‘Saw X’ Fantastic Fest 2023 Review: A Fresh Take On ‘Saw’ With Confused Politics
Right before the Saw X screening at the 2023 Fantastic Fest, franchise producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg shared that it’s been almost 20 years to the day that they started filming the first Saw film. For two decades, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), aka Jigsaw, and his disciples have been asking their victims to play a game and prove how much their lives mean to them. With the latest franchise entry, placed three weeks after the events of the original Saw, we don’t receive the typical police procedural. Instead, we’re following a more emotional journey about a dying John Kramer desperate to buy himself more time on Earth. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t treated to a delightfully repulsive array of traps that suck, slice, burn, and waterboard (but with blood) their unfortunate victims. If only those victims weren’t primarily Mexican characters being exploited by a rich white woman.
Saw X begins between the events of Saw and Saw II with John learning he has only months to live due to a terminal brain cancer diagnosis. While preparing his will, he learns of a potential miracle cure called the Pedersen Method. The catch? It isn’t legal in the United States. So, John heads to Mexico City, where he’s to receive brain surgery and a series of experimental medications all but guaranteed to cure his cancer. The very blonde and European Cecilia Pedersen (Synnøve Macody Lund) smiles and delivers perfectly reassuring speeches while introducing John to the local staff. Everything seems great. Until he wakes up.
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He quickly realizes he’s been scammed and he recruits apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) to help enact revenge on Pedersen and the four locals she hired: Diego (Joshua Okamoto), Valentina (Paulette Hernandez), Gabriela (Renata Vaca), and Mateo (Octavio Hinojosa).
Like any good Saw movie, Saw X has plenty of wild twists and turns that are revealed with such unabashed earnestness that it becomes camp. Greutert’s chaotic and iconic editing style, seen throughout the entire franchise, only heightens said camp, making this film almost feel like a Lifetime movie but with way more blood. And I do mean this as a positive thing because the film is so dedicated to being a Saw film, but with even more heart. And not literal hearts ripped out of chests spurting blood all over the floor.
We see this especially with John and Amanda’s rather tender relationship throughout the film as he teaches her his philosophical and twisted ways to enact suffering. She grapples with the weight of his legacy looming over her shoulders as he explains she’s ready to take his place. There’s more of a father-daughter tenderness between the characters as he proudly watches her load traps and she pokes fun at his long-winded rants about the nature of humanity.
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But what about the traps, you may be asking yourself. And oh, dear reader, are there traps. But these traps are a little different because they feel so DIY and were essentially put together in a rush with limited resources (if the vague timeline in the film is to be believed). John Kramer’s creativity is truly on display as he whips together a house of horrors with what he has on hand, which results in some of his cruelest traps to date. Plus, Saw films are always covered in grime, and Saw X is no exception, with every trap coated in a thick layer of rust. At one point, a victim simply has a scalpel duct taped to each hand with a pipe bomb embedded in each arm. It’s less involved than usual, but that simplicity makes what the victim must go through to survive even more brutal. Each trap will have Saw diehards cackling with demented glee.
Then, there is what the film is trying to say. Now, I understand the world of Saw and how the characters are killed due to their own poor choices, regardless of age, gender, or race. It’s meant to be uncomfortable and nihilistic; no one is safe from Jigsaw. But here, in a film set very explicitly in Mexico City (this is the first film where they’ve specifically named the events’ location) with a white woman using labor in poor countries, it’s pretty difficult to ignore the power dynamics at hand.
Diego, Valentina, Gabriela, and Mateo are all shown in various stages of financial desperation, with Diego driving taxis, Valentina doing sex work, Gabriela spending all her money on drugs, and Mateo selling drugs from the animal shelter where he works. These are all people who are taking on a job because they need to survive. Yes, scamming terminally ill people is horrific; there’s no doubting that. But perhaps the film could have more thoughtfully grappled with who is truly responsible for the atrocities here rather than torturing brown characters for almost two hours.
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With this being a Saw movie, you may not think it needs to be deeper than bad guys getting theirs in increasingly creative and disgusting ways. And really, it doesn’t need to be. But, in making certain narrative choices, writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger emphasize their conscious choice to place a bevy of white characters in a non-white country and wreak havoc.
It just feels a bit lazy in the year of our Lord 2023 to not even briefly consider the deeper meaning behind watching an old white man and his young white female apprentice mercilessly slaughter a group of Mexican characters in the most painful ways possible. Saw X disappointingly refuses to engage with its subject matter past “no one is safe from John Kramer,” following in a frustrating trend of franchises refusing to take real risks and adopt an actual point of view when it comes to reboots and reimaginings.
Saw X is a fun return to form for the series, even when it’s a little confused about what it wants to say about the world. For those ready to see more John Kramer and Amanda in all of her bad bowl-cut glory rip apart who they’ve decided are the bad guys, Greutert delivers. But this is also a good film for those unfamiliar with the series and without a deep knowledge of the series’ extensive lore (it goes deep, trust me). Placing it early in the series with almost entirely new characters helps this entry feel both fresh and familiar, never losing sight of what we love the most about Saw: machines designed purely to rip apart flesh.
Summary
Saw X is a fun return to form for the series, even when it’s a little confused about what it wants to say.
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