Saw X satisfyingly ties up a lot of loose ends, but one phone call with a mystery detective has left a lot of audiences baffled. The 10th installment of the Saw franchise is a refreshing change of pace, as the movie actually sees John Kramer, a.k.a. the Jigsaw Killer, as the protagonist. While it might be hard to empathize with a lead character who is one of the most sadistic serial killers in movie history, Saw X does a great job of turning John into an empathetic character. Instead of teaching random victims “lessons,” Kramer gets revenge on those who conned him, and his friendship with Carlos somewhat humanizes Kramer.
Kramer is set on getting revenge on Saw X’s Cecilia Pederson, the con artist who convinced Kramer to pay her hundreds of thousands of dollars for a bogus medical operation, and the people who helped her. However, Kramer can’t capture them all by himself, and he calls his A-team to help track them down. The first on Kramer’s call sheet is Amanda Young, who has been one of Jigsaw’s apprentices behind the scenes ever since the first movie. The second of Kramer’s A-team is a mystery detective John calls for information on his next victims. While it’s never explained who the detective is, his identity is a long-time Jigsaw apprentice.
John Kramer Talks To Detective Mark Hoffman On The Phone In Saw X
Kramer calls Mark Hoffman for information in Saw X. The character is a detective who briefly appeared in Saw III but had his official introduction in Saw IV. Hoffman became an apprentice to Jigsaw and had a significant hand in creating the traps following Kramer’s death. The detective even becomes Kramer’s successor, taking the mantle of the new Jigsaw Killer. This might raise the question of how Hoffman could have a role in Saw X, as he didn’t appear until Saw III, and Saw X is set between the first two movies. However, it’s revealed in Saw V that Kramer had brought Hoffman under his wing much earlier.
Mark Hoffman Returns In Saw X’s Mid-Credits Scene
Hoffman doesn’t just have a secret voice-only cameo in Saw X, as the character actually returns in the Saw X mid-credits scene. As the movie ends and cuts to the credits, there’s still one loose end that the film doesn’t answer. While Kramer gets revenge on everyone involved in his fake surgery, Henry Kessler, the man who convinced him to seek out the surgery, seemingly gets away scot-free. Henry, an old friend of Kramer’s from a cancer support group, “randomly” bumps into Kramer on a terrace and explains that his cancer was cured following Dr. Pederson’s experimental cancer treatment.
When Kramer finds out the surgery was fake, it becomes clear that Henry was part of the whole setup, but he never gets put in a trap – or at least, not until the Saw X mid-credits scene. Kramer has Henry tied up in the iconic grimy bathroom with a mechanism with sharp prongs about to dig into his stomach, and that’s when Hoffman appears by Henry’s side. Given that most of the movie is set in Mexico, it would have been hard to involve the U.S.-based Henry in the film’s main tests. It’s likely that Hoffman was working on Henry’s test in the U.S. while John and Amanda were in Mexico.
Saw 10
Saw X is the tenth film in the long-running Saw franchise, with the original Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell, returning in the lead role. The film takes place in between the first two Saw movies and sees John Cramer traveling to Mexico to take part in an experimental medical procedure to help cure his cancer. When the “doctors” end up being con artists, Cramer turns to his lethal traps to teach them a lesson.
- Release Date
- September 29, 2023
- Director
- Kevin Greutert
- Cast
- Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Genres
- Crime, Horror, Thriller
- Studio(s)
- Twisted Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Lionsgate
- Sequel(s)
- Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Saw 3D, Jigsaw, Spiral: From the Book of Saw
- prequel(s)
- Saw
- Franchise(s)
- Saw
