Director: Kevin Greutert
Screenplay: Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg
Starring: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith and Synnøve Macody Lund
Country: United States
Running Time: 118 min
Year: 2023
The Saw franchise is one that’s always fascinated me ever since I watched the first film when I was far too young too. I remember hearing all of the reactions from friends at school, about how violent it was and for a long time, it stuck in my head as this really gnarly film that I should avoid. Then I watched it and thought “That was it?” The film wasn’t focused on gore, but instead more of a Se7en riff by first time director James Wan and his writing partner (and lead star) Leigh Whannell. It’s one of the most influential horror films of the 2000s, being one of the two big hitters in the infamous ‘torture porn’ sub-genre of horror (although I wouldn’t say either film really fit that category, personally) and spawned a franchise that’s now eleven films deep.
With each sequel, the franchise became more and more focused on the gore, the insane police procedural elements and most importantly, the traps that our protagonists would find themself involved in. Here’s the thing though (spoilers for Saw III ahead), the main face of this franchise was John Kramer, or more commonly referred to as Jigsaw, due to his tendency to carve out a piece of each victim’s skin in a jigsaw shape. After Wan left directing duties to Darren Lynn Bousman, Whannell was left to write the next two sequels and initially wanted the franchise to end at III. So at the end of the third film, John Kramer, the man behind everything, was killed off. Surely, you’d think the franchise would take a breather for a little bit after killing off their primary antagonist, right? Well, nope! Instead, for the rest of the franchise, the team behind each film would try to write in flashbacks, reasons for John to still appear on screen, even though he died.
While I have a deep love for this franchise, I’m not going to pretend like the majority of the films are high art whatsoever. I see the Saw films as great junk-food, almost soap-opera films with a bunch of really gross gore, but the thing that I find the most fascinating is how convoluted it is due to their decision to kill off a major character in Saw III. Seeing how the writers would come up with reasons to have him appear on screen, with multiple apprentices being revealed who suspiciously never existed before, is absolutely delightful and is part of the charm for me. So after taking a break due to declining box office numbers for Saw 3D and two attempts to soft-reboot the franchise with Jigsaw and Spiral: From the Book of Saw, where do you go?
Saw X, the eleventh film in the franchise if we count the Chris Rock led Spiral: From the Book of Saw but canonically, it’s the tenth film. Or the second film. It’s confusing, but bear with me. Instead of rebooting the franchise, director Kevin Gruetert (who also edited the majority of the films in the franchise, as well as directing fan favourite Saw VI and its sequel Saw 3D: The Final Chapter) and writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg decided to make a sequel that takes place after the events of the first film and before Saw II. It’s a bold choice, given Tobin Bell’s age but somehow, it’s the best decision the team behind the Saw films have made in the franchise’s entire run.
John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is sick, after being diagnosed with brain cancer and after hearing about a group who are curing cancer with an experimental treatment, he gets in touch with the doctor behind the project, Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund). At first, everything seems to be going great and as a shock to myself and many audience members, the first 35 minutes of this film are focused entirely on Kramer as a character. It’s the first time we’ve ever spent time with him as a protagonist and the film does the unthinkable and makes you root and care for him, which is helped a great deal by Bell’s excellent performance. After finding out that the treatment was a hoax, Kramer teams up with apprentice Amanda to enact his own form of justice.
Most Saw-heads out there are here for the traps, and this film delivers with some great traps that had me wincing while watching. While it’s only in Kramer’s mind, ‘Sticky Fingers’ (it’s the trap involving eyes from the theatrical poster) was a highlight for me, as well as Mateo’s trap involving a little bit of… brain surgery. I don’t want to give away all of the inventive traps that the team came up with, but it’s absolutely a return to form after the lacklustre traps of Jigsaw and Spiral.
Having Gruetert at the helm of this was an excellent decision too. He helmed my previous favourite instalment in the franchise, Saw VI, and I think I can safely say that with Saw X, he exceeded my expectations. In prior films, John Kramer’s morals were dubious at best, but that was part of the fun with the franchise. In his head, he wanted to inflict justice on people that sometimes did the most trivial of mistakes. In Saw X, you can almost agree with Kramer’s mindset of inflicting some form of justice on people who tricked cancer patients with an ounce of hope in their last moments. It makes a franchise that’s 11 films deep feel fresh, and that’s no easy feat.
