Saw X is a 2023 American horror film directed and edited by Kevin Greutert and written by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg. The film is the tenth installment in the Saw film series, serving as both a direct sequel to Saw (2004) and a prequel to Saw II (2005). Starring Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith reprising their roles from the previous films, with Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Renata Vaca, and Michael Beach, John Kramer (Bell) travels to Mexico in hopes that an experimental procedure may cure him, only to later discover that the operation is a scam. As retribution, he kidnaps those responsible and subjects them to his trademark death traps.
A tenth installment was reported to be in development with Twisted Pictures in April 2021, when Stolberg and Goldfinger, writers for the previous two entries of the series, announced that they had completed the script in December 2021. Greutert, who had directed two other installments of the series and edited six, was also confirmed as the film's director. Filming took place from October 2022 to February 2023 in Mexico City.
Saw X was theatrically released by Lionsgate Films on September 29, 2023. It has grossed $93 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise especially towards Bell's performance, becoming the best reviewed Saw film.
Plot
John Kramer is told that after his CT scan, due to his advanced brain cancer, he has only months to live. John later attends a cancer support meeting, where he meets Henry Kessler, who claims to have also gotten a terminal cancer diagnosis. John later encounters a seemingly healthy Henry, who claims to have been cured by an experimental Norwegian cancer treatment conducted by a group led by Dr. Pederson. A desperate John contacts the doctor's daughter Cecilia, who refers him to her clinic in Mexico City.
John is driven to the clinic by taxi driver Diego and meets Cecilia and her team—Mateo, Valentina, and Dr. Cortez—as well as a young woman named Gabriela who claims to have been cured by Cecilia, and another patient, Parker Sears, who just underwent surgery. John also meets Carlos, a young boy who lives nearby; the two bond when John fixes his bike. John goes under for surgery, and he wakes up to Cecilia telling him that he is now cancer-free. Finding a new lease on life, John purchases a gift for Gabriela; however, upon returning to the clinic, he finds it abandoned and realizes that the whole operation was a scam.
Deducing "Dr. Cortez" was Diego in disguise, John kidnaps and interrogates him. He then places Diego in a trap where he must remove explosives wired to his arms by cutting through his flesh, which Diego successfully performs. Jigsaw's apprentice Amanda Young then kidnaps Cecilia, Mateo, Valentina, and Gabriela; the four wake up in the clinic, now subjects of John and Amanda's Jigsaw games.
Valentina is tasked with severing her leg with a Gigli saw and extracting enough bone marrow to release a key to free herself. Although she succeeds in removing her leg, she is unable to escape in time and is decapitated by another Gigli saw. Cecilia disembowels Valentina's corpse and uses her intestines as a rope to lure her phone and calls for help, but Amanda shocks her into submission and confiscates the phone. Parker breaks into the clinic, claiming he wants his money back. Amanda restrains Parker while Mateo is forced to drill into his own skull and remove a portion of his cerebral tissue to obtain a key. Despite succeeding, after the tissue takes too long to dissolve, a heated mask closes on his face, killing him. Next, Gabriela is suspended from shackles around her wrist and ankle while being subjected to ionizing radiation and must use a sledgehammer to break her shackled limbs and escape. She succeeds and John orders Amanda to take her to a hospital. However, before she can, the now-free Parker forces them at gunpoint to free Cecilia.