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Saw X

◄ Spiral Saw X — ►

Saw X is an American-Mexican horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. It was the tenth film in the Saw franchise and was released on September 29, 2023.

Plot

Following the events of the first Saw film, John Kramer visits the hospital and is informed that he only has a few months to live due to his advancing cancer disease. However, during a conversation with Henry Kessler, whom he knows from a cancer support group, John learns about Dr. Cecilia Pederson, who travels the world and vows to save as many terminally ill patients as possible with an experimental yet unapproved treatment method developed by her father. When John contacts Cecilia, she offers him the opportunity to participate in her current test series against a payment of $250,000. It takes place outside of Mexico City because Cecilia is forced to hide from influential pharmaceutical companies that want to put an end to her research. Therefore, she built an improvised clinic inside an abandoned chemical plant. Shortly after his arrival, John seemingly undergoes surgery and believes to be cured. However, when he returns to the factory to thank Cecilia and her team, John learns that the operation was a scam and that he was never actually treated.

Following this reveal, John abducts a taxi driver, Diego, who acted as the neurosurgeon Dr. Ramón Cortez. He takes him to the chemical plant, interrogates him about the other scammers, and then subjects him to a cruel test. Diego has three minutes to cut off two pipe bombs that are connected to his forearms via galvanized cables. He survives his challenge, and his wounds are treated by John. Afterward, John uses the information he learned from Diego to kidnap the latter's co-conspirators. Upon doing so, he is aided by his accomplice, Amanda Young. Besides Cecilia, the scammers include the veterinarian Mateo, who posed as an anesthesiologist, the prostitute Valentina, who acted as a nurse]], and the drug addict Gabriela, who wrongfully claimed to be a cancer patient cured by Cecilia.

The frauds are subjected to a cruel game to prove their willingness to live and atone for their crimes. During the first test, Valentina has to amputate her right leg with a Gigli saw. Afterward, she must extract three ounces of bone marrow. Although she successfully severs her leg, she fails to suck out enough bone marrow in time and is subsequently decapitated by an automated wire saw. Following Valentina's death, John and Amanda discuss the next part of the game. During their conversations, Amanda repeatedly expresses sympathy for Gabriela as she also suffered from drug addiction before teaming up with John.

Meanwhile, Cecilia embraces the opportunity to obtain her phone and call for help before she is interrupted by Amanda. Shortly afterward, thyroid cancer patient Parker Sears arrives at the plant and demands his money back because Cecilia also betrayed him. Upon invading the factory, Amanda subdues him, and John lets him observe the next part of the game.

After taking care of Parker, Amanda prepares Mateo for his test. Within three minutes, he has to cut open his skull, pull out a big enough piece of brain tissue, and place it in an enzyme tank. Like Valentina, Mateo fails to finish his task within the time limit and is killed by a mask-like device that burns his face while fatally electrocuting him. The next test subject is Gabriela, who has to break her hand and ankle with a hammer to move out of range of a radiation machine that burns her alive. Although she fulfills her task, she is severely injured. However, before Amanda can take her to the hospital, Parker Sears reveals himself as Cecilia's boyfriend and secret ally, whom she called shortly before his arrival. Parker frees Cecilia and forces John into his own trap while Cecilia murders Gabriela.

Cecilia wants to punish John and also forces Carlos, a boy with whom he formed a friendly bond, into the trap. As the trap is activated, they are waterboarded with blood. Meanwhile, Parker and Cecilia move to John's surveillance room to escape with the money from the fake treatments. When Cecilia grabs the money bag, a countdown starts, and the scammers realize that John has deceived them. John, Amanda, and Carlos escape the blood-boarding mechanism while Cecilia and Parker are locked up in the surveillance room, which fills with acidic gas. Cecilia fatally stabs her boyfriend and survives by sticking her head out of a hole in the wall. Despite her survival, she is left behind by John and Amanda, who escape the plant alongside Carlos.

