Director Kevin Greutert returns to the franchise that birthed his feature-length career with Saw X, a precise and brutal high watermark that knows exactly what its audience wants. Top-tier Tobin Bell, top-tier Shawnee Smith, top-tier traps: it’s the best Saw in years and perhaps since the original. Minor spoilers ahead…

Leaving behind a compoundingly absurd history of twists and an increasingly Byzantine web of continuity, Spiral: From the Book of Saw reboots the bloody franchise by splitting the difference between its gruesome notoriety and a fresh detective story. Spiral never comes close to the heights of its 2004 namesake, but it’s engaging enough to get to its kills, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome.