Saw X - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Saw X



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
The Saw franchise has become one of the longest running horror franchise of all time, rivaling Freddy, Jason, and the rest of them, just told from the aspect of torture fests rather than your typical slasher. I’ve begrudgingly enjoyed most of the franchise, but by the time Saw: The Final Chapter came around over a decade ago, I was ready to let the series go. Jigsaw was killed off in the 3rd film (which was something even the producers felt was a bad move for the series), and the subsequent films were getting weaker and more repetitive. Tobin Bell really was the life’s blood of the sequels, and while none of the films are GREAT watches, they have a very rabid fanbase and occupied a guilty pleasure side of my horror wall. The franchise was semi reinvented with a couple of side stories with Jigsaw and Spiral, but those fell pretty flat at the box office. Without the Jigsaw himself behind the machinations, the torture fest just seemed rather dull and boring.

So, what do you do to reinvigorate a franchise? You pull a Fast and Furious 4 and bring back the original cast. But how do you do that when John Kramer (Jigsaw) is dead? Well, you make it set between the 1st and 2nd film and told entirely through flashbacks so you can have your cake and eat it too. The film is set 3 (ish) weeks past the events of Saw, and John Kramer (Tobin Bell, of course) is dying of stage 4 brain cancer. He still feels like he has so much left to do with his “work” of “redeeming” people through his madman inspired traps, and reaches out for a hail Mary chance in the form of an experimental treatment performed by the daughter of a supposedly pioneering research doctor.

Heading to Mexico to undergo the treatment, John is greeted by Dr. Pederson (Synnove Macody Lund) who assures him that their new cancer treatment will save his life. Everything goes well, and John is let go to live life and torture evil people just like before. But it turns out to be a fraud. The entire operation was a scam to take 10s of thousands of dollars from desperate people, and John just became their next victim. But as we all know, John is not an ordinary man. They crossed the wrong man, and now John has an entire new crop of guilty people to run his traps and games upon as the titular Jigsaw.

I have to say, Saw X is better than it has any right to be. By all estimations the series was floundering heavily, and the there was no way out. No one could make a decent script, and the kills themselves were becoming a bit boring. Somehow the powers that be managed to make a film that was as good as the first, and possibly almost as good as the second film (both were the best in the series to this point). The film follows many of the same basic patters as the first film, but deviates from the norm by being a much more introspective and heady film (at least in comparison to the rest of the series. The entire first 40 minutes seem like a normal drama, with John Kramer going through his experimental treatment, only to come out the other side realizing he’s been scammed. Once he grabs ahold of all of the fake medical team that tricked him, things go back to how they were. But it’s still more of a character study than you might think. Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda, and here we get to see how Kramer turned and crafted a replacement for his work, with the film delving heavily into why Kramer and Amanda are doing what they’re doing, as well as fleshing out Amanda’s biases and flavor she added to the team.

Honestly, Saw X is pretty good, and probably one of the best in the series. I really liked that the film was more of a character study of everyone involved rather than another gorefest where the ONLY purpose is to watch people get sliced, diced and killed. But at the same time there are going to be a couple of downsides. The first comes in the form of the film may not be every Saw fans dream. Being as heady and character driven as it is, it takes away from the raw brutality of the previous films. Not every fan is going to like that, as much of the main draw is to see the guilty get trapped and diced up. The second is due to the fact that this is 19 years after the original film, and both Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith look nothing like they did back in Saw. You can kind of wink and nod at the fact that cancer ages a person, so Jigsaw looking this frail KIND of makes sense (as long as you check your brain at the door), but Shawnee went from being 35 in the first film to being 54 here, and her age shows big time. The wig they had her don to mimic the haircut of the upcoming 2nd film doesn’t do her any favors either. That being said, the film is one of the best of the franchise, even if the franchise is not exactly stellar to begin with.




Rating:

Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and some drug use.




4K Video: Video:

Shot on Sony CineAlta cameras and transferred to a native 4K master, Saw X shows noticeable improvement over the already picture perfect Blu-ray disc. The film employs a steady heavy blue color grading to most of the production, with only the scenes down in Mexico looking starkly different (heavy sepia and yellow tones with boosted white levels). Fine details in the grungy warehouse where Jigsaw sets up his traps are superb, showing every grease mark, every cut, every drop of blood squirting from a severed limb. The CGI is fairly minimalistic overall, with a heavy focus on practical effects, but the CGI blood for the waterboarding scene (or bloodboarding as Dr. Pedersen cleverly coined) is pretty noticeable comparatively. Black levers are really great, with deep inky shadows and no signs of any major artifacting, except for that stupid Lionsgate opening crawl which has banded ever since they Lionsgate adopted it. The 35mm feel of the original film is imitated as well, with the powers that be adding in a very fine layer of fake grain to texture things up a bit. It’s not going to look like noise, but still, fake grain is fake and I can still tell a difference. Other than that minor quibble, this film is literally PERFECT in both 4K and Blu-ray alike, so pick your poison (poor choice of words considering the franchise we’re in)








