Directors: James Wan


BIOGRAPHY (from Wikipedia)

James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is a Malaysian-born Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and comic book writer. Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won “Best Guerrilla Film” at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.

He rose to prominence as co-creator of the Saw film franchise. He served as a producer on all eight films in the series, in addition to directing Saw (2004) and co-writing Saw III (2006). His involvement with the horror genre continued with the Insidious and Conjuring franchises, but he later moved into directing action movies. His films Furious 7 and Aquaman each grossed over a billion dollars, making Wan the eighth director with two films that have reached that milestone.

 


DIRECTOGRAPHY

2000 – Stygian

2004 – Saw

2007 – Dead Silence

2007 – Death Sentence

2010 – Insidious

2013 – The Conjuring

2013 – Insidious: Chapter 2

2015 – Furious 7

2016 – The Conjuring 2

2018 – Aquaman


REVIEWS

PosterMovieYearCommentsRatingReviewer
Saw 2004 The sequels may have given the series a reputation for low-brow gore, but the first film is a clever, innovative and terrifying mystery thriller that does its best with a limited cast and budget. A minor classic in the horror genre. 7 Mat
Insidious 2010 The team behind Saw tones down the gore and produces a creepy and original take on the demonic possession horror film, which is only let down by its hard-to-follow final half hour. 7 Mat
Insidious: Chapter 2 2013 A disappointing follow-up with a confusing and ultimately boring story, which also lacks the unnerving tension and scares of the first film. 5 Mat
The Conjuring 2013 Creepy and well shot without relying on cheap jump scares, this harrowing film would've benefitted from a shorter running time but otherwise hits the mark in most respects and is an effective beginning for a new franchise. 7 Mat
Aquaman 2018 Entertaining and exciting in places, but suffers from the usual DCU disease of being far too long for no real reason. I also found some of the casting odd and the effects poor (it often looked more like a video game than a film). 6 Gordon

The Verdict

  • Saw
  • Insidious
  • Insidious: Chapter 2
  • The Conjuring
  • Aquaman
3.2

Summary

His work may pale in comparison to many of the big names in our Directors League, but that doesn’t mean that Wan’s contribution to movie-making should be underestimated. Along with frequent collaborator Leigh Whannell he has been responsible for some of the most popular Horror franchises of the last 15 years, and while his big budget offerings might not be critically acclaimed, they have still been crowd-pleasers and box office successes.
Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)

 


DIRECTORS LEAGUE

This page will be updated as we watch more James Wan films and therefore his overall rating will change over time. You can see where James Wan sits in the Directors League here.

 

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.