---
title: "Saw X"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/saw-x"
fi1m_id: "saw-x"
imdb_id: "tt21807222"
tmdb_id: 951491
wikidata_id: "Q115734942"
fi1m_score: 64
critics_score: 62
critics_reviews: 19
published: "2026-09-12"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:06.118324+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Saw X (2023)

Directed by Kevin Greutert · 1h 58m · MPA R · Horror, Mystery

## Identity

Saw X

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/saw-x
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** saw-x
- **IMDb ID:** tt21807222
- **TMDB ID:** 951491
- **Wikidata ID:** Q115734942
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21807222/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/951491, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115734942

**Fi1m score: 64** · Critics 62 from 19 reviews

*In a sentence:* A dying man is scammed out of his cancer money and files his complaint with a hacksaw and a puppet

> The tenth Saw film puts Tobin Bell at the centre for the first time and he holds it: patient, weary and frightening. The traps are as vile as the series has managed; the trouble is a running time that stretches revenge into a lecture.

## Synopsis

John Kramer (Tobin Bell), the man the newspapers call Jigsaw, is dying of cancer and has been told there is nothing more to be done. At a support group he meets Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), who says an experimental treatment abroad saved his life. Kramer follows the lead to Mexico, where Dr Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) and her small team offer a cure for a very large fee, and he pays it. What he discovers when he returns to thank them sets the rest of the film in motion, and brings his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) to join him. Set between the first two Saw films, it is directed and edited by Kevin Greutert, written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, and runs 118 minutes with an 18 certificate.

## Review

The tenth Saw film does something the other nine did not: it makes John Kramer the protagonist. Tobin Bell, for years the series’ voice on a cassette and its face in flashback, is on screen for most of the 118 minutes, and he is the reason to see it. Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger’s script sets the story between the first two films, sends a dying Kramer to Mexico for an experimental cancer treatment, and lets him find out what his money actually bought. What follows is a revenge film using the franchise’s hardware, and it is the most coherent Saw in years. It is also too long by a reel, and by the end it has talked itself into a corner.

Kevin Greutert, directing his third entry and cutting it himself, takes his time. After an opening that turns out to be a daydream, it is the better part of half an hour before anyone is strapped to anything for real. Instead we watch a sick man shave, count pills, sit in a circle of the dying and listen to Henry Kessler (Michael Beach) describe getting well. Bell plays all of this with a stillness that is almost courtly, a man who has decided how he will die and resents having his plans interfered with. It is the best acting the series has had, and the series has never asked for it before.

The clinic is run by Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), all soft Scandinavian reassurance, with a team who each had a part to play in the performance: Mateo (Octavio Hinojosa Martínez), Valentina (Paulette Hernández), Diego (Joshua Okamoto) and Gabriela (Renata Vaca). Once Kramer has them in a warehouse the film becomes what its tagline promises. Anthony R. Stabley’s set is the usual rust and drip with a great deal of medical equipment put to uses the manufacturers did not intend. Nick Matthews shoots the Mexico City streets in a bleached, dusty daylight and the warehouse in the bilious green the series has always favoured. Jimena Tenorio dresses the con artists in clinical whites that look borrowed, which they were.

The traps are the nastiest the series has produced, and we say that having sat through all of them. Mateo’s requires a man to perform a piece of surgery on himself against a clock; the eye trap of the opening puts a face against two glass tubes and a pump. We watched the surgery through our fingers and then felt slightly ashamed of ourselves, because the film had built the scene so that we wanted him to manage it, and wanting that is exactly the position Kramer wants us in. Greutert cuts these sequences without the flailing whip-pans the early sequels wore like a uniform. You see the mechanism, you understand the rule, and the camera stays put.

Shawnee Smith’s Amanda is the other pleasure. She and Bell play the pair as a small business, disagreeing over logistics and who does what, and the film’s best laughs come from the two of them bickering while someone screams in the next room. Charlie Clouser’s score clanks and grinds when required and holds the famous theme back until it is wanted. Steven Brand turns up as Parker Sears, a fellow patient, in the second half, and the film is not sure what to do with him beyond the obvious.

The trouble is the last forty minutes. Stolberg and Goldfinger want Kramer understood as well as feared, so he explains himself, at length, to people who have good reasons not to listen. A series built on the idea that Jigsaw is a monster with a philosophy now asks us to think the philosophy has a point. We were not persuaded, and we were bored waiting for the argument to finish, which is not a thing we expected to be during a Saw film.

Against the series’ own record this is the strongest since the first film, and it says something about that record that a clear story and a lead performance count as achievements. The original *Saw* (2004) was a cheap, nervous puzzle box; this is a slow, confident revenge picture that happens to use the same tools. Those who have never liked these films will not be won over. Those who have will find this the one to see, at home, with the lights off, and with nothing on the plate they would mind never eating again.

