Saw X
2023 · Directed by Kevin Greutert
Original language: English
- horror
- mystery
The story
Between the events of 'Saw' and 'Saw II', a sick and desperate John Kramer travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer, only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, the infamous serial killer returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through devious, deranged, and ingenious traps.
What it’s like
Saw X is a grimy, sun-bleached horror film, with Mexico City's bright heat and crumbling textures set against the cold, clinical industrial rooms of the traps. Its palette swings between dusty ochre street light and sickly fluorescent greens and blues, with handheld, unsteady framing in the clinic scenes that gives way to tight, precise compositions once the machinery starts to turn. The score is a thudding synth pulse with metallic scrapes and long stretches of ticking silence before each trap clicks shut. Its vibe is feverish and vindictive, a kind of sun-scorched dread that suits late-night viewing with the lights off. The pacing is deliberate in the early act and tightens into staccato bursts of suspense; the emotional register is bleak and wry, following a dying man who finds a grim sort of purpose and a cast of con artists who learn that cruelty has a cost. Intensity is high: graphic gore, brutal and prolonged torture set-pieces, and cruelty aimed at people who are vulnerable, with fear and dread throughout. It is not gentle. It is for horror fans who want elaborate, inventive violence, a dark puzzle-box structure, and a sense of revenge played out with ruthless precision.
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