A sick and desperate John 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.
I was never a big fan of the SAW films. I always viewed them as torture porn instead of straightup slasher flicks like the ones I grew up watching in the ’80s; A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and so on. But I have to admit, even though I’ve seen them all, “Saw X” stands out from the rest because we get to see some of John Kramer’s humanity, something many of us thought he lost a long time ago but it’s the betrayal of his humanity that leads to the events of “Saw X.”
Since John Kramer officially died at the end of “Saw III,” the filmmakers were in a bit of a quandary. They wanted to bring him back again, but figuring out a way was proving problematic. Until writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg resolved the issue by setting the new film between the original “Saw” and its sequel, “Saw II.” That way, the events depicted herein would end up being a side story that has nothing to do with the central SAW timeline. Problem solved.
John Kramer (Tobin Bell) has been diagnosed with brain cancer and given less than a year to live. With life looking grim, he joins a support group where he meets a multitude of people in various stages of Cancer. Many months later, he encounters one of those people, Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), who said he was in stage 4 but now looks healthy. When John presses him, he tells him that an experimental Norwegian cancer treatment in Mexico treated him. Henry gives him the contact information, and John goes to Mexico for treatment.
After all is said and done, John is told his Cancer has gone into remission, and he is delighted. But not long after, he realizes that he was never operated on, that the whole ordeal was a scam, and that the individuals involved have been cheating sick people out of money for years. With the help of his assistant, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), they track down everyone involved, and when they wake up, they hear those famous words… “I want to play a game!”
The first thirty minutes of “Saw X” plays out like a drama, not a horror film. Tobin Bell gives an incredible performance of a man coming to terms with his mortality and comprehending he only has a few months left to live. When he learns of the new experimental treatment, especially after the supposed operation is completed and his Cancer is in remission, he begins to live again, only for his world to come crashing down. Naturally, anybody would want revenge, but this being John Kramer, we know, only too well, that vengeance will most certainly be exacted.
While the traps in the other SAW movies were methodical and well-thought-out, especially in the beginning, they began to feel lifeless and uninspiring as the series progressed. Here, new energy has been infused back into the series: the story, the acting, and, of course, for the die-hard fans, the traps. On more than one occasion, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat as the timer counted down, hoping that a few of the characters would survive. Yes, some of them are people you genuinely feel sorry for as they were drawn into the scheme as a way to feed their drug habit, not giving any thought to the people they were hurting. But some, like the chief antagonist, Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), the unethical mastermind behind it all, deserve to meet a grisly demise, but while hers was not forthcoming, the more I thought about her final situation, the happier I became—a slow, excruciating death for sure.
If you’re not a fan of the series, this could go either way, but if you are exhilarated at the thought of a new SAW movie, you should enjoy it. It gives you everything you’d expect and more. And I think writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg have worked out a way for franchises to continue, even when central characters are dead, by going back in time and inserting a new story between chapters. Brilliant!
Available on 4K Ultra HD™ + Blu-ray™ + Digital, Blu-ray™ + DVD + Digital, and DVD November 21st
