Saw X (2023) Official Lionsgate Trailer
John Kramer Wants To Play A Game
The Saw franchise has been around since the early 2000s, following various characters as they find themselves in the Jigsaw killer John Kramer’s path, where he makes them participate in deadly games to make up for their perceived transgressions. In Saw X, Kramer plans to exact revenge on con artists who lied to him about an experimental medical procedure by creating new sadistic traps. Each Saw movie has been increasingly more violent than the last, with Saw X continuing that successful streak, and these traps are the reason why.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Saw X
Bloodboarding Trap
After finding out the supposed risky and experimental medical procedure meant to cure his brain cancer was a scam, an angry John Kramer (Tobin Bell) decides to get revenge on everyone at the clinic. These victims include Cecelia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), who convinced John to come to her clinic in Mexico for treatment, her team Mateo (Octavio Hinojosa), Valentina (Paulette Hernández), and taxi driver Diego (Joshua Okamoto), who fronted as Dr. Cortez, patients Gabriela (Renata Vaca) and Parker (Steven Brand), cancer support group member Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), who convinced Kramer to sign up for the operation, and a custodian (Isan Beomhyun Lee).
The bloodboarding trap is easily one of the most frightening traps in the Saw franchise. Originally meant for the head con artist, the victims of this trap ended up being the caretaker’s young son that John bonded with, and the Jigsaw killer himself. After one con artist breaks into the clinic and forces John Kramer and his assistant Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) to release another member. The two force the killer to chain himself up to his own trap. When the young boy shows up to the clinic, he is chained opposite the other victim, and the trap activates and waterboards the two with blood. The con artists go to the control room to retrieve the money John took from them, and accidentally trigger another trap by activating a tripwire that also releases the victims. What makes this trap especially scary is the idea of the victim slowly drowning in blood, unable to see as the sticky red liquid gets in their eyes, nose, and mouth, choking them on the metallic-tasting substance.
Brain Surgery Trap
The victim of the brain surgery trap was one of Cecelia’s team members. He was strapped to a nonfunctional wheelchair with a mask covered in electrodes placed around his head. Above him was a camera that projected the live feed of the top of his head onto a nearby monitor. This camera was supposed to help him complete his game. The victim listens to the tape John left for him, which explains that he has to drill into his own skull and retrieve a sample of cerebral tissue before placing it in a glass beaker in front of him to dissolve it so he can get a key. He is given three minutes to complete the task, or else the mask will close around his face and the electrodes will heat coils that will melt his face. The victim successfully completes the trap, but the cerebral tissue doesn’t dissolve in time, resulting in the heated mask closing over his face and burning him to death.
What makes this Saw trap so violent is both the task itself and the results of failing the task. Having to drill into one’s head is difficult, especially when placed in restraints. If the victim were to make the slightest mistake, he could have ended up piercing through his skull into his brain, killing him instantly, or leading to a slow death by brain bleeding. Taking cerebral tissue is also incredibly risky and could also result in death or brain damage. Being unable to complete the trap is also disturbing because the victim dies from excruciating facial burns, feeling as their flesh blisters and melts.
Wire Saw Trap
The wire saw trap is one of the more disgusting traps in this movie, and in a way parallels the trap Doctor Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell) have to escape in the original Saw (2004). For this trap, the victim is tied to a pipe inside the abandoned clinic. This trap contains two Gigli saws: one wrapped around the victim at neck height, and another that she has to sever her leg. There is a dotted line drawn on one of her legs, showing her where to cut. Next to Valentina is the instrument she must use to collect her own bone marrow, as well as a device that measures bone marrow and will deactivate the trap once completed. If not done in three minutes, the trap will activate the saw around her neck. The victim managed to successfully cut off her leg, but she hesitated when collecting bone marrow, which took up too much time and triggered the trap, which decapitates her.
This trap, like the other surgery trap, is one of the most violent ones in the film; the victim has to severely injure themself without any sort of barrier for the pain and under a time crunch. Having to cut through one’s leg takes a lot of mental and physical fortitude, as the victim has to both be psychologically strong enough to amputate themself and physically strong enough to cut through skin, bone, tendons, muscles, and veins. Even if successful, it is still very likely that the victim would die due to blood loss or infection.
Yay Or Nay?
Saw X is easily one of the best Saw movies so far for many reasons. For starters, it is the first and only movie in which John Kramer’s psychopathic behaviors are somewhat justified. Usually, the Jigsaw killer chooses his victims by their lack of appreciation for life or for negatively impacting someone else’s life, with the occasional victim that wronged John himself. In this movie, however, almost every victim is a part of the scam or was at least associated with the clinic somehow. Saw X can be found on Hulu, The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, and Philo with a premium subscription, or Google Play Movies, Fandango at Home, and Apple TV for $5.99.
Source: Dead Talk Live
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Source: Dead Talk Live
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Author
Hi, I'm Haley! I recently graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a B.F.A. in creative writing and a B.A. in psychology. I love writing and have been doing it since I was little, with my niche being the dark and macabre in short stories and poems.
Hanna Zabski is a current undergraduate student at Marist College majoring in Media Studies and Production with a concentration in Film and Television. She is incredibly passionate about the entertainment industry and storytelling, and hopes to one day pursue a career in this field.