Julie Benz, who played Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, took the role of Brit in Saw V hoping it would cure her fear of horror movies. It gave her nightmares instead, and she says the final trap in the film made her vomit on set.
She’d accepted the role hoping that seeing how the movies were made would make them easier for her to watch.
Recalling the experience on FEMME TOTALE with host Ivana Miličević in October 2026, Benz said, “I was hoping it would ruin the magic for me so then I could watch the movies because I find the movies so scary.”
Playing Brit put her inside the machinery that frightened her. “But the traps are so real, like when you’re in them, that I was having nightmares every night,” she said.
The final trap requires Brit and fellow survivor Mallick, played by Greg Bryk, to feed their arms into circular saws to collect 10 pints of blood and open a door. Director David Hackl described the practical setup in 2008 as “a true feat of engineering,” with a crew timing the blood effects to splatter on cue.
Benz said the effect of the saw cutting into her arm overwhelmed her. In a September 2024 interview on Don’t Go Out There, she placed the vomiting during rehearsal and said the nightmares lasted throughout her 2 weeks on set. She also recalled panicking over a key until Hackl reminded her the situation wasn’t real.
She’d been describing those nightmares since the film’s release year. In May 2008, Benz said she’d watched Saw IV the night before filming and was frightened by both that movie and the shoot. Her accounts of feeling sick were more tentative then: in June 2008, she said she’d had a bucket ready because she thought she’d vomit; that October, she said she’d almost thrown up.
Benz says the movie’s puppet, Billy, still haunts her. At conventions, fans bring the doll over because of how she reacts.
By October 2026, she still hadn’t watched Saw V. “And it’s the one movie I’ve never watched that I’ve been in,” Benz said.
