Seven films after the death of John Kramer (Tobin Bell) and Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith), the pair are back for the tenth installment of the “Saw” franchise with “Saw X.” This movie offers new dimensions of acclaimed characters while still incorporating the gruesome and graphic horrors that fans both know and love.

“Saw” is a film franchise that started in 2004, with a series of ten horror movies that follow serial killer Jigsaw, aka Kramer, who puts victims in different life or death traps.

“Saw X” is set in between “Saw” and “Saw II” when Kramer is still alive and battling brain cancer. In the movie, he runs into a fellow cancer support group member, Henry, who is now miraculously cured. Henry says that a medical group operating in Mexico cured him and can cure Kramer too using a life-saving treatment. Desperate for a second chance at life, he goes through with it. Unfortunately, he soon realizes that he was scammed out of $250,000.

In previous “Saw” movies, it often felt that the punishments of Jigsaw’s victims did not always fit the crime. However, in “Saw X,” characters exploit the dying patient’s money for profit, so the traps they go through feel more deserved.

The introductory trap was short, yet it kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time, making it my favorite of the movie. A custodian is put in Kramer’s trap after he witnesses him about to steal a watch from a patient at the hospital. An eye suction device is attached to the custodian’s face and if he does not break all five fingers on one of his hands in 60 seconds, his eyes will be sucked out of his head.

The scene was bone-chilling as the custodian broke three of his fingers before time ran out and his eyes were vacuumed out of his head, with the sound of the vacuum adding to the anxiety and high stakes of the trap. However, it cuts back to Kramer in the hospital and we see that the trap is all in his head as something he imagined. We see the custodian put the watch back and his eyes are spared.

Unlike the earlier “Saw” movies, Kramer is more humanized in “Saw X.” He is not the man behind the curtain, but a victim of a scam seeking revenge. It is hard not to empathize with him in this situation, despite the gruesome traps Jigsaw puts the characters in. You really feel for him when he discovers he has been scammed and is not getting the second chance at life he was promised. In this film, he is arguably the protagonist, regardless of what we know about his history. Contrasted to the other movies, the players and cops were the protagonists, while he was certainly the villain.

I liked the aspect that you did not need to watch any other “Saw” movies to understand this one. Of course, the reveal of Amanda Young and Detective Hoffman is probably meaningless to a person who has not seen the others, but nevertheless, the story holds and can be enjoyed by anyone.

I have seen a lot of the “Saw” movies prior to this and have been a fan, but “Saw X” made me revisit the other ones. Although it was not as shocking as the other ones per se, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to someone seeking a good horror film.

Here is my definitive ranking of the “Saw” movies and it cannot be disputed:

1. “Saw”

2. “Saw VI”

3. “Saw X”

4. “Saw II”

5. “Saw IV”

6. “Saw V”

7. “Saw III”

8. “Jigsaw”

9. “Saw 3D”

10. “Spiral”