Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again host a fundraiser for Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.
Today’s theme: Sequel
About the Author: Parker Simpson is a writer and podcaster focusing on cult films and their social impacts. They currently cohost Where Is My Mind, a podcast focusing on underappreciated films from a variety of genres and countries. They have also held panels, chartered local organizations, and written articles to their blog. When not writing or studying, they like to spend time with their pets and go outside. Check out the podcast Linktree and blog.
Hi everyone. I am not dead. My limbs just continue to be pulled every which way in manners I don’t really feel like explaining on a public blog… I’ve gotten a little sidetracked from watching and writing but I’m back for October, both for charity and my own personal distraction!
The weirdest turn my year has taken has been really getting into the Saw franchise. For the most part, I don’t like 2000s horror. Generally speaking, the characters are terribly written, the visuals give me headaches, and the plot is usually some avoidable crisis that is beyond eyeroll inducing. I guess the same could be argued for a lot of Saw (particularly the first few, when Jigsaw is targeting cheaters, drug addicts, and people with severe depression), but the more you try and get to know the characters the more you get pulled in (the first movie does a particularly good job of this knowing Lawrence and Adam aren’t as recurring as other characters). The caveat is the longer the franchise goes on, the more ridiculous it gets. I found myself laughing a little too much during the first movie; by the third, I was slightly annoyed yet very entertained by the lengths the plot was going. By the seventh movie (a movie I still consider the last installment chronologically, because shit starts and ends with John Kramer’s being in the movie somehow), I was fascinated that the franchise had gone on so long grasping at straws. You have to respect the grind!
During my initial series binge, I did not get around to Saw X (or Jigsaw… or Spiral… don’t remind me). Frankly, I was concerned it would be a legacy sequel that pandered to die-hard fans and retconned a bunch of bullshit to bring the franchise back into the public eye. Just a gimmick. Mercifully, Saw X does not build on more lore or attempt to undo anything already written, but instead expands on what John Kramer was doing in between the first two movies: desperately trying to combat his terminal brain cancer. He learns of an experimental drug procedure and travels to Mexico for treatment, only to learn that he (and many others) have been scammed. He quickly returns back to his “work” and subjects the scammers to a series of tests to make them pay. Typical Jigsaw activities when away from home.
What’s deeply fascinating is that instead of jumping straight into the brutality like most of the other films, Saw X allows you to get to know John Kramer more as a person before thrusting you into the gore and moral questions. A major gripe of a lot of people is the “elevated” approach horror has recently taken, popularized by A24 and similar studios. I definitely can be one of those people: not everything needs a meaning. Sometimes all I want to do is just watch a good old fashioned slasher movie! The Saw franchise gradually became that after the first movie, yet here we are gaining sympathy for a character that really should be very unlikable. Making John the main focus as he goes through his own trials and tribulations through the first act is refreshing, especially because he has one of the most sympathetic backstories of any horror villain. This is one of a few times the “victims” are not nearly as easy to root for, mostly because John has some semblance of morals, however twisted. Dr. Pederson and crew are some of the lowest of the low ever featured in the series (on par with Ivan the serial rapist from Saw IV), and even as they beg and plead, it’s difficult not to go along with John’s scheme.
To help with this decidedly very different tone, Saw X feels less rushed. My least favorite part about any given entry prior to this is the editing; most of them feel like poorly aged music videos. Maybe this more quiet take on Jigsaw won’t age well either, but it looks and feels a lot better than anything before it. There is still frantic cutting during moments where it’s needed, but it doesn’t feel as stressed. Instead, it allows you to bask in the more complex emotions, following along with John and his logic and forcing you to ruminate on what he wants.
I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the performances in this film. Tobin Bell has been in nearly every Saw movie, yet it’s here it feels he really gets to stretch his legs and flesh out John Kramer more. He’s able to balance out the more “human” moments you see bits and pieces of in the earlier movies with the colder meditations he’s known for, and he’s rather good at both (made me wonder why they continued the series after they killed him off in Saw III…). Additionally, Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda Young, and while her bob is atrocious, this might be my favorite version of her. You still see the more manic side of her when they’re operating the traps, however her chemistry with Bell is incredible. Being able to see their mentor/mentee relationship in full as he “guides” her through his methodology is refreshing, something prior films have not been able to do successfully (once again, I must question why they killed her off in Saw III if they were going to continue the series). The newcomers to the series are good as well; Synnøve Macody Lund does a great job in a similar role to Bell as Dr. Cecilia Pederson, albeit much more deceptive and insincere. The series is no stranger to unlikable victims; she is arguably the most convincing. Her comrades are similarly very good, although I feel Steven Brand’s character was unnecessary (just to drag the movie to nearly two hours). And finally, we get a last minute cameo from Costas Mandylor as Mark Hoffman in that fuck ass bathroom… he’s not my favorite apprentice (I wish they brought Cary Elwes back for this, 15 minutes of post-trap Lawrence in Saw 3D was not enough to balance out that movie’s problems), but I am always very happy to see Hoffman be a stone faced terminator.
Overall, I was very impressed with Saw X. I was expecting some badly paced slop with a poor excuse for nostalgia bait, but instead I got a well made, suspenseful movie that allowed me to have a new perspective on a character I hadn’t really gotten an opportunity to like. Given I’ve seen the original more than I’d really want to admit since I first watched, I feel like having the background of this movie in my head may help for any future rewatches of the sequels I may subject myself to. Long live the autistic hyperfixations that never fail to leave me sucked into things for months at a time.
