‘Saw X’ Review
Stars: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernandez | Written by Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger | Directed by Kevin Greutert
Directed and edited by Saw veteran Kevin Greutert, this is the tenth film in the popular death-traps-and-gore series, taking place between the events of the first movie and the first sequel. Happily for fans of the long-running franchise, that setting allows the filmmakers to bring back the series’ strongest asset, actor Tobin Bell, and the result is one of the most enjoyable Saw sequels for quite some time.
Bell reprises his role as serial killer and all-around deathtrap genius John Kramer, who travels to Mexico to undergo a controversial treatment that may be able to cure his terminal cancer. However, when he discovers that he has been the victim of a fraudulent scheme, he teams up with his apprentice Amanda (Saw veteran Shawnee Smith) and kidnaps all the con artists responsible, intending to subject them to violently nasty revenge, via the time-honoured medium of gory death-traps.
Having Kramer be both stricken with terminal cancer and the victim of a devastating scam allows the filmmakers to play interesting games with audience sympathies because you find yourself actively rooting for Jigsaw to succeed. To that end, it’s a treat to see Bell back in the role he was born to play, and he does a typically superb job here, mixing in world-weary melancholy with his chilling, deadpan demeanour.
There’s also superb support from Smith as Amanda, who’s still a little conflicted over her apprentice role at this stage, while Synnøve Macody Lund makes a terrific villain as Dr Cecilia Pederson, the ice-cool Norwegian scam artist behind the whole scheme. There’s a rather brilliant early clue to just how ruthless she can be when she comes up with an innovative substitute when the victims need some rope.
The other three kidnap-and-deathtrap victims (Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernandez and Octavio Hinojosa) don’t get all that much in the way of character development, but all three deliver the goods when it comes to desperate screaming and evincing physical terror, and that’s the important thing.
The fact that the death scenes effectively all occur in the same location (though there’s also a clever fake-out in an early scene) gives the film a stripped-back appeal that works well, echoing the first movie in the process. On top of that, there are a number of deliciously dark comic touches, whether it’s deadpan lines from Bell (“I have a few hobbies”) or inspired sound design moments, like the sound a piece of freshly amputated scalp makes when it hits the floor.
The Saw series is essentially predicated on three things: inventive deathtraps that usually involve the victim having to do something nasty to themselves to get free; the presence of Jigsaw (represented by the Jigsaw doll) as a sort of messed up Master of Ceremonies; and blind-siding twists. To that end, Saw X delivers handsomely, ensuring a maximum amount of wincing and squirming in the audience with the deathtrap scenes and orchestrating several unexpected and satisfying plot turns, the reveals of which are further heightened by the pitch-perfect use of the Saw theme.
In short, as tenth instalments to horror franchises go, this is undoubtedly one of the best, comfortably delivering the horror staples of the series in a way that won’t leave fans disappointed. Stick around for a fairly important mid-credits sting, if you like that sort of thing.
**** 4/5
Saw X is in UK cinemas from Friday, September 29th.
