, which she then sumptuously scrubs in the shower.
