Saw X (2023)

Saw X is the rare franchise entry that feels newly alive: it doesn’t just engineer elaborate dread, it gives the series its most human heartbeat by centering Tobin Bell’s John Kramer with surprising emotional clarity. Kevin Greutert directs with a confident, nasty elegance—tight pacing, a grimy Mexico-set atmosphere, and set pieces that are as ingeniously constructed as they are stomach-churning—while Shawnee Smith’s return adds a charged, uneasy intimacy to the menace. The movie’s mystery hook and sharper character work make the twists land harder than the usual sequel churn, turning the familiar “game” into something that actually has narrative weight. Fair warning, though: the violence is extreme even by Saw standards, so if graphic gore isn’t your thing, this won’t convert you—but if you’ve ever wanted a Saw that’s both brutal and strangely compelling, this is the one.

Saw X is clearly trying to do something smarter than “more traps”: it leans into John Kramer as a wounded, almost sympathetic figure and frames the story like a revenge-thriller wrapped in a Saw setup. If you’re hoping for fresh mystery tension, though, a lot of the plotting feels like a delivery system for set-pieces, and the suspense can flatten once the movie settles into its routine of “here’s the next ordeal.” The violence is as graphic as the franchise gets, and it’s not the fun kind of nasty for everyone—it’s prolonged, clinical, and meant to make you squirm, not cheer. Watch it if you want Tobin Bell front and center and can stomach extreme gore; skip it if humanizing a serial killer or torture-heavy horror without much emotional payoff isn’t your idea of a good time.