Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Battlefield 6 Classes - Support trailer image

    Battlefield 6 Really Wants You To Play Support (But Knows You Won’t)

    07/31/2025
    Battlefield 6 Multiplayer Reveal promotional image

    Battlefield 6 Classes, Maps, And More: Everything You Need To Know

    07/31/2025
    A glimpse at all the upcoming Star Wars stories coming to the galaxy

    Star Wars Stories: What We Learned At SDCC 2025

    07/25/2025
    Blindspot episode still

    It’s been 5 years since ‘Blindspot’ ended. Why haven’t you watched it yet?

    07/24/2025
    Strange Scaffold

    Strange Scaffold Summer Showcase Delivers Bizarre And Brilliant Games

    07/22/2025
  • Fantasia Festival
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Switch 2 Games
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » FANTASTIC FEST: ‘SAW X’ Heads Back To Its Roots

FANTASTIC FEST: ‘SAW X’ Heads Back To Its Roots

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez09/28/20235 Mins ReadUpdated:03/27/2024
SAW X - But Why Tho (2)
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

SAW is a storied franchise, full of ups, and downs, iconic moments, and iconic stumbles. That said, for fans of the ongoing games and the way that it’s evolved over time have stuck through it all, in SAW X we’re back to the basics that made the first two films the genre-heavy hitters they’ve become known for. Directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, SAW X is interesting, to say the least.

Positioned between SAW and SAW II, SAW X brings John Kramer (Tobin Bell) back. It is a stark departure from Jigsaw and Spiral and gives audiences the most intimate game yet. Just after getting his “dying” diagnosis, John Kramer is desperate for a cure. When one of his cancer therapy group members gives him the recommendation for a miracle cure to cancer, he heads to Mexico City where the good Dr. Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) cures him.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Excited for life and all the work he needs to finish, John has the rug pulled out from under him when he discovers that the whole operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable, letting them die from their hope, and taking their money and running. Armed with a newfound purpose, John returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way, anger distilled into tests that few, if any, survive.

The American healthcare system has long been the real villain of SAW films, and in SAW X, John follows suit of many Americans looking for an experimental surgery they just can’t get at home. The con-doctor Pederson moves from city to city, always on the move, taking advantage of the people in the new location for her ploys. In this way, the definition of victim in SAW X blurs. The host of undesirables that are brought into Pederson’s con seem to be just as exploited as the vulnerable but are given the venom that she deserves.

SAW X - But Why Tho (2)

It’s true that Jigsaw has never cared for circumstance, and that continues here. Prostitute turned nurse, drug addict turned greeter, and drug dealer turned anesthesiologist all find themselves stuck in John’s traps. Only, the ferocity of the traps on display in SAW X rivals anything else in the franchise. In truth, for those who have loved the puzzles and gore the traps present, this is a return to form. From removing your own brain matter to get a key to getting a radiation machine blast to the face, and so much more, the brutality of the games is upped from previous entries in the series, but ultimately returns the franchise to its roots of violence first, and lessons buried somewhere in there.

The choice to make the vulnerable who were already exploited by Pederson bear the brunt of her sins under the guise of “free will” makes the very slim time limit seem even more brutal. In that, the film struggles. Making the audience form connections with characters who very much have the will to live and resiliency but with a time limit that is closer to Amanda’s (Shawnee Smith) “no one escapes” traps than John’s tests of will. I mean, could you cut out a piece of your brain in 3 minutes?

Ultimately, the brutal and visceral traps find themselves high in the franchise. But at the same time, they undercut themselves deeply. Or at the very least, the morality they claim to uphold. With one too many switches in theme and the tone-deaf setting of Mexico in a time when migrants are being killed on the border with razor wire fit for a SAW film, there is a disparate tone that makes the audience question Jigsaw in a way that we aren’t supposed to.

SAW X - But Why Tho (2)

While Jigsaw’s apprentices have reached the status of indiscriminate killing with no way to pass the test, John Kramer, at least at this point in the SAW timeline, is supposed to be more driven by his morals and his push to let people use their will to live. Instead, each death in the film feels like a personal attack versus a moral one. Additionally, the condensed timeline for the games creates a pace for the film that is almost untenable.

The strongest part of the film, however, is the relationship we see between John Kramer and Amanda. A fantastic duo, we get the chance to see the interactions between the two of them. Per the answers in the Q&A following the Fantastic Fest screening, SAW X is supposed to be Amanda at her most innocent and vulnerable. Just a few weeks after the original film, this Amanda is compassionate and green, and the mentor/mentee relationship between her and John is truly the shining element of the film. Amanda is the heart of the film and the best part of it.

SAW X returns to the franchise roots, but its sepia-tone Mexican setting, fast-paced torture devices, and a scattered view on morality make it a perfectly fine SAW entry, but not a great SAW film. Getting lost in the weeds of trying to turn the franchise again, driven by fan complaints for the last two films, SAW X feels like it’s chained by the past, instead of keeping the franchise moving forward.

SAW X screened as a part of the Fantastic Fest 2023 program and is streaming now on VOD.

SAW X
  • 5.5/10
    Rating - 5.5/10
5.5/10

TL;DR

Getting lost in the weeds of trying to turn the franchise again, driven by fan complaints for the last two films, SAW X feels like it’s chained by the past instead of keeping the franchise moving forward.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleINTERVIEW: Xalavier Nelson Jr. Talks ‘El Paso, Elsewhere’
Next Article REVIEW: ‘Castlevania: Nocturne’ Lives Decidedly Outside The Shadow Of The Past
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

Simon in An Honest Life But Why Tho
3.5

REVIEW: ‘An Honest Life’ Is Terribly Dishonest About Its Own Politics

08/02/2025
Brandon Routh and co in Ick
9.0

REVIEW: ‘Ick’ Is A Near Perfect Horror-Comedy

07/29/2025
Bad Bunny and Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2
5.0

REVIEW: ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Earns More Shrugs Than Laughs

07/29/2025
Hi-Five
6.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘Hi-Five’ Introduces A Scrappy, Superpowered Team Up

07/28/2025
Still from Haunted Mountains The Yellow Taboo
5.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘Haunted Mountains: The Yellow Taboo’ Gets A Little Lost In The Weeds

07/26/2025
Dakota Gorman in HELLCAT
6.5

FANTASIA 2025: ‘HELLCAT’ Runs High In Tension But Loses Steam

07/25/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Wildgate promotional key art
9.0
PC

REVIEW: ‘Wildgate’ Is Co-Op Space Mayhem Done Right

By Adrian Ruiz07/25/2025Updated:07/30/2025

Built for friends and tuned for competition, Wildgate is messy in the best way: smart, surprising, and bursting with room to grow.

Glass Heart
7.0
TV

REVIEW: ‘Glass Heart’ Offers Messy, Musical Catharsis

By Allyson Johnson07/22/2025

The musical drama series ‘Glass Heart’ soars when it focuses on the epic performances of it’s fictional band, TENBLANK.

Simon in An Honest Life But Why Tho
3.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘An Honest Life’ Is Terribly Dishonest About Its Own Politics

By Jason Flatt08/02/2025

An Honest Life is an overly severe misfire about a law student who falls in with anarchist burglars that can’t decide who it resents more.

Black Women Anime — But Why Tho (9) BWT Recommends

10 Black Women in Anime That Made Me Feel Seen

By LaNeysha Campbell11/11/2023Updated:12/03/2024

Black women are some of anime’s most iconic characters, and that has a big impact on Black anime fans. Here are some of our favorites.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here