‘Saw X’ director Kevin Greutert on why horror film is set in Mexico
For the first time in franchise history, Saw X will actually establish the location it is set in and director Kevin Greutert is opening up about setting the horror film in Mexico.
“There’s such a mythology, the city is so amazing, and we can’t speak enough about it,” Greutert said during a fan Q&A session, according to The Direct. “And just that, there’s a certain creepiness to it and a certain history, and it just absolutely worked for us… It is the first time that, I’m sure you all know, but it’s the first time we’ve ever said where we are in a movie. And we kind of really leaned into that…”
The tenth installment of the franchise will chronologically take place between Saw I and Saw II as the Jigsaw killer, John Kramer, heads to Mexico for experimental cancer treatment. When it turns out to be a scam, a new twisted game is set in motion.
Production designer Anthony Stabley said setting the film in Mexico was a win because it’s “so exotic,” adding that John Kramer will feel “like a fish out of water.”
Stabley continued, “It was a combination of all of that. And then there is a history of Mexican cinema, the craftsmen, the artists down there, they are amazing. So we had a wonderful crew. You know, I had a trap team of eight, plus I have my construction team, and they were just fantastic.”
Cinematographer Nick Matthews said that Saw X will “pay homage to all the early films.”
“I think for Kevin and I, it was really important that we were able to pay homage to all the early films, we love that the early films are 1:85 (ratio), we love that they’re textural, that they’re gritty, that there’s these really bold, yellow color palettes, and we want to do our work to hearken to that, with pervasive darkness, and really throwing the audience subjectively right into this graphic, gritty world,” Matthews explained. “So it was just a lot of fun for me to be able to enter this world and then also bring a certain elegance and beauty to it at the same time. I love beauty and brutality. And I want that in everything that I do.”
Saw X is set to debut in theaters September 29 and stars Tobin Bell as Jigsaw Killer.
