Jigsaw "Billy" caricature 2010

For whom the Tobin Bell Tolls

Kind of like a twisted combination of the Joker and Pee Wee Herman, Billy doesn't, play well with others, so to speak. 

Ah the Billy puppet from John "Jigsaw" Kramer, the disarmingly creepy mascot of the SAW movies- the little franchise that could and eventually did become as frustrating and confusing as its titular antagonist. The first film was an intriguing and suspenseful well staged and directed student film which had garnered a cult following. However the lure of the sequel machine meant this series was in trouble by movie 3 and by the 7th that original fan base was decimated.
The concept was simple enough: What do you get when to combine the Zodiac Killer with Home Alone and the board game Mouse Trap?

However though the first installment had some star power in the form of Danny Glover and Cary Elwes along with one of the film's writers as a protagonist. The film was staged in a dank and uninviting place- to paraphrase Trap Door- it lends its frightening nature to the small cast and the intimate relationship of the imprisoned to the jailer.
By the sequel the shine had diminished and the "D" list celebrities began showing up, to be killed in various hellish if not ironic ways (think the killer from the movie 7 if he had more of a budget).
And yes- this character is a ventriloquist's dummy with a painted wooden nutcracker's head and no one is entirely sure if it's actually alive.

As a kid growing up in the 90's the books of R.L Stine (basically the Stephen King for preteen demographic) was the go to source for cheap paperback horror.

I drew this one back in 2010 as part of a movie monster mascot retrospective.