With Saw X‘s release comes a new set of deviously sadistic traps to torment the chosen victims and horrify moviegoers. Part of what makes Saw a cut above is not only the inventiveness but the significance of the traps. Usually, they tie in with the person’s transgressions, and Saw X continues that blood-soaked trend. So, let’s take a tour of the traps in this newest installment and break down who is in them and who gets out. Before we di[v]e in, here’s your spoiler warning.
Saw X‘s First Trap: Eyes or “Sticky Fingers”
Early in the film, while in the hospital, Kramer spies a custodian in a patient’s room stealing their possessions. So, strapped in a chair, his challenge is sacrificing those five-finger discount digits or his eyes. His fingers individually have a device wrapped around them. He must turn a dial to snap each finger. If not, the suction tubes attached to his eyes will remove those instead. Though he fails, he survives because this occurs in Kramer’s mind, and the custodian returns the items.
Pipe Bomb or Skin
Diego, the touristy driver, and the fake Dr. Cortez is next. Diego’s hands drove Kramer to the scam, and he pretended to operate on Kramer’s head to remove the tumor. Now’s his time to hone his scalpel skills. He has pipe bombs with wires stuck to his forearms and a scalpel taped to his hands. To survive the challenge, he has to cut the skin off his forearms to remove the bombs. He succeeds and, as is Jigsaw’s philosophy, lives on.
Fake Test to Real Bone Marrow
Valentina’s turn is where the gruesomeness ratchets up. After putting Kramer through useless tests for his fake surgery, she now faces real stakes. She’s stuck in a seat with a wire saw at neck level set to behead her. She has to use a wire saw along the dotted line on her leg to sever and use a suction device to suck enough of the bone marrow out for a key, or its lights and life, out. Though she tries, she fails to meet the allotted three-minute deadline.
Brain Surgery…For Real
As Mateo pretended to help in the surgery and anesthetizing, his test required surgery sans anesthesia. Strapped to a chair, he has a metal trap with coils that heat up on his head. It’s currently open but will close if Mateo doesn’t pass his exam. He must first drill into his skull and remove the bone. Then, Mateo has to take pieces of his brain out and place them in a container with acid. A key will release when there’s enough brain in it, and he has three minutes to get it done. He does not survive, and the metal mask slams shut on his head and face.
Radiation Lift Off
Gabriela provided fake care to real cancer patients. So, Gabriela’s test finds her suspended in the air, one hand chained above and one foot chained below. In front of her face is an X-ray machine. To survive, she must smash her foot with a hammer to slip free and then her hand before the machine unleashes deadly radiation. Though injured and badly burned, she survives the test. But unfortunately, she does not survive Cecilia, who gets free thanks to Sears and snaps her neck.
Kramer and Carlos’ Test
Through circumstances, Kramer finds himself and the kid he cares about, Carlos, trapped in the test he meant for Cecilia and Sears. Tethered on opposite sides of a metal slab that operates like a seesaw with chains around their necks and a lever beside them, their test begins. Kramer pulls his lever, which lowers his side, and blood pours out, waterboarding him, but Carlos is elevated and safe from the blood. But Carlos, despite Kramer’s demand not to pull, cranks his lever and undergoes the same torture to help Kramer. They both survive, thanks to Sears and Cecilia activating the final trap.
This test highlights the blood on Kramer’s hands despite his assertion that he is not a killer, and Carlos emphasizes how someone innocent always pays the price.
Just Breathe
Sears and Cecilia trigger their test in the office. It fills with a gas that burns them as they breathe it in. In the wall, there’s space to stick their head out of the room to catch their breath, but there’s only room for one. So, the couple does what any couple built on greed and duplicity would do. They fight. Cecilia stabs Sears and sticks her head out. Whether she survived has a question mark. She can breathe, but everyone leaves her in that room, so her fate is unknown. That’s the last trap in the movie. However…
Saw X’s Post-Credit Trap: Stomach Scar
Henry Kessler was the one who showed Kramer his fake scar across his stomach from his “surgery,” setting off the scam. Of course, Kramer did not forget. The final trap in the post-credits scene of Saw X shows Kessler suspended in the air with a contraption on his stomach, with razor-sharp blades moving and ready to slice his abdomen. Whether he survives is also unknown.
