SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A five-minute sneak peek of the upcoming movie Saw X, the latest entry in the long-running horror series, revealed the premise of one of the film’s trademark torture devices.
“Hello, Karl. I’d like to play a game,” says the iconic voice of the villain Jigsaw through a taped recording. “You’ll notice the television in front of you is showing the DVD menu for my first movie. Next to it is a binder containing discs for the entire series. Any attempt to leave the room before you have watched each film, beginning to end, will trigger a bomb that has been surgically implanted in the base of your neck. There are no restraints to hold you down. There is no lock on the door. Live or die. Make your choice.”
Fan reaction to the sequence has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Normally, I don’t like when movies like this get all meta,” said Brett Pierson, who hosts a podcast dedicated to horror films. “But this is just so twisted that I can’t help but love it. It didn’t seem so intense at first, but once I realized they were including Spiral? Hoo boy! It’s an instant classic. You’re going to be hard pressed to find a Saw fan who doesn’t put this at the top of their ‘Favorite Traps’ list.”
Film critic Corey Holloway said that, while he could appreciate the craft of the scene, it hit a little too close to home.
“I’ve never seen my life depicted so accurately on screen,” said Holloway. “I have to commend the actor playing the victim for his amazing performance. He really sold it with his eyes. It’s like you could see the life and humanity leaving him each time he started a new movie. Some may think he gets a happy ending when he completes the test and escapes, but I know the awful truth. His life ended in that room. It’s a clever subversion of the franchise’s themes, but it leaves me feeling so, so hollow.”
At press time, producers revealed that viewers would experience the trap in real time and that a screening of the film would take over 13 hours to complete.
