Saw X

Saw X (2023) is the tenth film in the series and is set between the first and second. John Kramer is being treated for cancer and is not doing well. At a support group he hears a name: a doctor in Mexico offering an experimental treatment. He goes, pays, has the operation and believes he is cured. Then he learns it was a fraud: no operation was performed and the scans were faked. That premise gives the series something new: for the first time you are on Kramer's side. The victims this time are not innocent people but a team robbing the dying. The second difference is that it gives time to character. There are no traps in the first half; it is about his illness, his hope and the betrayal. Most films in the series had no such section. Tobin Bell has never been on screen this much in any of them. Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda. The traps were again built as practical effects; the series has stayed away from digital from the beginning and that continues here. Kevin Greutert directed; he had been the series' editor and had directed two of the films. It was largely shot in Mexico. The story works without knowing the series but the emotional weight is lost. It exceeded expectations commercially and critics counted it among the best in the series. It runs 118 minutes. Good for: serial horror, trap construction, and followers of Saw. Less good for: the violence is extremely graphic and some scenes are unbearable.