In a mid-credit scene, John and his other accomplice, Detective Mark Hoffman, abduct Henry Kessler, who was also involved in Cecilia's scam operation. They take him to the dilapidated bathroom from the first film and prepare him for another game.

Cast

Production

In April 2021, Saw X was reported to be in development. Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, who already wrote the screenplays for Jigsaw and Spiral, confirmed that the script was completed in December 2021. Producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules had planned the story of Saw X since 2018, but plans for the film were put on hold when Michael Burns, the Vice President of Lionsgate, met with Chris Rock in Brazil and approved his pitch for Spiral. That film's low box office performance led Burg and Koules to return to the franchise's roots for its tenth installment.

In August 2022, Bloody Disgusting reported that the film would be directed by Kevin Greutert, who edited most of the previous installments and directed Saw VI and Saw 3D. Lionsgate and Media Capital Technologies, a specialty finance company, signed a multi-year deal to co-finance a slate of films, including Saw X.

In October 2022, Tobin Bell was confirmed to reprise the role of John Kramer. Greutert told Empire that Bell was featured in the film more than any other in the series. Bell was also involved in the film's script and post-production, coming up with additional dialogue incorporated into the story. In December 2022, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach joined the cast alongside Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernández, Joshua Okamoto, and Octavio Hinojosa. Shawnee Smith reprised her role as Amanda Young. Likewise, Costas Mandylor returned as Detective Mark Hoffman in the mid-credits scene. Greutert told Entertainment Weekly that Hoffman's cameo was "the most fan-servicey thing" he has done.

Principal photography took place on location in Mexico City from late October 2022 to February 2023, on a budget of $13 million. The trap designs were more complex than in previous installments, so the filming schedule was split into two parts: three weeks in November and three weeks in January. Kevin Greutert told SFX: "We had to make so many prosthetics and machines, and over Christmas, we spent the entirety of it figuring this stuff out."

At the Midsummer Scream 2023 convention, cinematographer Nick Matthews said they wanted to pay homage to the earlier Saw films. He explained: "I think for Kevin and I, it was really important that we were able to pay homage to all the early films, we love that the early films are [1.85] (ratio), we love that they're textural, that they're gritty, that there's these really bold, yellow color palettes, and we want to do our work to hearken to that, with pervasive darkness, and really throwing the audience subjectively right into this graphic, gritty world." Production designer Anthony Stabley looked back at the color palette from those mid-2000s films and ensured that all technology seen in Saw X would have been available when those films took place.

Most of the gore was done with practical effects, with CGI only used for touch-ups. The filmmakers considered using digital de-aging effects for Bell and Smith but ultimately decided against it. Greutert supported this decision: "Some of the films that have de-aged their actors, it puts some distance between the character and the audience."

The film's first assistant editor, Steve Forner, had local police called on him during an editing session involving sound design for a trap sequence. According to Greutert, Forner was working on the scene in his office when the police knocked on the door, citing neighbors' concerns of someone being "tortured to death" inside: "And [Forner] was like, 'Actually, I'm just working on a movie. You can come in and see it if you want.' The cops started laughing. They said, 'We want to, but, you know, you're all right.' It must have been a pretty realistic performance."

Release

On September 9, 2023, Lionsgate announced the return of the Saw Blood Drive, a promotional event in which audiences donate blood to the American Red Cross in exchange for free tickets to the opening weekend of Saw X.

On September 13, 2023, a parody of the Nicole Kidman AMC Theatres commercial was published on YouTube and Lionsgate's social media accounts. It featured the Saw franchise's mascot, Billy the Puppet, on a tricycle in place of Kidman, with some changes to reflect the graphic nature of Saw. While the parody was met with humorous responses by news outlets, it was pulled from Lionsgate's accounts due to a cease and desist order by AMC Theatres.

Saw X was initially supposed to be released on October 27, 2023. However, at the San Diego Comic-Con, Lionsgate announced that its theatrical release date in the United States would move to September 29, 2023.

