As far as messengers of doom and gloom go, very few match or surpass the level of creepiness achieved by the Saw franchise’s Billy the Puppet. The franchise brought a new level of terror to the horror genre from the first movie right up to the last, so it’s no surprise that a key part of the movies is literally the stuff of nightmares.
While the franchise was defined by the horrendous death traps and blood-curdling screams of Jigsaw’s test subjects as their lives came to a tragic, excruciating end, Billy’s appearances added an extra layer of dread to the horrorfests. His emotionless stare, bone-chilling cackle, and delivery of Jigsaw’s epic lines painted the words, “I want to play a game,” in a new and horrifying light that still remains more than a decade after the first movie premiered.
Billy’s First Game
![Saw: 10 Creepiest Billy The Puppet Appearances In The Franchise](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billys-First-Game.jpg)
Billy first appeared in the 2003 movie Saw, while Amanda Young was telling the story of her Jigsaw test in a flashback sequence. When she woke up in a strange room with a huge, metal contraption on her head, a TV switched on suddenly, showing Billy’s face with eyes black as coal as Jigsaw’s dark, low voice narrated the rules of her game.
The majority of Billy’s appearances throughout the franchise were through the TV following the hair-raising crackle of static, similar to his first appearance. While those other appearances were also sudden and scary, the very first time it happened was the scariest because it was so unexpected.
Billy On A Bike
![Billy the puppet from Saw riding a bike](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billy-On-A-Bike.jpg)
After Amanda successfully removed the reverse bear trap, seconds before it ripped her face open, Billy made another appearance in person (sort of) this time. While the second appearance in a matter of minutes didn’t seem likely to be scarier than the first, Billy surpassed his previous creepiness when he slowly rode in on a tricycle to congratulate Amanda.
The combination of the slow creak of his bike when he rode in and Jigsaw’s bone-chilling voice as he told Amanda that she’d passed the test and gained a new appreciation for life never fails to get the audience’s hearts racing.
Billy Laughing In The Dark
![Billy the puppet laughing in the dark](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billy-Laughing-In-The-Dark.jpg)
One of Jigsaw’s first test subjects in Saw was Adam, the first to die a slow, sad death in the bathroom of horrors. He was a private investigator who made a living out of following people around and taking incriminating photos of them. While he was telling Doctor Gordon how he was captured, he described feeling like someone was in the house with him moments before he was knocked out.
The lights were out so he used his camera flash to light up different sections of the house for a split second at a time. The eerie darkness coupled with the chilling whirr of the camera every time it flashed as he walked from room to room was creepy enough, and then Billy’s hair-raising cackle filled the room. The next flash of the camera showed Billy laughing just before Adam was captured.
Billy’s Boobytrap
![Bully the puppet's boobytrap](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billys-Boobytrap.jpg)
In Saw II, the police caught up to Jigsaw and found his lair filled with death traps and mannequins that looked like they’d been on the wrong end of a torture device. The whole thing seemed too easy and as it turned out, it was. The uniformed officers walked right into a trap and who better to signal their doom than Billy on his tricycle, accompanied by his creepy cackle.
Once Billy started cackling, all hell broke loose. One of the officers set off a tripwire that broke his legs and trapped the others in an electrocuted cage. Billy’s laughter mingled with the screams of the officers made the horrific incident one that’s not easy to forget.
Candle-lit Billy
![Billy the puppet surrounded by candles in Saw](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Candle-lit-Billy.jpg)
Sometimes, Billy didn’t need to pop onto a screen or ride slowly into a room to creep people out. Saw IV had one such occasion when Agent Perez and Agent Strahm opened a door and found Billy in the room. He was sitting on a chair with a tape hanging from his neck, surrounded by candles on the floor.
As if that wasn’t scary enough, when Agent Perez played the tape, Billy warned her that her next move would be critical before whispering something else. She moved closer to hear better and Billy’s eyes moved slowly to the side before his face exploded, sending shrapnel into her face and throat while he cackled maniacally.
Hangman Billy
![Hangman Billy](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Hangman-Billy.jpg)
Saw VI detailed William’s test as Jigsaw held him accountable for his unscrupulous methods of determining who deserved to get health insurance and the resulting deaths from his careless decisions. After rigorous tests, where he had to make difficult decisions between who would live and who would die, the test turned out not to be completely his after all and he died a painful, acidic death.
During one of William’s tests, Billy swung into the room, hanging by his neck from a noose of barbed wire to explain the rules of the game. Two of William’s workmates had similar nooses around their necks and he had to choose who would live and who would hang like Billy.
Billy Goes To Town
![Billy the puppet goes to town](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billy-Goes-To-Town.jpg)
Saw VII’s opening scene was a love triangle gone deadly wrongly when two men and a woman woke up in a glass box in the middle of town, tied to a chainsaw contraption. Billy rode slowly into the makeshift room on his tricycle to tell the two men they were being played by one woman and explain the rules of the game, giving them a choice to either kill her, the other man, or die.
His unsettling appearance, coupled with the eerie voice of Jigsaw telling the players of the game to choose whether they live or die is certainly one of the creepiest Billy moments in the movie.
Billy Crashing In
![Billy the puppet inside a cage](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Billy-Crashing-In.jpg)
When Bobby lied about surviving a Jigsaw trap, Jigsaw took it as a challenge rather than call him out on it. He rounded up everyone who helped Bobby perpetuate his ruse, including his PR manager, lawyer, and best friend, and even his wife who had no idea it had all been a lie. Bobby’s test was to save his associates from the elaborate torture devices Jigsaw trapped them in.
Of course, Billy was present to taunt him at every turn through audio tapes and TV appearances. During one test, Billy crashed through a window into the room, swinging in a cage. The move was meant to demonstrate the feeling of fear Bobby was experiencing over whether he could save anyone and sadly, he couldn’t.
Glow-In-The-Dark Billy
![Billy the puppet glowing red eyes in the dark](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Glow-in-The-Dark-Billy.jpg)
Like all the other Saw movies, Jigsaw had convoluted timelines (leading to some plot holes), terrifying bloody scenes, and crazy plot twists. After 7 movies, during which Billy appeared in one form or another, it was hard to imagine he could get any creepier but Jigsaw proved he could. The group of 4 players in one of Jigsaw’s earlier games were approached by Billy after passing their first test.
But this wasn’t the Billy the audience knew and were now used to. His eyes were glowing red in the dark as he rode into the room on his tricycle with a card written “Confess,” hanging from his neck. To make matters worse, he started laughing his signature bone-chilling cackle.
Red-Eyed Billy
![Red-eyed Billy the puppet](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Red-eyed-Billy.jpg)
Somehow, Billy with glowing eyes was even scarier during his second appearance in Jigsaw. Like most of his appearances throughout the franchise, this one was on a TV screen. However, unlike his other TV appearances, this one had better resolution, illuminating the white paint on his face and the red spirals on his cheeks more clearly.
His glowing eyes were even creepier on-screen than when he appeared in person as he explained that the only way they’d be freed from their trap would be to rely on a player who’d already shown to be self-serving.