Summaries

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.

John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is back. The most chilling installment 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. Armed with a newfound purpose, John returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through a series of ingenious and terrifying traps.—Lionsgate

Details

Keywords
  • revenge
  • gore
  • bloody violence
  • brutal violence
  • graphic violence
Genres
  • Thriller
  • Mystery
  • Horror
Release date Sep 26, 2023
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) R
Countries of origin United States Canada Mexico
Official sites Official Site
Language English Spanish
Filming locations Mexico City, Mexico
Production companies Twisted Pictures Serendipity Productions Galaxy 8 Entertainment

Box office

Budget $13000000
Gross US & Canada $53607898
Opening weekend US & Canada $18309301
Gross worldwide $112202480

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 58m
Color Color
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

John Kramer is told he has only months to live due to advanced brain cancer. He attends a cancer support group meeting and befriends Henry Kessler, who later claims he has been cured by an experimental Norwegian cancer treatment conducted by a group led by Dr. Finn Pederson. A desperate John contacts the doctor's daughter Cecilia, who refers him to her clinic outside Mexico City.

On arrival in Mexico, John is driven to the clinic and introduced to Cecilia and her team - anesthesiologist Mateo, nurse Valentina, and Dr. Cortez - as well as patients Gabriela and Parker and the caretaker's young son Carlos, with whom he bonds. John goes under for surgery and awakens to Cecilia telling him that he is now cancer-free. Finding a new lease on life, he purchases a gift for Gabriela. However, upon returning to the clinic, he finds it abandoned. He uncovers a video simulating his supposed brain surgery and removes his bandages to find no scar on his head, revealing the entire operation to be a scam.

Deducing that "Dr. Cortez" was his taxi driver Diego in disguise, John kidnaps and interrogates him, then forces him to play a "game" where he must remove pipe bombs lashed to his arms by cutting through his flesh, which he completes successfully. Meanwhile, Jigsaw's apprentice Amanda Young helps him abduct Cecilia and also abducts Mateo, Valentina, and Gabriela. They wake up in the clinic, now subjects in Jigsaw's games.

Valentina is tasked with severing her leg with a Gigli saw and extracting enough bone marrow to trigger a scale and deactivate the trap. She manages to amputate her leg but is unable to collect enough marrow, and a second Gigli saw decapitates her. Cecilia later uses Valentina's intestines as a rope to retrieve her phone and call for help, but Amanda shocks her into submission and confiscates the phone.

Parker breaks into the clinic, demanding his money back. Amanda restrains him while Mateo is forced to drill into his own skull and remove a piece of cerebral tissue to dissolve in a beaker and obtain a key. Although he successfully performs the task, the tissue fails to dissolve in time, and a heated mask closes over his face, killing him. Next, Gabriela is suspended from shackles and subjected to ionizing radiation, tasked with freeing herself by using a sledgehammer to break her shackled limbs. She succeeds, but before Amanda can take her to a hospital, Parker forces them at gunpoint to release Cecilia.

Cecilia kills Gabriela by breaking her neck and reveals she called Parker, who is part of the scam, to rescue her. She forces John to chain himself into the trap meant for her. When she hears Carlos outside, she takes the child and chains him opposite John. The trap begins waterboarding them with blood. Parker and Cecilia go to retrieve their bag of stolen cash from John's control room but activate a tripwire, sealing them both in the room and freeing John and Carlos. Flashbacks reveal that Diego outed all of the scammers - including Parker and Henry - and that John tricked Cecilia into luring Parker to the facility. A deadly chemical gas begins filling the room; the only respite is a ventilation hole large enough for one person's head, forcing Cecilia and Parker to fight each other. Cecilia kills Parker but can only watch as John, Amanda, and Carlos exit the facility, leaving her trapped.

Sometime later, Henry awakens in a dilapidated bathroom with a new trap strapped to his stomach, overseen by John and Mark Hoffman.

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