Ten movies in, Saw X comes at a time when the franchise it’s representing has tried to mix things up to varying degrees. With a surprise prequel, a pseudo-spin-off, and now another surprise return to the past in the project on the 2023 movie schedule, director Kevin Greutert is returning for his first entry since 2010’s Saw: The Final Chapter. It sounds like we’re in for a treat, too, because he’s promising something that sets John “Jigsaw” Kramer’s latest exploits apart from his past history.
In the case of Saw X, fans who have been sitting with this morality play since the beginning are going to see the longest installment in franchise history. Speaking as a guest at Midsummer Scream 2023 (via The Direct), the film’s director promised this wasn’t just a case of padding the film’s length, as there’s a good reason for the subjectively lengthy experience:
There’s so much more to this film than even the amazing amount that was there. I can say it’s the most epic, and this might sound scary, but I think it’s the longest Saw movie. We don’t waste. When we’re editing a Saw movie, we do not waste time. So the fact that it’s long, I think, is a testament to just how well done it is.
What we know about Saw X and its plot suggests that length comes from a rather inspired place. As this tale takes place between the first two stories, and sees John Kramer (Tobin Bell) fighting a corrupt clinic that falsely claimed it could remove his cancer, the pain he’s going to inflict is personal. Knowing the methodology of Kramer and his disciples, that sort of motivation doesn’t sound like it’ll make for quick and easy amputations. Otherwise, what would any of the potential victims learn?
Before you go crazy looking for the answer, we don’t know how long Saw X is going to run just yet. You may as well chalk that up among the questions we have about Jigsaw’s return, and believe us, there are quite a few. However, the report breaking the news of its record-setting length does cite Saw III as the longest in the bunch, at 1 hour, 48 minutes. So at the very least, one could guess that we’ll be getting our first two-hour Saw movie, if not longer.
While we wait for Saw X to debut a little earlier than intended, as it’s set to start trapping audiences when it opens on September 29th, there’s just one more question this whole matter opens up. If this is going to be the longest piece to this puzzle of horror soap opera drama, will what we see affect the Saw apprentice rankings at all? The return of Shawnee Smith’s Amanda could shake up the pecking order, and it sounds like there’s plenty of time in this game for such unpredictability amid the gore.