Saw X Review

During the noughties, the Saw franchise was a juggernaut. These films were crafted with low budgets but were highly profitable. Saw X aims to return to the franchise’s glory days by bringing back Tobin Bell and editor-turned-director Kevin Greutert.

In this installment, John Kramer (Bell) is dying of brain cancer and only has months to live. He learns of a revolutionary medical treatment from Henry (Michael Beach), a member of his cancer support group. However, when John goes to Mexico City, he is scammed by Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), forcing John Kramer to embark on a quest for revenge in his own special way

Back in 2004, Saw emerged as a cinematic revelation. It achieved the remarkable feat of raking in over $100 million in revenue while being crafted on a mere $1 million budget, catapulting the careers of James Wan and Leigh Whannell.  At its core, Saw featured a straightforward premise: two men wake up chained in a dilapidated bathroom and need to figure out why they were there. It was an effective horror film. As the series progressed it expected on its lore. It was a series that started the torture porn craze of the noughties.

However, as the series progressed it became overly complicated with each film having a duel narrative and complex mysteries. Simultaneously, the audience’s appetite for gory violence and the horror genre has changed since the series’ heyday. The quality of the films varied and none of the Saw films ever received a positive Rotten Tomatoes score, until now.

John Kramer, AKA Jigsaw is Tobin Bell’s most famous role, which has become a horror icon like Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhees. However, the character was killed off in the third film and the series wasted one of their greatest assets. To rectify this, Saw X acted as a throwback to the previous films with its look, setting, and place in the timeline.

The first torture sequence involving the eye-sucking machine did feel like it could have fitted in the original series. It was a gory moment that someone with a weak stomach would struggle with. I struggled because I have an eye phobia. It had the frenzy, tense editing that was prevalent in the first six films. The second half of the film was set in an abandoned factory, a grey, rundown building. It looked like could have been the setting in Saw II to The Final Chapter.

The filmmakers aimed to make a stripped-back film. The story is simple: John Kramer gets scammed when trying to get cancer treatment, leading him to seek revenge against the people who wronged him. There was no secondary plot about the police searching for Jigsaw or the captors trying to figure out why they had to play the game. The traps weren’t as elaborate, John made his captors self-mutilate themselves in his deranged game. All the activities were medically related, and one person had a particularly iconic trial. It’s a film that appeals to the ‘Romans in the Colosseum’ audience and they would get the sadistic pleasure from all the blood and guts.

The series has made efforts to make Jigsaw a more sympathetic character. Saw IV showed his wife suffered a miscarriage after an encounter with a drug addict.  The film was about how Jigsaw’s medical insurance refused coverage, so he put an insurance broker through the game. In Saw X he once again punishes bad people who ripped off some of the most desperate people, so Jigsaw is a vigilante with twisted methods of rehabilitation. Jigsaw was the lesser of two evils compared to Pedersen, a lying, manipulative narcissist who constantly tried to talk her way out of her situation.

There was a moral dilemma involving Gabriela (Renata Vaca). Gabriela is a drug addict who became involved with Pedersen out of desperation. Her involvement in the game led to a clash between Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) since Amanda was a recovering drug addict she had empathy for Gabriela. Amanda could see the moral greys compared to Jigsaw’s black-and-white view.

Saw X was one of the better films in the franchise. It worked better because it was a more character-driven film with a simpler plot. But it does pale in comparison to some of the recent offerings from the horror genre.