Halloween has come early this year as Saw X is set to be released in cinemas this week, with Jigsaw returning to our nightmares.
The sequel will take horror fans almost back to the beginning of the franchise, as it is set between the events of the first two films, following John Kramer’s (Tobin Bell) cancer battle.
The trailer shows the moment he learns that he was tricked by rogue ‘doctors’ who promised him a ‘miracle cure’ for his illness, before turning the tables on them with his own, unique brand of revenge, complete with wince-inducing traps.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk ahead of the release on September 29, producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg – who have been in the fold since the very beginning in 2004 – teased that those infamous traps get a lot more brutal in the 10th movie.
‘We wanted to make the traps, in our mind, a little bit simpler. Traps that could be made from somebody going to a hardware store. But we need to push the envelope because a big part of our audience, they insist on it,’ Mark told us.
‘We can’t do stuff we’ve already done. So, we’re constantly looking for new ways, constantly sitting down with the writers, with Kevin Greutert [director]. Anthony Stabley, our production designer on this movie, came up with a bunch of the traps, built them, executed them, and I think he did a brilliant job.
Jigsaw is set to return to the big screen in Saw X (Picture: Lionsgate)
‘We came up with the idea of taking waterboarding to the next level and calling it bloodboarding, but he was the one who built the traps, designed them and had to make sure they worked. We had a dozen trap meetings, trap run throughs, in Mexico City, making sure that when we got on set, they would work.’
Even reading the word ‘bloodboarding’ has given us goosebumps.
Thanks to those meetings, and Anthony’s efforts, those traps are more than safe for the actors – less so for their characters – and no one has ever ended up in hospital from an accident on set.
‘Nobody has got hurt,’ Oren insisted, as Mark explained. ‘We go out of our way to double, triple check everything prior to filming. Those traps are decided last in the story. We work on the script, we work on the story, we just put placeholders for the traps.
John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, will be back for terrifying revenge (Picture: Rex Features)
‘Then we come up with the traps but then the traps are built first and tested a bunch of times. Once we start filming, we know they’re going to work.’
Saw X is hitting the big screen on September 29, slotting seamlessly between the first two films and reuniting viewers with John Kramer.
The official synopsis reads: ‘The most disturbing instalment of the Saw franchise yet explores the untold chapter of Jigsaw’s most personal game.
‘Set between the events of Saw I and II, a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer – only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable.
Amanda Young has also returned to the fold for the new sequel (Picture: Lionsgate)
‘Armed with a newfound purpose, the infamous serial killer returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through devious, deranged, and ingenious traps.’
Over the years, viewers have had a front-row seat to some of Jigsaw’s grimmest tests, including the pendulum from Saw V, the reverse bear trap that has popped up a few times, and that infamous needle pit in Saw II – something the producers predicted was actually the ‘least expensive’ set up they caught on camera.
When asked for their favorite moments from over the years, Mark and Oren didn’t hesitate to name the traps that meant the most to them.
‘My favorite trap, or the scariest trap for me, is in Saw I,’ Oren reflected. ‘The guy laying on the floor, when Amanda takes the key out of the guy’s stomach and takes the head trap off, that’s me on the floor getting my stomach cut open.
Saw X will be landing in cinemas on September 29 (Picture: Lionsgate)
‘So, I have a very personal attachment to that trap.’
‘My scariest trap was one where we call the Twisty Tim, where he was on a cross and we just bent his arms, and kept twisting his arms around until they snapped out of the sockets,’ Mark added.
‘To me, that just would scare the hell out of me.’
Honestly, same…
Saw X is released in cinemas on September 29.