Saw X is a misleadingly titled film because the events in the film take place between Saw and Saw II, making it more of a Saw 1.5, though that wouldn’t make a catchy title.

The latest installment follows an increasingly distraught John Kramer (Tobin Bell), otherwise known as the Jigsaw killer, who has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and only has months to live. An experimental treatment known as the Pederson Method is recommended to John by a fellow cancer patient who claims to have been cured by it. Desperate, John seeks help from Dr Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) and heads to Mexico for the treatment, only to realise it’s a scam. Pederson and her team soon find out about their epic bad luck when they wake up trapped in a warehouse.

First and foremost, it’s safe to say that the latest instalment in this notoriously gruesome torture porn franchise is by far the goriest and bloodiest of them all, and I mean that as a compliment. There is an excess of sensory stimulation that triggers a knee-jerk response from within me. I found myself in an almost visceral way laughing along with most of the torture sequences, feeling a mix of love and hate, laughter and terror, the rational and the completely bonkers. I have been a huge fan of the franchise and yet none of the films so far had made me feel quite the same way. The preposterous traps and the ridiculous things the victims have to brave to perform are self-knowingly over the top, and that is the key to the effectiveness of the film. For the first time in the franchise since Saw III, the filmmakers have managed to strike the balance between camp and gore.

Saw X offers many interesting elements to the franchise, some of which are unexpected and welcome. These elements are more than items on a checklist of things never done in the franchise. They serve the story and the characters. A spoiler-free example: for the first time, we see John orchestrating an entire ‘game’ in person. This turns out to serve the film well, as it highlights the personal connection Jigsaw has with the victims and allows the film to be coherent and focused more so than ever. In the past, we often have two almost independent plot strands going on – one with the police and one with the victims in the traps. The characters in both strands have little to nothing to do with each other, causing the films to be all over the place in terms of plot. It’s as if we were watching two separate stories wedged together awkwardly across multiple films. The two more recent installments, Jigsaw and Spiral, presented attempts to reconcile the two threads more effectively but never really managed to do so satisfyingly. In Saw X, there is a singular plot, a focused relationship between the torturer and the tortured. This allows the film to breathe, to explore the psyches of the torturers, and in fact, to present more interesting character opportunities for some of the victims.

Tobin Bell is fearsome as Jigsaw, and his performance in Saw X is easily the best in the franchise, not least because he is given the most opportunity to explore his character in this film. Synnøve Macody Lund is interesting as Cecilia Pederson and she definitely steals most scenes. Charlie Clouser’s score has always been a franchise highlight, and his score for Saw X is equally captivating.

All in all, Saw X is a solid entry into the franchise, and certainly the best sequel for me so far. It gored me out, surprised me, made me laugh, and left me wanting more. With Saw XI in the works, I am definitely looking forward to Halloween season next year for more gores and giggles.

Author: Chia Jing Heng (andreusjh99)