SCENESTEALER

He’s dispatched his many victims via ingenious but seemingly decrepit devices made of found objects arranged in lethal combinations: the decapitating Venus flytrap, the incendiary furnace, the impaling razor-spike pit. But without “Saw” production designer David Hackl’s ante-upping imagination, the maniacal murderer known as Jigsaw would be hogtied. “It’s a codependent relationship,” Hackl admits. Having designed the grisly “traps” for the last three films in the “Saw” series, Hackl has learned to fine-tune his horrific creations with a few rules: (1) Each trap’s design must telegraph its lethal modus operandi. “I want them to be visceral,” he says.(2) The low-tech traps must really work. “They’re iconic, beautiful kinetic sculptures -- in an oddly horrific way. (3) However, while appearing lethal, they must always be actor-friendly. “They cannot tear someone apart,” he says, laughing, “or we’re in trouble!”

-- Ron Magid