Saw X (2023) is the tenth film in the Saw franchise. It was directed and edited by longtime series editor Kevin Greutert from a script by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg. It is set between Saw (2004) and Saw II (2005). A dying John Kramer, the Jigsaw killer (Tobin Bell), travels to Mexico for an experimental cancer cure. When he discovers the treatment is a scam, he puts the con artists through his traps, helped by his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith). Bell is on screen more than in any other entry, and the film puts John’s point of view at its center. It became the best-reviewed film in the series and grossed $125.3 million on a $13 million budget.
At a glance
| Release date | September 29, 2023 (US) |
| Director | Kevin Greutert |
| Writers | Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg |
| Based on | Characters created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell |
| Starring | Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Renata Vaca, Michael Beach |
| Runtime | 118 minutes |
| Rating | R (US), for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and some drug use |
| Budget | $13 million |
| Box office | $125.3 million |
| Franchise | Saw: set between Saw (2004) and Saw II (2005); follows Spiral (2021) in release order |
Plot summary
John Kramer has only months to live because of advanced brain cancer. At a support group, a fellow patient, Henry Kessler, tells him he was cured by an experimental treatment from a team led by the Norwegian doctor Finn Pederson. John contacts Pederson’s daughter, Cecilia (Synnøve Macody Lund), who invites him to her clinic outside Mexico City. There he meets her team and other patients, and bonds with Carlos, the caretaker’s young son.
After the “surgery,” Cecilia tells John he is cancer-free. Overjoyed, he returns to the clinic to find it abandoned. A video of his supposed brain operation was faked, and there is no scar under his bandages. The whole thing was a con aimed at desperate, dying people. John kidnaps his taxi driver, who had posed as one of the doctors, and enlists Amanda to help him abduct the rest of the team. They wake up in the clinic, now part of Jigsaw’s game.
Spoiler section: the ending
The traps claim nurse Valentina and the anesthesiologist Mateo, while patient Gabriela survives hers. Then another accomplice, Parker, arrives at gunpoint to free Cecilia. Cecilia kills Gabriela and chains John and Carlos into a trap that waterboards them with blood. But John has planned for this. When Cecilia and Parker go for their stolen money, they spring a tripwire that frees John and Carlos and seals them in a room filling with poison gas, with only one breathing hole. Cecilia kills Parker as John, Amanda and Carlos walk out. In a post-credits scene, the scammer Henry wakes in a run-down bathroom in a new trap, watched by John and Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor).
Production and behind the scenes
Producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules had conceived the story as early as 2018. It was postponed when Lionsgate approved Chris Rock’s idea for Spiral. After Spiral underperformed, they returned to the series’ core themes. Stolberg and Goldfinger, who wrote Jigsaw and Spiral, finished the script in December 2021. Greutert, who had directed Saw VI and Saw 3D and edited six entries, was confirmed in August 2022. Bell’s return was announced in October 2022. He also helped shape the script and added dialogue after filming. The filmmakers chose not to digitally de-age Bell and Smith, even though 17 years had passed since Saw III. Greutert felt de-aging “puts some distance between the character and the audience.”
Filming took place in Mexico City from late October 2022 to February 2023, on a $13 million budget. The traps were so complex that the shoot was split into two three-week blocks, with prosthetics and machines built over Christmas. Cinematographer Nick Matthews and Greutert paid homage to the early films, with their 1.85 aspect ratio, gritty texture and “bold, yellow color palettes.” Production designer Anthony Stabley made sure all the technology on screen would have existed in the mid-2000s. Most of the gore was practical, with CGI used only for touch-ups. Charlie Clouser returned to compose the music.
Release and reception
Lionsgate moved the release up from October 27 to September 29, 2023, and brought back the Saw Blood Drive, offering free opening-weekend tickets to Red Cross donors. A parody of Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theatres ad, with Billy the Puppet on his tricycle, was pulled after AMC sent a cease-and-desist. The film opened second behind PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie with $18.3 million, well ahead of Spiral and Jigsaw. It topped the UK and Irish box office and grossed $125.3 million worldwide.
Critics praised Bell in particular, and many called it the best entry since the original. It holds 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus cites “a franchise-best performance by Tobin Bell” and “a surprising amount of heart,” and 60 on Metacritic, both series highs. It received a “B” CinemaScore. Owen Gleiberman of Variety said it felt “more like a real movie” with “more talking and less torturing,” and singled out Bell’s “stare of pitiless wisdom.” The Hollywood Reporter said Bell made “I’d like to play a game” truly scary.
Legacy and influence
Saw X reset the franchise after Spiral. It returned to John Kramer himself, gave him a sympathetic motive and real victims to target, and earned the series its best reviews. It was also the last Saw film produced by Twisted Pictures. A Saw XI was announced for 2024, then pushed to 2025, but work stalled over disagreements between producers. In June 2025, Blumhouse bought Twisted’s stake, with Lionsgate staying involved. Jason Blum said he wanted to bring back the original creators, including James Wan. In September 2026, an eleventh film was announced with Mike P. Nelson directing and Wan, Leigh Whannell and Blum producing.
Trivia
- Greutert told Empire that Bell appears more in Saw X than in any other Saw film.
- Local police were called on assistant editor Steve Forner after neighbors heard the sound design for one trap and feared someone was being “tortured to death.”
- Costas Mandylor’s cameo as Hoffman was never announced. Greutert called it “the most fan-servicey thing” he had done.
- Hannah Emily Anderson had signed to reprise her Jigsaw role in two more films, neither of which was made.
- It was the franchise’s tenth film, almost 19 years after the original Saw opened in 2004.
Related links
- Jigsaw (character)
- Saw franchise
- Saw (2004), Saw II (2005) and Spiral (2021)
- Tobin Bell (John Kramer)
- James Wan and Leigh Whannell (series creators)