It’s time for another horror movie discussion; my favorite kind of discussion.
This time we’re looking at the much anticipated “Saw X’.
Right out of the gate, I wasn’t expecting very much from this film. While, yes, Saw is my all time favorite franchise. Even the most die-hard Saw defenders can and will admit to you that it drags on. Half of the movies after Jigsaw’s death shouldn’t even exist, and for a while it was just a gross-out contest leeching off of the fans for monetary gain, completely losing the entire base (But I must admit; Saw VI and Saw 3d are my guilty pleasures). And don’t even get me started on the cinematic atrocities that are Jigsaw and Spiral.
So when I found this film for free on Direct-TV and sat down to watch it, I was expecting another loosely plotted gorefest. But boy oh boy, was it so much more than that.
The first green flag for me when watching this movie was that it’s a prequel. No more rigged Hoffman and Amanda traps (as much as I love them as villains), just original John Kramer himself. We follow him after he gets scammed over a cure for his cancer. The group of con artists are among his very first victims, taking place between the first and second Saw movies.
The traps include “The Poison Gas Room”, “The Blood-Boarding Trap”, “The Radiation Trap”, “The Eye Trap”, “The Pipe Bomb Trap”, “The Bone Marrow Trap”, and last but CERTAINLY not least, “The Brain Surgery Trap”. And yes. It is in fact exactly what it sounds like.
Something many people are often concerned with is how dragged out the Saw franchise really is. And although it’s my all time favorite series, even I can admit that the films from 4-9 were completely unnecessary, and poorly made, at that. So I was worried about the new movie out of fear it would just be another awkward Hoffman drag out or random apprentice continuation. I was so delighted when I saw the trailers and saw that it was a prequel, involving the real Jigsaw. John Kramer himself.
It was so lovely to see Tobin Bell back in his iconic role. As well as Shawnee Smith back as Amanda Young, a beloved fan favorite. The original Jigsaw apprentice herself!
And I am aware that Saw has fallen out of fashion for some. For a lot of people in the current age, it just isn’t as shocking or scary as it used to be. With films like the Terrifier franchise and the Hostel franchise being so mainstream, it’s put a real hold on the splatter genre as a whole. But Saw still proves to be a classic, and just as revered by the general public.
All of this considered, Saw X gets 5 out of 5 reverse bear traps from me. It was a perfect prequel, it was the perfect length, and it had some of the most brutal yet creative traps in the entire series.
