Leigh Whannell Archives

Saw (2004)

Rating: ★★★★★

Nov 16, 2004Killer's Sadistic Games

Forget the grim and sadistic sequels that followed, this low-budget directorial debut from James Wan is a masterwork that conjures unbearable dread and tension in its study of characters forced to consider the horribly inconceivable

Director: James Wan

Actors: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Leigh Whannell, Michael Emerson, …

Category: Horror

16 November 200426 January 2020 by Roog

Saw II (2005)

Rating: ★★

Nov 13, 2005Killer's Sadistic Games

The first sequel to the sleeper success of Saw where Darren Lynn Bousman inherits the director's chair but delivers a film that lacks the torturous suspense that James Wan gave the original

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Actors: Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Franky G, …

Category: Horror

13 November 200517 April 2025 by Roog

Saw III (2006)

Rating: ★★

Feb 11, 2007Killer's Sadistic Games

Third of the Saw films and the point where director Darren Lynn Bousman places the series' focus on grim gore-drenched sadism and torture

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Actors: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus MacFayden, Dina Meyer, …

Category: Horror

11 February 20073 November 2023 by Roog

Dead Silence (2007)

Rating: ★★★

Apr 17, 2008Possessed Ventriloquist's Dolls

In his immediate follow-up to Saw, James Wan turns to the old possessed ventriloquist's dummy theme. The result is not quite another Saw but Wan does deliver a number of very creepy moments

Director: James Wan

Actors: Ryan Kwanten, Donnie Wahlberg, Bob Gunton, Michael Fairman, …

Category: Horror

17 April 200812 February 2025 by Roog

Insidious (2010)

Rating: ★★★

Apr 16, 2011Haunting/Astral Projection

On a pure plot level, this is largely a generic haunted house story but director James Wan creates an eerie atmosphere and manages to undeniably jangle the audience's nerves on a number of occasions

Director: James Wan

Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, …

Category: Horror

16 April 201114 September 2021 by Roog

Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)

Rating: ★★★

Sep 13, 2013Haunting/Possession

James Wan proves himself one of the finest directors in the horror genre with this sequel to his 2010 film. The plot is trimmed to deliver an effective scare show and Wan again produces a series of eerie and unworldly jumps

Director: James Wan

Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Steve Coulter, …

Category: Horror

13 September 201321 April 2026 by Roog

Cooties (2014)

Rating: ★★★½

Jul 7, 2017Zombie Schoolchildren Comedy

A very funny film about a horde of zombie schoolchildren. Co-written by Saw's Leigh Whannell, this has a great deal of fun deflating zombie cliches and is wittily on the ball in its characterisations of the teachers

Director: Cary Murnion, Jonathan Milott

Actors: Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Leigh Whannell, …

Category: Horror

7 July 20171 October 2025 by Roog

Insidious Chapter 3 (2015)

Rating: ★★

Jun 6, 2015Haunting/Possession

This doesn't have James Wan directing and is a far less interesting ghost story before doing a repeat venture into the beyond. On the plus side, incoming director Leigh Whannell does generate a fair degree of eerie tension

Director: Leigh Whannell

Actors: Lin Shaye, Stefanie Scott, Dermot Mulroney, Angus Sampson, …

Category: Horror

6 June 201521 April 2026 by Roog

Upgrade (2018)

Rating: ★★★

Dec 23, 2018A.I Transforms a Wheelchair-Ridden Man Into a Fighting Machine

Leigh Whannell, James Wan's BFF and co-writer on the Saw and films, takes the director’s chair. A wheelchair-ridden Logan Marshall-Green gets an A.I. implant that gives him ninja super-skills among other things. Whannell’s action set-ups and plot twists are frequently ingenious.

Director: Leigh Whannell

Actors: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson

Category: Science Fiction

23 December 201811 February 2025 by Roog

Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Rating: ★★

Mar 31, 2018Paranormal Investigation

After two fairly good initial entries, the Insidious series began its downward slide. Here new director Adam Robitel's clumsy jumpshocks are a far cry from the eerie effects James Wan pulled off

Director: Adam Robitel

Actors: Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Caitlin Gerard, …

Category: Horror

31 March 201821 April 2026 by Roog

The Invisible Man (2020)

Rating: ★★

Mar 28, 2020Invisible Stalker

Blumhouse deliver an invisible man, although one that has nothing to do with H.G. Wells or the previous invisible man films. Indeed, this feels like an invisible man film that doesn't even want to be about an invisible man at all.

Director: Leigh Whannell

Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Harriet Dyer, Storm Reid, …

Category: Science Fiction

28 March 202012 February 2025 by Roog

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)

Rating: ★★

Jun 11, 2021Killer’s Sadistic Games

The Saw series is revived sort of, featuring the activities of a Jigsaw copycat, otherwise this offers up all the familiar essentials in all but name

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Actors: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, …

Category: Horror

11 June 202131 October 2023 by Roog

Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Rating: ★★

Aug 12, 2023Haunting/Astral Projection

The fifth film in the Insidious series. This time Patrick Wilson returns to the franchise and takes the director’s chair, showing he has been taking some lessons from James Wan

Director: Patrick Wilson

Actors: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Sinclair Daniel, …

Category: Horror

12 August 20238 February 2024 by Roog