You’re strapped to a chair, you don’t know where you are or what time it is. You feel like you’ve just come back from the dead with the worst hangover ever experienced. Before your eyes can even adjust, you see a small figure squeaking towards you, a white spiral-cheeked puppet with a broken laugh. This is ‘Saw X’.
The first time I watched a ‘Saw’ film would have been Christmas of maybe 2016 and since then it’s been my favorite horror franchise, watching each film with my father. Even at its tenth entry, it never grows stale, always thriving on the creativity of the traps, demented games that force its victims to sacrifice parts of themself to prove their life is worth something.
‘Saw X’ breaks the mould by being a love letter to the franchise’s antagonist, John Kramer, as he turns his sights on the team who fooled him out of his money in exchange for a miracle cancer cure. The team of con artists meet their match as they are forced to suffer for their sins in order to survive. Joining Kramer is a franchise-favorite character, Amanda Young, the first apprentice of Jigsaw. But even the great Jigsaw killer, despite all his planning, is unable to see the cards scrumpled under his victim’s sleeves.
Tobin Bell surprised me this time, bringing a personal, innocent tone to the character, reminding you that though Kramer has been behind some of the most brutal murders of the franchise, he still has a code of moral ethics. His opening speech to his victims was heartbreaking, it was never about the team curing his cancer or fooling him out of his money, it was about justice for innocent people. Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda, the years since she last played the character are obvious but definitely not damning, her acting skills are still there, knowing when to beg and knowing when to sass. Synnøve Macody Lund plays Dr. Cecilia Pederson, the leader of the team. You know an actress does an amazing job as a villain when you get me to call you slurs in the theatre under my breath 5 times. Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernández and Octavio Hinojosa Martinez play Gabriela, Valentina and Mateo respectively, doing an outstanding job of begging and screaming, an aspect of horror that usually is portrayed unconvincingly. Of course, the lifeblood of the franchise are the traps. A few are fairly interesting (breaking your bones to sling out of chains as extreme heat is burning your face), a few are wasted on only a few minutes (breaking your fingers so your eyes aren’t vacuumed) and a few are downright disgusting (being waterboarded with blood from god knows where or who…) but none of them will leave you with absolutely nothing. If you don’t like one, I guarantee you’ll like another.
Mason’s Rating: Have A Good Time! 3 out of 5 stars!
Be sure to stay for the post-credits scene which features another franchise-favorite character returning.
‘Saw X’ is currently in theatres now!