‘Saw X’ review: Dir. Kevin Greutert (2023)

Darren Lynn Bousman’s Spiral proved there was still life in the Book of Saw. Having directed Saw II, III, and IV, he returned with a story that branched away from the lore of original Jigsaw, John Kramer (Tobin Bell). Now Kevin Greutert, who directed Saw VI and VII, returns to the fold to oversee Saw X, which reprises the enigma that is John Kramer. 

Canonically occurring between the events at the end of Saw and the beginning of Saw II, Saw X joins John travelling to Mexico in search of a miracle cure for his cancer. Sadly, the operation is all part of a ruse, but John is not one to take being conned lightly. The medical team are about to find themselves in a very tricky situation. The Saw franchise has a long-standing history of reworking itself and its timeline. As each final act twist was revealed previously throughout the series, new flashbacks tied those films firmly into the lore. Saw X setting itself up as Saw 1.5 means that this trick isn’t necessary. Those familiar with the series, especially Saw VI, will know that there is a blind-spot of time; Saw X fills that slot nicely. It doesn’t perfectly fit, but there are enough well-knit threads to excuse the few loose ends.  

Audiences that flock to the Saw films solely for the traps and gore, will find a very different film waiting for them. Whereas Kevin Greutert’s previous two movies have been a consistent slew of traps, here the viewer requires patience. There are still plenty of devious opportunities for Jigsaw’s victims to ‘prove’ themselves, but the priority in Saw X is to highlight the man behind the puppet. What has become the traditional opening trap is therefore replaced by an extended focus on John Kramer, AKA Jigsaw. Although being intrinsically linked to the series, with the exception of Saw III, the character has had little time in the spotlight. Here he fully embraces centre-stage and Tobin Bell proves why he is one of genre cinemas finest working actors.  

The gleeful, almost campy, villain of Saw II is not the John seen in Saw X. This John is subdued. Though not quite meek, there is a deep sadness to the character. His prognosis is terminal and he is losing hope. Then a chance meeting with a former cancer group attendee provides him with a new opportunity. He is told about a doctor trialling a drug outside of the States. The drug is said to be a miracle cure, and in his desperation to live, John gets sucked into it. John being conned will be difficult for some die-hard fans to comprehend. This is a man who always has about twenty back-up plans. He thinks through every cause and effect that could arise. To see him so blindly drawn into a con is hard to reconcile. The key here though, is his drive to survive, and his hope, however fleeting, eclipses everything. 

Watching someone get the upper hand on the great Jigsaw is not as fun as it sounds. The Saw series is a horror franchise whose victims are never truly the focus. This series is built around John and his disciples, and so it is them that the audience secretly roots for. In Saw X the connection between audience and tormentor is pushed to its greatest lengths. Seeing John get duped is heartbreaking. Bell allows the frailty of John to shine for the first time, and his performance will leave the viewer with a pang in their heart. This strong bond to John means that the audience are right behind him as he seeks his bloody retribution. 

Also returning is Shawnee Smith’s Amanda Young. Despite not being a main character since the third film, Amanda has been present throughout and has become a firm fan favourite. Her reprisal, though welcome, doesn’t hit as hard as it should however. Smith is having to act through a very questionable wig, and she sometimes loses the battle. Amanda also is not given too much to do. There is a sense that Amanda’s presence is used purely to tick the canon box that she was Jigsaw’s helper at this stage. The emotional tie between John and Amanda isn’t as strong as that seen in Saw III and so some of the scenes between them feel a little flat. Nonetheless, their slight distance does makes sense as it isn’t until Saw II that Amanda fully embraces the cause. In some ways the events that transpire in Saw X clearly must impact on Amanda more directly than John. 

The more the Saw franchise continues, the more apparent it becomes that in the grand scale of JIgsaw traps, Doctor Gordon and Adam got off lightly. Whilst they had a couple of hours together in relative safety, no other trap has been as forgiving since. The traps here are fiendishly difficult, providing plenty of gory moments for the bloodhounds in the audience. These gory elements don’t go as extreme as in Saw III, but then the viewer is still in the world of John Kramer traps. Primarily one big group trap, this one functions differently to other group trials in the franchise. Rather than having to work together to achieve the common goal of survival, they instead take turns in trying to demonstrate their worth; it is a series of single tasks played out within a small arena for the others to watch in horror at. 

This method plants the seeds for the concept for Amanda’s trial in Saw II and the focus on one victim at a time is a welcome return. Later entries became chaotic and frantic, and with so many bodies jostling around it was hard to focus. Here, each character that had a hand in conning John has to fight for their freedom. Though there is an issue with the traps, which stems back to Greutert’s previous turns as director. Each trap is set to a timer, three minutes being the magic number. The problem is that in terms of screen time they all seem to go on for far longer than the prescribed time. This causes fatigue to set in, and removes the sense of jeopardy that the clock introduces. 

A welcome re-connection with a well-loved franchise, Saw X manages to maintain the consistency of the series. Whilst other horror franchises have awful inconsistency, Saw has managed to persevere both in terms of story continuity and quality. With such a strong focus on John Kramer, Saw X is a film for the long-serving Saw fans. There remains plenty of devilish traps to titillate the casual gore fan, but Saw X is really a love-letter to John Kramer. Tobin Bell gives a career and franchise best performance in Saw X and has created a fitting swan song for a horror icon. 

Saw X arrives in cinemas from 29th September 2023.