Saw X is not only a great Saw film, but a great film in general. Diving into the bonus features on the release only made me appreciate the effort, care and love put into this film to really give the Saw fans the film they’ve been begging for since 2010. I don’t know if I can suggest this to people who haven’t seen any of the films before, but if you have a decent knowledge of at least the original trilogy, I couldn’t recommend Saw X enough. If Gruetert and Bell want to continue making films between the events of the films where Kramer’s character was still alive, I’ll be there day one.
Film: 
Saw X releases on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 11th. I was sent the Blu-ray copy to view and it’s a great disc. The 1080p transfer looks brilliant on my player, upscaling it to 4K almost made it look like a native transfer at points. In the extras, the team talk about making this film feel like prior Saw films and that’s apparent by their decision to shoot it in 1.85:1. The film maintains that feel and the transfer here is spectacular. One thing I always admire Lionsgate for is their consistency in putting Dolby Atmos mixes on Blu-ray discs too, not relegating them for UHD releases and the audio track is fantastic. All of the gnarly sound design feels like it’s happening right in front of you, and it’s a great sounding disc. English subtitles are included. The following extras are included:
Audio Commentary with Director-Editor Kevin Greutert, Cinematographer Nick Matthews, and Production Designer Anthony Stabley
“Reawakening” documentary
“Drawing Inspiration: Illustrated Scene Breakdowns with Director-Editor Kevin Greutert” featurettes
“Make-Up Department Trap Tests” featurette
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary – This feature length commentary with Kevin Greutert, Nick Matthews and Anthony Stabley was recorded a few days prior to the first trailer being released and you can tell that the team were really excited to share Saw X with audiences. It’s an insightful audio commentary that supplements the feature length documentary on this disc well, offering an array of interesting anecdotes about the production. As it’s brought up in other extras on the disc, a lot of the film was influenced by Italian giallo cinema, and hearing the trio gush about their influences and goals with Saw X is delightful. Overall, it’s a winner of an audio commentary that was great to listen to and I can easily recommend it to fans of the film or franchise.
Reawakening – The behemoth extra on this release, a feature length documentary breaking into all things Saw X. Running for 96 minutes, this is a fantastic extra that’s broken up into multiple parts, such as pre-production, the writing process and more. As a pretty big fan of the franchise, it was a delight seeing all aspects of the production highlighted. Interviews from everybody from stars Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, as well as writers Peter Goldfinger, Josh Stolberg and director/editor Kevin Gruetert. It’s rare to see studio titles on this level receive documentaries as in-depth, open and enjoyable as this so props to Lionsgate and the team behind this release for producing an excellent making-of documentary.
Drawing Inspiration – This series of scene breakdowns covers three sequences in the film. Cecilia’s House, SC 89 and Gabriella’s Test. Director Kevin Gruetert dives into all three sequences with great detail, highlighting easter eggs, his decisions as both director and editor for the film and like the Reawakening documentary before it, it’s a fascinating insight into the filmmaking process. For example, Cecilia’s House, Gruetert details how the scene was inspired by Italian giallo cinema. In total, this feature runs for around 34 minutes.
Make-Up Department Trap Tests – Next up is 18 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage highlighting the special effects and make-up used for the traps in the film. For anybody interested in how the gnarly traps that appear in Saw films are constructed, this is a goldmine of information.
Deleted Scenes – If an audio commentary, a feature length documentary and almost an hour of breakdowns and trap tests wasn’t enough, thirteen deleted scenes are also included, totaling 37 minutes and it’s another extra that’s a delight to any fan of the franchise or film. A good chunk of the scenes take place before the gritty aspects of the film begin, such as a short scene where John gets ready for his trip and leaves his apartment, but there’s also interrogation scenes, extended versions of scenes in the film, a flashback (Saw fans love their flashbacks) and even a post-credits version of a scene late into the film. It’s an excellent compilation of scenes that hit the cutting room floor and imagining a version of the film that runs for over two and a half hours is a fascinating concept. Maybe one day, we’ll receive a fan-edit of the film with these scenes reintegrated into the film! Another great extra that’s absolutely worth checking out.
The theatrical trailer is also included.
Overall, Saw X’s home media release is one of the rare studio releases that lives up to what the boutique labels are putting out. Hours of incredible bonus features, whether it’s an audio commentary, a feature length documentary or countless deleted scenes, this release is packed to the brim with supplemental material that I can’t recommend enough. This is one that I’ll be picking up on 4K UHD in the future, without a doubt. Full marks for the disc.
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