9. James Wan
Notable Films: Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring If you go back and watch the original Saw, youll see that its not the torture-porn, played out concept that the sequels have made you think it is. Thats exactly why if you watch press videos of Wan he is always distancing himself and reminds us that Saw was more of a thriller than anything else. Saw made me feel like there was hope for horror again (which was near ruined by all the sequels). In the spirit of Poltergeist, Wan went a different route in his follow-ups Insidious and The Conjuring. Both are good quality horror films in which Wan uses dreadful suspense over cheap scares, slow pace and character development over fast tracking to violence, and pure fright over gore. Insidious took a over-done concept and made it new. With the introduction of the astral-projections and haunting of a person (vs the house) Wan avoided obvious horror tropes and cliches. The Conjuring has been a success at the box-office and a genuinely good film. While it may not be anything new in term of story, that doesn't cheapen it's quality as a horror film. In a genre that has a hard time making quality over quantity, Im glad Wan is around. But for now, Wan is setting horror aside and directing the next entry in the Fast and Furious franchise, which I haven't seen since the second film, who knows, maybe he'll make it his own and a Fast and Furious movie will surprise me.