‘Saw X’ Is Brutal, Brilliant, and a Scathing Indictment of Health Industries (Really!)

When it debuted in the early aughts, the Saw franchise was almost instantly slapped with the dreaded “torture porn” label. The series, about a serial killer called Jigsaw who kidnaps victims he deems “unworthy of the gift of life”—trapping them in grotesque, nearly inescapable machines meant to test their will to live—was likened to the most banal subgenre of horror films.

But though the franchise shares some qualities with movies like Hostel and I Spit On Your Grave, it never quite deserved to be denigrated in that company. Saw always paired its gratuitous gore with legitimate questions about humanity, teeing up moral quandaries that made the films something more than just blood and guts. (Whether the franchise was always successful in executing that is another story entirely.) That virtuous undertone, combined with traps of increasingly delightful absurdity, earned the Saw films a massive cult following across its first nine installments.

After several false endings and a franchise “reboot” of sorts, the tenth film in the series, Saw X, arrives in theaters Sept. 29, bringing with it a whole new host of traps, victims, and ethical queries. With a noticeably increased production value, plus the exhilarating return of the fan-favorite characters, Saw X was already destined to please Saw’s most devoted supporters (Saw-pporters, if you will). But by cleverly setting its timeline between the series’ first two installments, Saw X is both an invigorating thrill ride on par with the franchise’s best entries and a trenchant, timely charge against industrial systems set in place to keep humans sick.

Saw X takes a significantly different path from the rest of the franchise in its first scene, which is usually reserved for a bloody trap that kicks off each film’s storyline. Instead, because Saw X is technically a prequel to the second film—think of it like Saw 1.5—the cold open reintroduces us to the great Jigsaw, aka John Kramer (Tobin Bell), who is still undergoing scans to determine the severity of his brain tumor. Fans of the franchise already know that John’s tumor is inoperable and malignant; it’s what gives the guy his zest for life! But before he resigns to casting his legacy in steel through his lethal occupation, he decides to give himself one last shot.

This comes in the form of an experimental treatment, a combination of surgery and medication that hasn’t been approved in the United States but was recommended to John by a friend in his cancer support group. The treatment is the work of Cecelia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), a seemingly brilliant doctor who convinces John to travel to Mexico for the procedure. The treatment facility’s intense security precautions convince John that he’s in good hands, in contrast to his previous experience. After all, he’s already been a witness to the horrors of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, groups he’s seen stop at nothing to squash a life-saving medical breakthrough and keep people sick to make sure the money stays flowing.

Though it deviates completely from the franchise’s formula, the opening half hour of Saw X works like a charm thanks to Bell, who always managed to make John Kramer an empathetic killer. Here, he gets more time than ever to sink into John’s backstory, and Bell is electric to watch, even as a stoic, dying cancer patient who is betting his last ounce of hope on a miracle. That’s also what makes it so incredibly gut-wrenching when John finds out that he was scammed; the entire operation is a fraud, and his “surgery” was all a ruse.

And so the game begins.

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Prior to Saw X, the series wandered from the same old recipe, looking for new paths through which to revitalize the series and legitimize it as a horror staple (a title it never needed to prove itself worthy of). The eighth and ninth films in the franchise, Jigsaw and Spiral, tossed the Saw moniker and instead aimed to inch towards “prestige.” But Saw is best when it drags itself through the mud, deeper and deeper into the lascivious and gruesome. Saw X manages to keep the more esteemed self-awareness from the last two films intact, while still delving into the grisly. In fact, the film is all the better for it, creating the first movie since the original Saw that actually works as its own standalone film.

Too often, the Saw movies get lost in their own exposition, which is sprinkled throughout each film scene by scene, making the timelines wildly confusing—especially if it’s your first watch through the series. It also doesn’t help that most of the movies have had to retcon the events of former installments to find unique ways to string all of the movies together, so the franchise as a whole could make one lick of sense once the latest film was released. As a prequel, Saw X is luckily not beholden to the same standard, and can therefore spend its time crafting a wickedly engaging plot filled with endless twists and even more blood.

Director Kevin Greutert, who helmed the sixth and seventh films in the series, returns to the franchise more than ready to prove himself. Saw X is his best Saw movie yet, a sumptuous feast for the eyes that keeps all of the franchise’s signature visual qualities (washed-out color palettes, frenetic camera work) and perfects them without leaning into overkill. Saw X is also a spiritual successor to Greuter’s first series entry, which similarly aimed for a scathing takedown of the insurance industry. Though Saw VI (the sixth movie, for my fellow readers who didn’t pay attention during the roman numeral lessons in elementary school), was more successful in its social critiques, Saw X prospers by holding the medical industry’s feet to the fire with its morally bankrupt new characters.

Lund is deliciously vile as Cecelia, going toe to toe with John with all of the cunning of someone who has successfully pulled off a multi-million dollar international grift. Cecelia is John’s first legitimately formidable foe, and she stands to turn the franchise on its head by giving it a clear-cut villain for audiences to hate. Then there’s Amanda (Shawnee Smith), John’s apprentice and one of the few survivors of his traps, returning to the series with all of the prickly unpredictability that made fans fall in love with her. Between Smith, Lund, and Bell, it’s hard to pick a more enjoyable performance. Happily, Saw X supplies eager viewers with plenty of each character.

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It wouldn’t be a Saw movie without some ingenious, savage traps, and though Saw X isn’t boasting anything quite as iconic as the hypodermic needle pit, the classic bear trap, or the rotten pig slopper, every thoughtfully constructed machine earns its place among the pantheon of great snares. Each of the eight traps is its own spin on the pain that John suffered after his last reservoirs of hope were drained by Cecelia and her con artist cronies. This makes for a satisfying and stomach-churning viewing experience, even if there are much more intricate traps in previous installments. In Saw X, it’s all about using these devices as part of the larger game, which is Jigsaw’s signature style. Take, for instance, a cancer radiation machine co-opted to burn the flesh off of one of Cecelia’s lackeys, unless she’s able to break her hand and ankle while suspended in mid-air. And it gets so much worse from there—a statement I mean in the best possible way.

Like any worthy prequel, Saw X has a tense and relentlessly suspenseful plotline, even when viewers already know what’s going to happen, and how the main cast of characters will ultimately fare. Achieving that in a franchise as well-worn as this one is a major accomplishment, especially without all of the usual tricks that past films have implemented to wedge themselves into the series. Saw X doesn’t need hyper-complex traps, nor does it require audiences to piece together a haphazardly written plot that smacks together in the film’s final moments. It’s both a return to form and the heralding of a new age.

The Saw franchise’s tenth film doesn’t just live up to the online megahype that the series has generated over the last decade, it exceeds it. Here is the definitive proof that Saw X is so much more than torture porn; it’s the most fun viewing experience you’ll have in a theater all season long.

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