*Fi1m score 64, published 12 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics treat Saw X as the franchise’s best outing in years, and nearly all of them credit the same thing: Tobin Bell, given the lead for the first time, playing John Kramer as a grounded control freak with a dry sense of humour. The reviews also welcome the stripped-back structure, a single linear story with a smaller cast and traps aimed at people the film has taken care to make hateful. Reservations gather around length and the third act, which several find drawn out or contrived, and around the loss of the puzzle-box surprises of the early entries. The spread is wide. Den of Geek argues that making Kramer the hero inverts the series’ moral compass and asks the audience to enjoy the suffering. Slant finds the promised deeper study of Amanda never arrives, though it rates Shawnee Smith. Empire and The Guardian simply find it tired, a relic dressed up as a comeback.

## Straight answers

**Is Saw X worth watching?**

*Saw X* is worth watching for anyone who already likes the series, and we scored it 64. Tobin Bell carries the film as a dying John Kramer, and the traps are the nastiest the franchise has produced, but the last forty minutes stretch his revenge into a lecture. Those who have never taken to these films will not be converted by this one.

**How long is Saw X, and what is it rated?**

*Saw X* runs 1h 58m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror and mystery film.

**Where can I watch Saw X in the US?**

*Saw X* is not on any streaming or rental service in the US at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Saw X, and is it suitable for children?**

*Saw X* carries an 18 certificate and is not suitable for children of any age, nor for the squeamish. The traps include a man forced to perform surgery on himself against a clock and a device that presses a face against glass tubes and a pump, and the camera stays put rather than cutting away. It is graphic rather than frightening, and the horror is in what you are made to watch.

**How does Saw X compare to Se7en?**

*Saw X* and [*Se7en*](https://film.one/film/se7en) both feature a killer who fits punishments to sins and believes he is teaching, but the earlier film is the better made of the two by some distance. Fincher's picture is a careful, oppressively dark detective thriller that keeps its violence largely off screen; Greutert's is a slow revenge film that shows every mechanism. Watch *Se7en* for dread and *Saw X* for the hardware.

**What should I watch after Saw X?**

After *Saw X*, try [*Se7en*](https://film.one/film/se7en) (1995, Fi1m 88): Punishments fitted to sins, and a killer who thinks he is teaching. Then [*Oldboy*](https://film.one/film/oldboy) (2003, Fi1m 85): A revenge that takes fifteen years to plan and one hallway to execute; and [*Audition*](https://film.one/film/audition) (1999, Fi1m 84): Miike’s slow first hour makes the last twenty minutes unbearable.

