Saw X parodies Nicole Kidman's AMC ad: 'Somehow, self-amputation feels good in a place like this'

AMC Theatres aimed to convey the magic of cinema with its oft-memed ad starring Nicole Kidman. It's become a familiar enough touchstone that its starry-eyed take on the theatrical experience doesn't even need Kidman to resonate.

It was a clever idea, then, for the team behind Saw X to tease its upcoming horror sequel by replacing the Oscar winner with... Billy, the puppet avatar of serial torturer Jigsaw. "We come to this place for a reawakening," intones Jigsaw. "We come to the theaters to scream, to beg, to play."

The teaser takes an even darker turn as it mimics Kidman's original voiceover: "That indescribable feeling we get when the lights flicker on and off, and your calls for mercy go unanswered, and you wake up chained in a dirty warehouse, somehow still breathing."

The ad follows Billy pedaling his familiar tricycle to a seat as scenes from Saw play on the big screen. "Somehow," it concludes, "self-amputation feels good in a place like this." It finishes up by acknowledging what the Saw moves are really all about: "Traps. They make movies better."

Saw X features the return of Tobin Bell's John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw, and tells an original tale set in Mexico between the events of Saw and Saw II. It slices into theaters on Sept. 29.

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