The movie was released on PVOD in the United States on October 20, 2023, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD on November 21, 2023. The 4K and Blu-ray discs offered over three hours of bonus footage, including deleted scenes and a making-of documentary titled Reawakening. On March 5, 2024, the film was also released alongside the previous nine films in a 20th anniversary collection box set.

Reception

Saw X grossed $53.6 million in the United States and Canada and $58.2 million in other territories, garnering $111.8 million worldwide. It earned $8 million on its first day, including $2 million from Thursday night previews. The movie debuted at $18.3 million, finishing second behind PAW Patrol. It was below the average opening weekend of the franchise but higher than the recent installments, Spiral and Jigsaw. Saw X made $8.2 million in its second weekend and $5.7 million in its third, finishing in third and fourth place, respectively. It topped the box office in the United Kingdom and Ireland, grossing $2.31 million in the first three days.

The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Tobin Bell's performance, adding that it was the best entry in the franchise since the first film. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 149 critics' reviews were positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus read: "Led by a franchise-best performance by Tobin Bell, Saw X reinvigorates the series with an installment that has a surprising amount of heart to go with all the gore." Metacritic assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. It was the highest-rated film of the franchise on both websites. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at PostTrak gave it an 82% score, with 62% saying they would recommend the film.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman wrote that Saw X seemed "more like a real movie than many of the films in the series in that there's more talking and less torturing." He was satisfied with that ratio but was concerned if it would "pay off at the box office." Gleiberman explained: "The torture set pieces in the Saw films are lavish gifts of baroque horror presented to the audience. They are, quite simply, the reason we came." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised Tobin Bell for his performance, saying: "None of this would work nearly as well without Bell, whose raspy voice and menacing gravitas are so riveting that he makes Jigsaw's oft-repeated declaration 'I'd like to play a game' scary as hell."

Beatrice Loayza called Saw X the "most well-groomed Saw film to date" in her review for The New York Times. She continued: "The story mostly makes sense and Greutert pulls back on the frenetic editing techniques that made the older movies look like the blood and guts equivalent of white noise." Bob Strauss of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "a well-told tale" and praised its character development and plot twists.

Helen O'Hara from Empire rated the film two out of five, positively commenting on the blood and gore and calling it "all present and correct." However, O'Hara criticized the film's focus on Kramer's vulnerability and human side, adding that it "sits at odds with his awful judgmentalism. Let monsters be monsters." Kyle Turner, writer for Slant, gave the film a score of two and a half out of four, saying: "The real disappointment is that Shawnee Smith, who makes a return to the series for the first time since Saw VI, is relegated to mostly doing John's dirty work. It's hard out here for a disciple, and Smith hasn't had the chance to show off her chops as an actor since Saw III. But in Saw X, we do get crumbs of what makes her so thrilling as a performer, particularly one in the horror genre: She's all id, a tempest of emotion and fully embodied desperation and psychosis."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Saw X was composed by Charlie Clouser, who had already been responsible for the soundtrack of the previous films. It was released digitally on September 29, 2023, by Lakeshore Records.

Original Motion Picture Score

1. Prognosis

2. Henry Hope

3. Meet Gabriela

4. Tequila

5. Craniotomy

6. What Happens?

7. Abandoned

8. Hello Diego

9. Skylight

10. Main Room

11. Hello Valentina

12. Gabriela's Next

13. Parker Arrives

14. Hello Mateo

15. U Guys R Sick

16. Hello Gabriela

17. Playtime's Over

18. Blood Board

19. Blood Board (Edit)

20. Zepp X

21. Walk Out

22. Post Credits X

Trivia

  • Saw X is the first Saw film set outside the United States.
  • Saw X has the longest theatrical runtime in the franchise at 118 minutes.
  • This is the first Saw film where the Metropolitan Police Department does not appear.
  • A sequel Saw XI was planned for a September 2025 release, but in March that year production was stalled due to disagreement between producers.

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Saw • Saw II • Saw III • Saw IV • Saw V • Saw VI • Saw 3D • Jigsaw • Spiral • Saw X