TV & Movies

Best Easter eggs in Saw X

Daisy Phillipson
Still from Saw XLionsgate

Given Saw X is the tenth movie in the franchise, fans will be pleased to know there are plenty of references and Easter eggs to watch out for – so, here are some of the best ones. 

Due to it being set between Saw 1 and 2, Saw X takes us back in time and gives the fans what they want: a brutal new movie centered around John Kramer. In this narrative, he’s dealing with a group of scammers who con him into believing they’re able to cure his cancer – and he teaches them a very important (and very horrifying) life lesson. 

Saw X is one of the best in the franchise to date. As we said in our four-star review: “By brilliantly intertwining character depth with sheer, unadulterated carnage, it offers a riveting experience that harks back to what made the original Saw a genre-defining classic, all the while adding a piece to the Jigsaw puzzle we’ve never seen before.”

Now the film is out in cinemas, we’ve broken down the best Easter eggs in Saw X, including references to the wider Saw universe, as well as clues to the plot’s development. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Saw X!

Kramer designs his most horrifying trap

Earlier on in the movie, when John Kramer thinks his cancer has been cured, he’s shown sitting on a bench in Mexico doodling in his notepad – only the doodling is actually his early design for The Rack, which features in Saw III. 

Perhaps with a renewed outlook on life, he rips the page out and throws it in the bin. But as fans will know, he goes on to subject Tim to the tortuous trap in Saw 3. Producer Mark Burg told Dexerto that The Rack – or “Twisty Tim”, as he calls it – is the most horrifying trap in his eyes. 

As Burg explained, Tim “was on a cross and his arms just kept getting twisted until they kind of snapped out of their sockets. To me that was beyond [horrific].” You can watch it below, but viewer discretion is advised:

A nod to Saw II: Flesh & Blood

After being captured by Kramer’s Jigsaw, Saw X character Diego – a taxi driver who’s in on the scam – wakes up to find he’s tied up with scalpels duct-taped to his hands.

X/Twitter user Terilee Miller pointed out that this is actually a nod to the 2010 video game Saw II: Flesh & Blood, whereby a player has saw blades bound to his hands in similar fashion. 

Kramer’s head surgery 

When Kramer goes in for “surgery” to get the tumor removed from his brain – the scammers are actually just pretending and playing footage of a real brain surgery on the screen – he’s told by the staff that he needs to be awake for the whole thing. 

This is reminiscent of his procedure performed by Dr. Lynn Denlon in Saw III – before he’s killed by Jeff – when she tells him he’s going to have to be awake, as is the case with all brain surgeries. 

However, this surgery is real, although Lynn’s only given rudimentary tools to carry it out, much to her dismay. This is also referenced in Saw X, when con artist Mateo despairs at having to drill into his own skull without the right equipment. Oh, and he’s not given anesthetic. As Kramer says: “Trust me, you will want to remain alert.”

Familiar face

Speaking of Mateo, he doesn’t complete the game in time, activating two metal fixtures beside his head to close shut. Together, they form the mask of an ancient sculpture Kramer saw earlier on in Saw X while traveling through Mexico. 

Still from Saw XLionsgate

The cogs are turning

As Kramer researches the Pederson Project – the fake treatment he’s conned into taking part in – his desktop background is a blue and white image of a series of cogs. 

Still from Saw XLionsgate

Not only do many of the traps from previous movies feature turning cogs, reflecting Kramer’s engineering capabilities, but in Saw X’s penultimate trap, a platform lifts up from the floor, revealing a series of bright red cogs. 

One, two, three little Piggies?

Still from Saw XLionsgate

As Kramer sets to work collecting all of the subjects for his next round of games, we see each one – Mateo, Valentina, Cecilia, Gabriela, and Diego – being picked off one by one by people dressed in the famous Piggy costumes. Now, it’s assumed that this is carried out by Amanda, Kramer’s apprentice who was previously confirmed to be making her return to the franchise in Saw X. 

However, when Diego is being kidnapped, a hand wraps a cloth around his face – and it looks suspiciously like a man’s hand. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, and it could be assumed that it’s Kramer’s hand. However, in Saw X’s post-credits scene, we see the return of Detective Hoffman – meaning it’s likely that he was helping Kramer and Amanda this whole time.

As producer Oren Koules told Dexerto: “One of the things that we’ve read a lot about is that Jigsaw always seems so ahead of everybody. So one of the tricks in this movie that we wanted to show is that he’s been dealing with Detective Hoffman for a long time. So when he’s been ahead of everybody – and knows things that people are doing – it’s a little nugget for the fans to realize that he’s been talking to Detective Hoffman a lot earlier than we previously saw him.”

Scar tissue

Still from Saw XLionsgate

Another moment that foreshadows the post-credits scene is when Henry shows Kramer his stomach scar as a way to convince him to take part in the treatment. Henry claims the Pederson Project saved his life, having met Kramer at a cancer support group. 

However, it later transpires that he too was in on the scam. We don’t hear from Henry again until the post-credits scene, when he’s suspended and about to get sliced and diced by a trap helmed by both Hoffman and Kramer. 

Henry’s shirtless, showing that he doesn’t actually have a scar on his stomach, and it was all just part of the ruse. However, this looks set to change thanks to the trap, which features a series of nasty-looking blades moving in a circular motion towards his stomach. 

The infamous bathroom

Still from Saw XLionsgate

Can you guess where Henry’s game takes place? That’s right – Saw fans will instantly recognize the setting as the infamous bathroom, the same location where a majority of the first-ever Saw film is set. 

Shawn Humphries and J. Clark

Still from Saw XLionsgate

We’re not entirely sure if this one is intentional or not, but in Saw X, after Kramer’s paid for the faux procedure, fraudster boss Cecilia Pederson is seen taking a photo down of Kramer, which features a Post-it note on it indicating how much money he’s spent on the “treatment”.

Besides his picture are snaps of two other victims of the scam – one is named Shawn Humphries and the other is named J. Clark. In real life, these are the names of two convicted murderers who were executed for their crimes – and both apologized to their victims’ families in their final statements. 

Whether this is a hidden reference alluding to Kramer’s philosophy is yet to be confirmed, but it’s quite the coincidence if not. 

Saw X is in cinemas now, and you can check out our other coverage below: 

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