Horror Movie Review: SAW X (2023)

SAW X is the tenth instalment in the long-running SAW franchise. It was directed by Kevin Greutert, releasing in 2023. The film serves as a direct sequel to SAW (2004) and as a prequel to SAW II (2005) and sees Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith reprising their roles from the previous films.

John Kramer is told he has only months to live due to advanced brain cancer. He attends a cancer support group meeting and befriends Henry Kessler, who later claims he has been cured by an experimental Norwegian cancer treatment conducted by a group led by Dr. Pederson. A desperate John contacts the doctor’s daughter Cecilia, who refers him to her clinic outside Mexico City.

On arrival in Mexico, John is driven to the clinic and introduced to Cecilia and her team as well as others patients. John goes under for surgery and awakens to Cecilia telling him that he is now cancer-free. Finding a new lease on life, he purchases the clinic a gift. However, upon returning to there, he finds it abandoned and realizes the entire operation was a scam.

From this point on, John has only revenge on his mind. He sets out to capture all of the members of the clinic who lied and wronged him as well as those before him. Once caught, they will become subject to John’s Jigsaw games.

I’m aware that I could be somewhat in the minority on this but I really didn’t like this film. Let me start with what I believe are the positive aspects. Firstly, it was great to see Tobin Bell back doing what he does best. Any of the negatives that I am going to highlight have nothing to do with his performance in the film at all. Seeing Jigsaw and Amanda back together gave me the feelings of nostalgia that I was hoping for. In fact, Tobin Bell gets to do more here than he has in any previous SAW movie in terms of acting. We see much more of a range here as he manages to slip back into the role of John Kramer effortlessly.

The traps in SAW X are the most convoluted they have ever been. In fact, they are so vicious at this point that I found it too unbelievable that Jigsaw somehow continues to find people willing to partake in them at all. It would be refreshing to see someone outright refuse and just die, I’d find more believable. Still, the traps are cool looking and some of the gore is downright tremendously gruesome. Some of the gore related moments even had me feeling a bit squeamish. If there is one thing that a SAW film always nails, it’s the torture porn.

Right, my biggest issue with SAW X is that it gets its message and tone completely wrong. Just because John Kramer has cancer and some people screwed up, it doesn’t make him some kind of justified hero. Basically, Jigsaw is a horror movie villain with villain being the key word. I know, he presents morally grey scenarios and that’s fun to dissect and debate. I think it goes a bit far when it appears as if we are supposed to be championing Jigsaw as a hero over evil.

I would say I was surprised with how sentimental this film is in the ways in which is doubles down on humanising Jigsaw. In some ways it reminded me of what Rob Zombie did with Michael Myers, I wasn’t a fan of that either. We all already sympathise with John over the mistakes surrounding his cancer diagnosis, did we really need more sympathy? It lays it on way too thick for me. This isn’t helped by Tobin Bell looking noticeably older for obvious reasons. He’s old, frail and had his good nature taken advantage of, sympathy overload.

Not to mention, John getting fooled and tricked. This is supposed to be John at his height, right after SAW (2003). I’m not really a fan of him being portrayed as some kind of old fool at this point in the story to be honest.

The traps used by Jigsaw & Amanda are unfair as hell. I thought the point was that the people were at least given a chance? The time constraints are next level here. Some of the people barely hesitate and yet still fail which just felt nonsensical. Doesn’t John kill Amanda for pretty much the same thing in SAW III? Also, the severity of the traps don’t accurately fit the crime in my mind but what do I know. I take issue with the complexity of these traps compared to the ones seen at this point in the timeline. All Dr Gordon needs to do is cut off his foot to save his family from being murdered, which looks so tame by comparison.

They want John to look like the hero so bad that they have Cecilia be the villain of the film instead. There’s a scene in which she gets the better of John and tortures him a bit. Honestly, I found it a bit enjoyable because he definitely deserves that and probably worse for what he does. I don’t think it evoked the desired emotion from me.

I know most people won’t care but as a fan of SAW I was thinking about the timeline of this film and I found it left it feeling rather messy. This is especially true when you think about the ending and where the hell that could be heading.

Overall, SAW X is in no way a bad movie technically. There’s the nostalgia factor which is always enjoyable and the familiar events that go alongside it. It does attempt something a bit different but it will certainly come down to individual taste if you enjoy the flavour.