James Wan is the mastermind behind the most successful horror franchise of the 2000s, begun with the hit movie SAW (2004), which people labelled horror porn due to its uncompromising violence and gruesome imagery. Wan abandonend the director's chair for all of its sequels to the talented Darren Lynn Bousman, but kept working out the stories and scripts with SAW co-star Leigh Whannell. In 2007, Wan returned to the helm with two movies, the archetypical, scary horror chiller DEAD SILENCE, and the less fantastic, though still gutsy, revenge flick DEATH SENTENCE. Wan knows his field well, making reference to horror icons such as Dario Argento.


Filmography:

Stygian (2000; codir, coscr; a 72m. student film)
Saw (2003; dir, edit; a 10m. short, the origination of the SAW concept)
Saw (2004; dir, scr)
Saw II (2005; exec prod)
Saw III (2006; coscr, exec prod)
Dead Silence (2007; dir, coscr)
Death Sentence (2007; dir)
Saw IV (2007; exec prod)
Saw V (2008; exec prod; in production)

© Ron Altman (last update 03/01/2008)