Saw X
Lionsgate | Release Date: September 29, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireAlison ForemanSep 27, 2023
You don’t need to watch the other movies in the “Saw” series to enjoy this one, but it will help. With some Avengers-style phone calls in Act One and a mid-credits kicker, this is “Saw” in the superhero age. It’s a flick for the die-hard fans that rewards those who keep asking for more. After a decade as Halloween’s most hyped-up annual release in the aughts, “Saw” is finally back this October to tell Taylor Swift she’s not the only one doing vigilante shit. Congrats, Tobin. You deserve this one. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonSep 29, 2023
It’s torture-forward, funny, preposterous, imaginative and puts into practice what the franchise should have learned a long, long time ago: There is no reason to reinvent the saw blade. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastColeman SpildeSep 27, 2023
By cleverly setting its timeline between the series’ first two installments, Saw X is both an invigorating thrill ride on par with the franchise’s best entries and a trenchant, timely charge against industrial systems set in place to keep humans sick. Read full review
79
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 28, 2023
Greutert’s film brings back the core elements that made these movies work. It’s an uncomplicated, effective horror thriller, even though it’s trapped itself in the past with nowhere else to go. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonOct 6, 2023
Fans who tune in mainly for the insane timeline twists won’t get them, but otherwise, this is the most satisfying Saw installment since the first three. Also, be sure to stick around for a mid-credits scene. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJoshua RothkopfSep 29, 2023
Saw X may not be the best one to start off with, but it’s hard to imagine a better one to end with. Read full review
70
SlashfilmJacob HallSep 28, 2023
The blood is good. The traps are good. The series' nastiness is intact, even as it all looks a bit bigger and a bit slicker. The important thing is that "Saw X" continues to be unafraid of its own continuity, so infatuated with its own delightful bulls***. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaSep 28, 2023
The traps are disgusting; the plot, so self-serious its absurd (and knowingly so). And unlike the sundry sequels before it (by the third “Saw,” any pretense of ingenuity had been hacked off), this one manages to make you feel something beyond gross-out adrenaline — assuming you have affection for the franchise’s mainstays. Read full review
70
IGNAmelia EmberwingSep 28, 2023
Almost 20 years into the franchise, Saw X showcases an emotional depth that manages to take one of these stories higher than ever before. Make no mistake, though, the traps are still on full display and Jigsaw still has full intent to showcase the true evils of humanity. Read full review
70
Little White LiesHannah StrongSep 27, 2023
It’s encouraging that 10 films in, the Saw franchise has remembered what makes it so great: a potent blend of true horror, twisted imagination, comedic timing, and above all, the legend that is Tobin Bell. Whether or not they can write around Jigsaw’s canonical death to bring Bell back again is another matter… Read full review
67
ColliderChase HutchinsonSep 29, 2023
Is it a bit baggy and less amusingly chaotic than past entries? Absolutely. However, Bell's return as this character is still grimly fun when he's given room to let loose. Even as time isn't always on his side, he makes the most of nearly every moment. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerSep 28, 2023
After the gimmicky Saw 3D: The Final Chapter, the clunky semi-reboot of Jigsaw, and the misguided Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Saw X feels like a welcome return to form. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 29, 2023
Saw X returns John Kramer to the root of his mission, showing people the error of their ways and asking them what it truly means to be alive. A few severed limbs along the way are just a bonus. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKyle TurnerSep 27, 2023
The film mostly makes you wish that a Saw film would finally let Amanda be the one that audiences worship. Read full review
60
NMEJames MottramOct 28, 2023
Bell is as low-key brilliant as he always is – that ominous, gravelly voice gets a great workout, while his withered, grey-haired appearance lends the film real gravitas. And yes, there is enough Saw iconography here to keep the bloodthirsty on-side. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyOct 23, 2023
Returning director Kevin Greutert knows what’ll satisfy his audience: a few buckets of blood and the gag-inducing sound of crunching bone. Here, they’ll get exactly what they want. Read full review
60
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 6, 2023
It’s fun, in a depraved way, to see him trotted out for one more ride, but Jigsaw won’t be around to play games with us forever. Enjoy it while it lasts. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeOct 4, 2023
Grisliness occurs, accompanied by a score that sounds like knives being sharpened on violins. It’s thoroughly unpleasant, but that’s rather the point. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 28, 2023
Stripped back to basics, Saw’s appeal (if that’s the word) is certainly clearer than it’s been for a while; the series isn’t really horror at all, but a revenge thriller taken to deliberately appalling test-your-nerve extremes. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 27, 2023
The torture set pieces in the “Saw” films are lavish gifts of baroque horror presented to the audience. They are, quite simply, the reason we came. Tobin Bell, with his stare of pitiless wisdom, is also a draw, but “Saw X” raises the issue of how much of John Kramer’s hand-wringing is too much. In the eyes of a lot of “Saw” fans, hand-wringing < hands cut off with mechanized garden shears. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 27, 2023
None of this would work nearly as well without Bell, whose raspy voice and menacing gravitas are so riveting that he makes Jigsaw’s oft-repeated declaration “I’d like to play a game” scary as hell. He’s made the character truly iconic, much like Robert Englund did with Freddy Krueger. Accept no substitutions. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussSep 28, 2023
Saw X is “Saw 1.5” chronologically, taking place between the first and second films in this granddaddy of torture porn franchises. Quality-wise, though, it is closer to a 10 than a zero, which cannot be said about most of the other nine movies in this distressingly popular series. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraSep 28, 2023
The blood and gore is all present and correct, but the focus on Kramer's vulnerability and human side sits at odds with his awful judgmentalism. Let monsters be monsters. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 28, 2023
When the traps begin, they’re as gnarly as ever, if not gnarlier, and with very little suspense about the outcome given how they tend to end, we’re reminded of what a Saw film is: a juvenile endurance test. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithSep 27, 2023
Tobin Bell’s comeback may please some, but it’s not a sufficient X-cuse to see Saw resuscitated. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 30, 2023
The whole affair has a whiff of “Going through the motions” to it, as the self-butchery and slaughter visited upon “guilty” victims is handled without suspsense or pathos. One pitiless, perfunctory murder follows the next with a sort of shrug. Read full review
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