10 Recent Horror Movies That Had No Right To Be This Good

Much like M. Night Shyamalan's filmography, the Saw franchise revolves heavily around twist endings, and one of the greatest twists involving the brand actually happened in the real world. The tenth instalment, which followed up a divisive reboot and an even more divisive quasi-spin-off, was not only a seriously solid work, but it was the best-reviewed film in the series. Where the hell did that come from? 

Well, let's just be grateful it came along at all, eh? 

Saw X is a viscous, intense, gory, and frequently harrowing death game horror that goes back to basics and tells a gruelling story of karma to great effect. There's none of the convoluted flashbacks and unearned cruelty that plagued the worst Saw movies; this is just a clean, effective deployment of the Saw formula. 

Returning director Kevin Greutert does a smashing job, the entire cast is strong (especially Tobin Bell), and Saw X also stands out by being perhaps the best-paced Saw movie to date. It balances the gory carnage with thought-provoking dialogue scenes, and it takes its time before the main death game begins.

Although it loses control of itself in the final act, Saw X is still so much better than pretty much anyone could've reasonably expected. A follow-up has been delayed due to some behind-the-scenes issues, but whenever Saw XI does finally arrive, there's reason to believe in it. One hasn't been able to say that about the Saw films in a long, long time.