The saga seemed to be over since the “Final Chapter” released in 2010. But it is back for the third time with “Saw X”, released on Wednesday October 25 in our theaters. Before a new sequel?
WARNING – The article below contains some spoilers. On “Saw X” and some of the previous films in the saga. If we imagine that your presence here implies that you have seen a majority of them, please move on if that is not the case.
With ten episodes in just under twenty years (including seven between 2004 and 2010), the Saw saga quickly established itself as one of the most prolific in the horror genre.
For comparison, Halloween has thirteen films released in just under forty-five years, and Friday the 13th stopped (for the moment) after its twelfth opus, which arrived in theaters when the franchise was about to be thirty years old.
Like many of his colleagues, Jigsaw never ceases to shine in the cinema. Even though the character played by Tobin Bell died in Saw III, or that Episode VII, in 3D, was presented as the “Final Chapter”. From flashbacks to disciples, his traps and his legacy continued to live on long after him, but he is back, in the flesh, in the film released this Wednesday, October 25 in our theaters.
No resurrection in sight, just a plot trick. The plot takes place between the events of Saw I and II, and shows his revenge against the scammers who claimed to be able to cure his cancer, the better to relieve him of his money. Without imagining for a moment that they had attacked the wrong person, whose return is at the heart of one of the most popular films in the franchise. And the last ?
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Nothing is less sure. A few weeks before the release, director Kevin Greutert seemed to indicate that the saga was not particularly intended to continue. But the story was different from producer Oren Koules, who remained no less cautious: “We are a little superstitious”he declared to Comicbook.com last September.
“We tend not to move too quickly (…) We have ideas for the next [film]but we have not put them down on paper.” Saw adventure.
But how ? There have been several more (Saw X) or less successful (Jigsaw, Spiral) attempts to revive the saga, which offers several possibilities for a sequel. One does not prevent the other.
STAY IN THE PAST
Given the public and critical success of Saw and allow Tobin Bell to participate other than through flashbacks shoehorned into the plot.
This could also explain the return, in the post-credits scene, of the character of Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), a police officer who turned out to be one of Jigsaw’s accomplices at the end of the fourth film. Officially, his appearance is just fan service. But who knows if it wasn’t also a question of testing the waters to show us more of him?
CAPITALIZE ON JIGSAW (THE MOVIE)
Due to lack of success, this reboot-like sequel fell into oblivion when Spirale arrived to do the same four years later. But have we really finished with this branch of history, in which we discovered a new disciple of John Kramer? And a long-time accomplice, what’s more.
Because Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) revealed that he participated in the creation of many of Jigsaw’s traps. Including the famous inverted wolf trap, an iconic object of the saga since the first opus. That we never heard of him before this film’s release suggests that perhaps he sees himself as a little more important than he has been in the larger story of the franchise.
Especially since Saw 3D had taught us that, after being one of his victims and having lost one foot in the affair, Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) had taken over from John. So why not establish a bridge between these two generations of killers?
RETURN THE SPIRAL
This is perhaps the most improbable hypothesis. At the end of Spiral, the new killer (Max Minghella) escaped the police and triumphed. The sequel could have focused on his tracking down by Ezekiel Banks (Chris Rock).
But the fact that the following film is a prequel to Saw II in which no character from the opus released in 2021 is present says a lot about the producers’ desire not to follow up one of the least loved opuses of the franchise.
If the success of Saw X makes them want to create new traps, there is little chance that they will go in that direction. Unless they rely on the qualities of the latest opus to correct the situation.
There remains, finally, one last possibility: not to go in any of these directions, to move forward in time and make little Carlos (Jorge Briseño), here saved by John in a redemptive impulse, his new heir. The game should start again. It remains to be seen when and how.