10 Directors You Can Always Trust To Deliver Awesome Films

9. James Wan

9. James-WanNotable Films: Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring If you go back and watch the original Saw, you€™ll see that it€™s not the torture-porn, played out concept that the sequels have made you think it is. That€™s 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, I€™m 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.
Contributor
Contributor

I'm currently getting my masters in Writing and Publishing in Chicago. I usually fill my time with marathoning great television. My favorite shows are The Sopranos, Mad Men, Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Wire, Lost, and so much more. Count on me to write mainly about television.