### Reviews we read (23)

- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (3/4/3): The critic praises Tobin Bell's return and the gutsy gore with some good gags, calling it a bloody fun time overall. It notes the film fizzles in the third act and feels indulgent due to its long runtime. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/saw-x-review)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Brian Tallerico (80/100, inferred): The film corrects many franchise issues by limiting scope and centering Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith, who deliver their best performances. It features more fitting punishments and returns John Kramer to his core mission of teaching lessons about life. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/saw-x-movie-review-2023)
- **The AV Club**, Luke Y. Thompson (B): The critic praises Tobin Bell’s commanding performance and the film’s healthy sense of humor as reasons for fans to return. It positions the linear story and more personal traps as making this the most satisfying Saw installment since the early entries. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/saw-x-film-review-tobin-bell-1850881025)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Joshua Rothkopf (75/100, inferred): The movie sheds excess from the tired series and returns to gory glory with Tobin Bell's compelling performance. It has fun subverting expectations before delivering better-than-passable traps and vengeance. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-29/saw-x-review-tobin-bell-shawnee-smith)
- **The Independent**, Clarisse Loughrey (75/100, inferred): The critic finds Saw X a welcome return to form that treats John Kramer as an anti-hero protagonist and restores playful mischief missing from recent entries. Bell's grounded, control-freak performance is singled out as the main reason the approach succeeds. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/saw-x-review-jigsaw-sequel-b2419637.html)
- **The New York Times**, Beatrice Loayza (70/100, inferred): Saw X delivers the series' signature disgusting traps and self-serious yet knowingly absurd plot, making it appealing trash for fans. Director Kevin Greutert builds out the betrayal arc for John Kramer with more coherence and less frenetic editing than prior entries. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/movies/saw-x-review.html)
- **Variety** (65/100, inferred): Saw X comes closer to being a real movie with a unified plot and Tobin Bell dominating as John Kramer in a full-scale performance. The increased focus on talking and moral hand-wringing over pure torturing is a mixed development for the franchise. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/saw-x-review-tobin-bell-1235737517/)
- **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (3/5): The review praises the stripped-back basics and inventive torment in this revenge thriller taken to extremes, while noting the gruesome effects may put viewers off certain foods. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/saw-x-review-revenge-horror-taken-to-extremes/)
- **Empire**, Helen O'Hara (45/100, inferred): The review notes that the film delivers the expected gore but feels tired and unoriginal apart from giving Tobin Bell's Jigsaw centre stage. It criticises the way the story increasingly portrays the character as a righteous hero. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/saw-x/)
- **Radio Times**, Kevin Harley (2/5): The critic finds the film drawn out with no sense of mystery or surprise, despite solid gore and Tobin Bell's performance as John Kramer. It feels like fan service without the puzzle-box pleasures of earlier entries. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/saw-x-review/)
- **Total Film** (35/100, inferred): The critic concludes that Bell's return is not enough to revive the series and that the film retreats to familiar basement territory. Elaborate traps are staged with ghoulish skill but the surrounding scenes are criticised as talky, dreary and overly sentimental. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/saw-x-review/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Kyle Turner (1/4): The critic finds the film unable to deliver on its promise of deeper character study or meaningful expansion for Amanda, though it offers some pathos in Jigsaw’s revenge and strong work from Shawnee Smith. It notes the highlight is Amanda’s embodied desperation amid otherwise thin material. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/saw-x-review-tobin-bell/)
- **IndieWire**, Alison Foreman: The critic describes the film as a plodding yet suspenseful and gleefully perverse sequel in which Tobin Bell commits fully to the role of Jigsaw. The review highlights the director’s third entry in the series as agonizing but notes its personal touch in the traps and story. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/saw-x-review-tobin-bell-1234910121/)
- **The Guardian**: The critic finds little of worth in this return to the franchise, noting it is somewhat better than the lowest points but ultimately a relic with poorly acted silliness and no justification for revisiting the series. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/28/saw-x-movie-review-release)
- **The Times** (★★★★☆): The critic calls the tenth instalment ever so fun, noting it has not run out of steam with black humour and inventive traps despite the familiar formula. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/saw-x-review-this-francise-amazingly-hasn-t-run-out-of-steam-m9h93tdjf)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it the strongest and most effective Saw sequel, praising the throwback to lo-fi traps, the focus on John Kramer and Amanda's relationship, and fresh blood injected into the franchise while noting some issues with pacing and the twist. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a45318186/saw-x-review/)
- **The Wrap**, William Bibbiani (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as an uncomplicated return to basics that works well despite some reliance on the past. It singles out the simplicity and focus on Jigsaw, death traps, and a sense of purpose for delivering the series' core appeal. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/saw-x-review-an-uncomplicated-return-to-basics-that-works-even-when-mired-in-the-past/)
- **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (B-): The critic praises the film's straightforward, linear narrative and Tobin Bell's strong central performance as Jigsaw but notes it lacks the wild, chaotic energy of earlier entries. [Read](https://collider.com/saw-x-review/)
- **/Film**, Jacob Hall (7/10): The critic calls it one of the franchise's best entries and a major success for dedicated fans, crediting the decision to center Tobin Bell's John Kramer as the lead for the first time. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1406507/saw-x-review/)
- **NME**, James Mottram (70/100, inferred): The critic notes that Saw X delivers the expected intense, viscous and violent horror with inventive traps and strong iconography, including Billy the Puppet and Tobin Bell's performance, but is nothing revolutionary. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/saw-x-review-jigsaw-horror-3505782)
- **HeyUGuys**, Daniel Goodwin (3/5): The critic finds Saw X a surprising highlight of the franchise that is more engaging, funny, and entertaining than expected, with strong character focus and twists, though it wavers in the final third with some contrivances. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/saw-x-review/)
- **Den of Geek**, Joe George (40/100, inferred): The critic argues that centering John Kramer as the hero inverts the franchise's moral compass by making the victims clearly deserving of punishment, which invites the audience to enjoy the suffering and aligns viewers with the torturers. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/saw-x-tries-to-change-jigsaw-and-fails/)
- **Paste**, Aurora Amidon (8.0): The review hails the film as potentially the franchise's best, singling out its inventive and bloody traps along with a fun revenge-flick tone while critiquing some forced emotional moments. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/saw/saw-x-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Kevin Greutert
- **Director:** Kevin Greutert
- **Writer:** Pete Goldfinger, Josh Stolberg
- **Cinematography:** Nick Matthews
- **Editor:** Kevin Greutert
- **Music:** Charlie Clouser
- **Production design:** Anthony R. Stabley
- **Costume design:** Jimena Tenorio
- **Producer:** Oren Koules, Mark Burg, Ulrich Maier
- **Cast:** Tobin Bell as John Kramer; Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young; Synnøve Macody Lund as Cecilia Pederson; Steven Brand as Parker Sears; Renata Vaca as Gabriela; Joshua Okamoto as Diego; Octavio Hinojosa Martínez as Mateo; Paulette Hernández as Valentina
- **Runtime:** 1h 58m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 29 September 2023
- **Genres:** Horror, Mystery
- **Budget:** $13 million
- **Box office:** $125 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PzUo4P21c

## Where to watch in the US

Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check.

Also available in: GB. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Saw* (2004): The cheap, nervous original, back when Jigsaw was a rumour and not a hero
- *Se7en* (1995), Fi1m 88: Punishments fitted to sins, and a killer who thinks he is teaching — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/se7en.md)
- *The Abominable Dr. Phibes* (1971): Vincent Price avenges a dead wife with themed murders and impeccable manners
- *Oldboy* (2003), Fi1m 85: A revenge that takes fifteen years to plan and one hallway to execute — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/oldboy.md)
- *Audition* (1999), Fi1m 84: Miike’s slow first hour makes the last twenty minutes unbearable — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/audition.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/saw-x