Stephen King once noted that good horror reacts to the common fears of the people.  In the nuclear 1950s, the films were about attacks of the fifty foot ant, crab, or spider or woman because most Americans were afraid of the unknown future of the atom. 

From there, with increased space exploration, we looked toward the skies to scare us.  2001.  The Alien series. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 

Terminator was something of a hybrid.  Technology and the notion of Big Brother has always gripped our hearts, and a hybrid piece of machine-gun totting technology that spits out led justice at someone else's command, well, there you have it.  You can see it in theMatrix, too.  Our fear that we the masters of technology have now become its servant. 

But lately, it's Saw.  Jigsaw and his gore fest have captivated America and the formula fits.  As a former intelligence analyst, I can say with confidence that a man who kidnaps strangers off the street, subjects them to torture to suit his own malformed ideology, and uses that subsequent fear to advance his own cause is a textbook terrorist (also known as a whacko, or nutjob).

The parallels don't end there, either.  Jigsaw died in Saw V, yet the folks in Hollywood keep making Saw movies without their main antagonist.  Just like we'd like to think the Saw franchise would die with its star actor, we'd also like to think that knocking out Osama Bin Laden would put an end to Al Qaeda.  Tragically, such is not the fate of radical ideology, but that's exactly what we're afraid of.  The only thing more terrifying than a man willing to dismember others for an obscure purpose is that killing him won't stop him.  In fact, his death, his martyrdom that is, only seems to elevate the cause (it's little surprise that Saw VI's tagline is "Trust In Him", a clear association to Jigsaw's elevation to a godlike status following his death.)

It will be interesting to see how the Saw franchise comes to a close.  While a tactical strike from a predator drone may end a movie, it won't prevent a sequel from happening.  Maybe in Saw VI the good guy will sit down with Jigsaw's female protege and have a heartfelt discussion over the clash of civilizations and the marrying of ideological causes with resource competition.   Or maybe he'll just blow her head off.