Ironically, a horror movie full of deaths has saved thousands of lives thanks to a blood drive.
Saw is one of the most successful horror franchises in contemporary cinema with 8 films that have enchanted audiences with bloody scenes of torture and death.
The film saga also paved the way for James Wan to become one of the genre’s most acclaimed directors.
However, the film saga did not start out as a success. Saw 1 It was the second film directed by James Wan and the first made with a Hollywood studio, so in 2004 he was not a recognized filmmaker.
Despite having an attractive cast, relying on rookie directors is always a risk; both for Hollywood, and for the audience; for that reason, Lionsgate began a campaign that left a legacy greater than that of the franchise itself.
The production company announced Jigsaw Halloween Blood Drive, a move in which viewers who did not want to pay for a ticket to see the film could donate blood.
Saw 1 was a box office hit grossing over $ 100 million, so it was a natural step to create a sequel.
Though Saw became an established horror franchise, Lionsgate did not stop the blood drive. By 2009, with the sixth installment, more than 120,000 people had donated blood in exchange for a ticket.
Jigsaw Halloween Blood Drive became an altruistic event and highly anticipated by horror fans, as no other franchise has created anything like it.
In addition, the marketing team of the production company created a new character to promote the campaign: a creepy nurse who has her own posters.
The nurse has never appeared in the movies, but she became an important character for fans of Saw, because the ads are eye-catching.
Lionsgate partnered with the American Red Cross to ensure the safety and legality of the blood drive.
By 2017, with the premiere of the last installment of the saga, the blood collected from Jigsaw Halloween Blood Drive had saved 360 thousand lives in the United States and they continue to add up.
Although the main Saw saga ended that same year, Lionsgate will release Spiral, a spin off starring Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson, whose premiere will also encourage blood donation.
The altruistic work of donating blood is not the only positive point of the Jigsaw Halloween Blood Drive campaign, because also in 2017 they became defenders of LGBTQ + rights.
Blood donation rules in the United States prevented gay men from donating blood if they had had sex with someone of the same sex in the past 12 months, even if they had been in a monogamous relationship for years.
The 2017 campaign posters included the phrase “Everyone is welcome”, inviting members of the LGBTQ community, who were previously unable to donate blood, to join.
In this way, the donation of blood from Saw It not only saved thousands of lives, but it made a difference in campaigns that had a potentially discriminatory bias.
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