Saw X Review: Tobin Bell Rules In One Of The Franchise's Best [Fantastic Fest 2023]
The weird miracle of the "Saw" series is that it transformed the busy character actor Tobin Bell into a horror icon overnight. The weird tragedy of the "Saw" series is that it then proceeded to kill Bell's character off in "Saw III," a decision the franchise seemed to immediately regret. Bell's John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer, proceeded to return in nearly every single other movie via extended flashbacks, building an increasingly complex and labyrinthine soap opera mythology that makes "Fast and Furious" look downright simplistic. The unwashed masses come to the "Saw" movies for the gory kills and the bloodletting. The dedicated weirdos, a group to which I happily belong, come for the increasingly interwoven plot threads and testy character dynamics. The House of Jigsaw grew with every sequel, continuously teasing an elaborate backstory powered by dead men and women. It's a shame those stories were relegated to the margins, we all thought.
"Saw X," the tenth film in the franchise, decides to get high on its own supply in the best way possible. Forget intermittent flashbacks. Forget putting Bell in the margins, a glorified cameo in a series that is literally defined by his character and his performance. This one leans into that timeline — it's a film set between the events of "Saw" and "Saw II," able to have its cake and eat it too. For the first time, Tobin Bell is allowed to fully and properly lead a "Saw" movie. And if this is something you've spent the past two decades actively thinking about (there are dozens of us!), you're in for a treat.
But if you gave up on the "Saw" franchise in the mid-aughts, you need not apply. This is a movie for the dedicated freaks, and on that level, it's a major success.
Now an elder statesman
Kevin Greutert, who edited most of the "Saw" films before stepping into the director's chair with "Saw VI" (the best in the series) and "Saw: The Final Chapter" (not the best in the series) is back, and he continues the recent trend of reinventing the franchise's signature look. Those who remember the early films, with their claustrophobic environments and stagebound production design, may be surprised by how much of "Saw X" takes place outdoors, and how much its production values have improved over the past few entries. This isn't an expensive film, but it's one that has a bit more money, a bit more scope, and a bit more room to play.
If part of the fun of the early "Saw" movies was seeing something come together on the dirt cheap and the filthy, the fun of the recent run of films is seeing that formula pushed toward something resembling respectability. "Saw X" is just as nasty, as silly, and as fun as the best in the series, but it's now dressed like an adult. Like it or not, Jigsaw has joined Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees as an elder statesman of horror. It's been two decades. "Saw," which used to inspire pearl-clutching editoritals in major publications, is mainstream now. It's got to look the part.
A bloody good time
"Saw X" delivers on the gory goods. Bodies are torn asunder as Jigsaw traps a group of people in another elaborate "game" where the participants are forced to destroy their own bodies so they can learn a valuable life lesson. In this case, they all participated in a scheme to fake an experimental cancer treatment on Kramer, who doesn't take kindly to this deception. So he rounds up his crew — the movie doesn't care that Shawnee Smith's Amanda looks 20 years older in this sorta-prequel, and you shouldn't either — and gets to work. People die badly, in ways that make you wince and shrivel into your seat.
The special effects make-up team is to be commended, as every trap is gruesome work and fans of elaborate gore gags will find much to treasure. If you come for the blood, "Saw X" brings the blood. The actors gushing that blood are respectable performers as well — no weak links in the bunch, each of them screaming and crying and swearing revenge with the best of 'em. And as someone who appreciates "Saw" traps that look a little more Home Depot and a little less Rube Goldberg, I appreciated the handmade feel of Jigsaw's work in this one compared to the more elaborate and ridiculous traps of other late-franchise films.
Tobin Bell finally gets to shine
The blood is good. The traps are good. The series' nastiness is intact, even as it all looks a bit bigger and a bit slicker. The important thing is that "Saw X" continues to be unafraid of its own continuity, so infatuated with its own delightful bulls***. Those who watched the various flashbacks throughout the "Saw" franchise and wished we could see more of John Kramer and Amanda as a mentor/mentee duo will get exactly what they want here. We met them at the end of their sometimes contentious relationship, so it's perfectly "Saw" that we finally get to see them working at the height of their powers in part 10. Bell and Smith's chemistry, the twisted heart of "Saw III," is a highlight. It can't help but feel like an unexpected gift for the committed.
The real star of the show is, somehow for the first time, Tobin Bell. Reduced to the edges of the core series, and deader than dead by "Saw IV," John Kramer has lingered over the whole franchise like a faint curse, a bad dream that has infected his seemingly limitless disciples. "Saw X" gladly and happily puts him front-and-center, the first film in the series to be truly built around John, and around Bell as a performer. Bell stays within the framework previously established for the character, but it's delightful to watch Kramer actively at work, a man dedicated to his twisted sense of justice and utterly high on his own supply. And yes, a man with a seemingly unlimited supply of back-up plans. Bell knows that Jigsaw is ridiculous, that lingering for more than a few minutes on his entire modus operandi causes it to fall apart, so he plays Kramer as ... just a guy. A committed guy, but one who has the gravitas of a slightly eccentric uncle. It shouldn't work as well as it does, but that's what you get when you work with an actor who has had a career as long as Bell. The man understands the assignment.
Back from the dead
The best "Saw" movies are actively about something beyond finding clever ways to turn the human body into pulp. "Saw VI" is about the unthinkable costs of a broken healthcare industry. "Saw III" is about the emotional tax of revenge at all costs. And "Saw X," but putting the spotlight squarely on John Kramer, can't help but be about what drives this man, and if he actually believes what his deep, modulated voice says to so many of his victims. The answer is yes. John Kramer believes in his mission, and "Saw X" puts that belief to the test. For those new to the series, this will feel like a movie being a movie, with, you know, something resembling a character arc for its lead. But this is a treat for the faithful, and one that is a long time coming.
Long live "Saw." If it can bring its lead villain back from the dead this many times, and deliver his definitive personal entry 19 years after the first, it deserves this longevity.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10