Featured Image Credit: Lionsgate
Topics: Film and TV, Horror
Gregory Robinson
Safety comes first on the set of the torture-filled horror franchise Saw.
The tenth film, Saw X, serves as a direct sequel to Saw (2004) and a prequel to Saw II (2005) and will mark the return of John Kramer AKA Jigsaw (Tobin Bell).
The serial killer is sick and is desperately searching for life-saving treatment in Mexico. After learning of a potential ‘miracle’ cure, which involves a risky and experimental medical procedure, he discovers that the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable.
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Fans will have to wait and see how the gruesome contraptions factor into the film’s plot, but director Kevin Greutert and production designer Anthony Stabley said all of them relate to the character who find themselves in one.
One trap that has already been teased is the eye tubes, which are in the shape of the roman numeral for 10.
Stabley exclusively told UNILAD: “We have a lot of traps, but that is one of my favourites because as artists you go through this moment, where you're like, 'Is this gonna work? Are we gonna make this happen?’ I just look at that trap and I go, ‘That's really iconic’. It's so different from the others, but it still has that Saw flavor. So I was really thrilled with that.”
Greutert added: “There's something for us as Saw filmmakers that's a little bit playful about it, because what we really wanted to do with that scene is say, ‘We're back! This is Saw!’ and a lot of the technique that we use to film it is kind of an homage to what James Wan [director of the first Saw film] established back 20 years ago."
The two other traps involve brain surgery and wires - we’ll let your imaginations run wild on what they entail. “They're just all very intense,” Stabley teased.
“For us, it was just so great that we were able to achieve what we wanted," Stabley continued. "We worked so many hours, so many tests and we wanted to make sure it was safe and it really worked out so I just feel like we're just super pleased with everything.”
A lot of testing goes into the making the traps, to ensure they work. “We test all of these traps, like five, six times, each of them," Stabley explained. "But then there's this moment [when] we're actually shooting and we're watching the monitor. And we just get so excited because like, we're able to accomplish that.
“It's pretty horrific - if you just walked on set, you're like, ‘Oh, my God, what's going on with these people?’"
With a lot fake torture comes a lot of fake blood. So much so that the filmmakers had to come up with a hack to keep the set clean between takes.
“We lay down linoleum and coated it with resin so basically it was like mopping away, and then as far as the traps themselves, we also coated them with resin,” Stabley revealed.
Greutert added: “You'd be amazed how challenging it is to have such a messy set!"
You can see all the blood and gore when Saw X is in cinemas on September 29.