Saw X is coming, and you'd best be ready. While Saw hasn't remained dormant like other horror franchises, with both Jigsaw and Spiral releasing in 2017 and 2021, respectively, it's fair to say that this over-the-top horror phenomenon is long past its heyday. What was once an annual staple of the Halloween movie season has given way to new – and arguably better – films from all across the globe.
But as times change, so do tastes. Scream VI, Halloween, Candyman, and even The Shining have thrived with their legacy sequels, likely influencing a shift in priorities for the Saw franchise. Perhaps, instead of re-inventing this gore-riddled series for a new audience, it'd be better to just continue things as they were before.
Hence, Saw X, which sees Tobin Bell reprising his role as the spine-chilling Jigsaw killer prior to the character's death in Saw III. This time, however, we're heading south of the border. After hope for a miraculous surgery is snuffed out, Jigsaw sets up a new game to play in the heart of Mexico, promising oodles of gory kills for fans and newcomers alike. While the idea is entertaining, we have to ask: is Saw really worth revisiting more than a decade after the last numbered film?
Saw Was a Halloween Staple
The major things to know about the first Saw film are fairly common knowledge by now: it was originally based on a short film, James Wan was in the director's chair, it released to explosive box-office results, it featured an incredible final twist, and so on and so forth.
It, along with Wolf Creek and Hostel, were the progenitors of the "torture porn" subgenre that still sees occasional entries today, though nowhere near the level of excess found in the mid-2000s. For a shocking length of time, however, Saw was at one point an annual staple, with an unbroken streak of one Saw movie a year from 2004 to 2010. Not even Friday the 13th was that consistent.
For a lot of Saw fans, part of the fun wasn't even the overt violence that takes place throughout each of the films. A modern reappraisal of the original numbered Saw films sees them less as a horror franchise and more like a horror-themed soap opera. Several narrative decisions established early in the franchise saw the series introducing a shuffling cast of characters that jump in and out of subsequent films, with the stakes for each film only getting more and more ridiculous.
Following Jigsaw's death in Saw III, a hilarious narrative decision in hindsight, the franchise found itself reincorporating Tobin Bell almost exclusively through flashbacks and retcons. It made for an interwoven narrative that worked almost exclusively off of events that were either retroactively stitched into the story or were otherwise off-camera. Needless to say, it was entertaining in more ways than one.
While it's more than a little obvious why Saw X is set before Saw 3, it presents an opportunity for Saw to reinvigorate itself the same way Halloween and Scream did. It may lack the self-referential edge of the latter and the nostalgia of the former, but it would be more than interesting to see a Saw film tackle its own convoluted continuity in an age of surprising legacy sequels.
Does Saw Deserve Another Chance?
With that in mind, does Saw deserve such an opportunity? Does a franchise so self-indulgent and borderline silly deserve a chance to continue past its peak in cultural relevancy? Well, it tried twice before.
Jigsaw and Spiral, or Saw 8 and 9, were noble experiments in bringing the Saw franchise back for a new audience, albeit in different ways. Jigsaw jumped back and forth in time while serving as a prequel/sequel to the entire franchise. Spiral, conversely, took a bold step in foregoing Tobin Bell for a brand-new copycat killer and, interestingly, Chris Rock.
The results were mixed. Thankfully, you could argue that they took the tired Saw formula and tested what did and didn't work when applied to the franchise. Given how much the world of horror filmmaking has changed within the past few years, it almost feels like they had to happen to get to where we are now. What was learned will likely be put into practice by returning Saw alumni Kevin Greutert, who had a hand in either directing or editing every Saw film to date.
It's what ultimately makes Saw X all the more exciting. What we're hopefully getting with Saw X is an unabashed Saw film that takes what worked with these previous efforts while bringing back Tobin Bell for one more romp around a rusty warehouse. While there's a good chance it'll end up as just more of the same, there's just as good a chance as ending up with something truly special.
Saw X is currently slated for release on September 29, moved up from its original October 27 release date. It'll be the second Saw film following Spiral to not premiere during the Halloween season.