Audio:

Saw X features the ubiquitous Dolby Atmos track that most 4K UHD titles come with these days, and it’s a beauty. The mix is highly engaging, with all sorts of sonic cues coming from multiple directions in the sound field. The little tings and pings of the warehouse effects, or the subtle overhead usage when the hum of radiation machine comes on online are perfectly clear, while more active moments (such as screams, clanging of metal upon a table etc) are vividly in the front and center of our ears. Bass is nice and powerful, but I noticed it plays a more complimentary role than a full blown slam and pound mix. There’s a few jump scare moments, but most of the LFE’s work is to add noticeable, but subtle, additions to hums, bangs, and general ambiance in the metal warehouse. The “squishy” blood and tissue sound effects seem to really punch you more in the chest than the bass anyways, making this a NEAR perfect track (personally I would have preferred a bit more bass).












Extras:

• Introduction by Director Andrew Davis and Harrison Ford
• Audio Commentary with Director-Editor Kevin Greutert, Cinematographer Nick Matthews, and Production Designer Anthony Stabley
• Reawakening Multipart Making-of Documentary:
-- I Want to Play a Game: Bleeding New Life into the Saga
-- This Time It's Personal: Characters and Casting
-- Another Time, Another Place: Locations and Cinematography
-- There Will Be Blood: Production Design and Make-up
-- Leave Nothing to Chance: Post-Production
-- Live or Die: Release and Legacy
• Drawing Inspiration: Illustrated Scene Breakdowns with Director-Editor Kevin Greutert
• Make-Up Department Trap Tests
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

So who had Saw X being one of the better entries in the franchise on their bingo card in 2023? I know I didn’t, but I’m not unhappy that it was. The movie isn’t going to completely rejump start the series I don don’t think, but it is still a solid horror entry and a nice change of pace with great performances by Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith. The 4K UHD looks and sounds amazing on disc, and the extras are really healthy too (some of which tell you straight out that this very well may not be the last Saw film by any stretch of the imagination). Yeah, I had fun, if you’re a fan of this sort of film, and the Saw film in particular, then I would suggest checking it out.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Michael Beach, Synnove Macody Lund, Tobin Bell, Steven Brand, Shawnee Smith
Directed by: Kevin Greutert
Written by: Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 118 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: November 21st, 2023

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[phillihp23]

Love the Saw series. Gonna have to add it to the collection.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I watched this. It's crazy... CRAZY! Kind of like driving by a fatal car wreck, looking, then immediately regretting it

 

[JBrax]

This one is on deck tonight. Looking forward to it!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Strap in, brother! There are moments where to factor hits 11!

 

[JBrax]

Strap in, brother! There are moments where to factor hits 11!

Gore factor?

 

[Michael Scott]

Gore factor?

its' actually not as gory as previous entries. it's gory in a few spots, but this focuses heavily on character development of Jigsaw and Amanda. There's much more psychological stuff going on.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Like the Energizer bunny huh... I thought this ended after about 5 movies... wow... at number 10 now. I have never watched any of these, although our daughter has seen almost all of them and really liked them. I'm just not sure I can handle the gore... and torture really makes me uneasy for some reason. I know it's just a movie, but man, they make some stuff look eerily real. Maybe I need to watch the first one and just see if I can handle it... or if I be a wimpy old dude.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Gore factor?

Doh.. yes. The leg scene was a bit much!

 

[Michael Scott]

Doh.. yes. The leg scene was a bit much!

lol, that was one of the rougher ones for sure. the eyeball one in the beginning "fantasy" made me cringe

 

[Todd Anderson]

Like the Energizer bunny huh... I thought this ended after about 5 movies... wow... at number 10 now. I have never watched any of these, although our daughter has seen almost all of them and really liked them. I'm just not sure I can handle the gore... and torture really makes me uneasy for some reason. I know it's just a movie, but man, they make some stuff look eerily real. Maybe I need to watch the first one and just see if I can handle it... or if I be a wimpy old dude.

It's pretty intense stuff, Sonnie... definitely start with the first one!

 

[Todd Anderson]

lol, that was one of the rougher ones for sure. the eyeball one in the beginning "fantasy" made me cringe

It's an interesting take on horror, for sure. I don't get the feeling that this series is going to end anytime soon! Seems like his protege is going to carry things forward once he passes?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

lol... I've watch about half of the first one... not terribly bad so far, but definitely some wacky thinking to come up with some of this stuff.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Agree... takes a special kind of crazy to cook this stuff up!