10 Greatest Directorial Debut Horror Movies

Young Australian filmmakers and best friends James Wan and Leigh Whannell originally wrote Saw back in 2001, eventually creating a ten-minute short to help sell the idea to investors. This clearly worked as in 2004, the genre-defining Saw was released to cinemas as James Wan's directorial debut.

Wan showcased his flair and talent with this stylistic mystery horror. A pair of strangers chained up in a dingy bathroom must play their part in a twisted game orchestrated by the unknown villain. The film introduced one of horror's most popular antagonists with the mastermind serial killer, Jigsaw, and his puppet mascot, Billy. Saw was such a hit that a sequel was immediately approved and released the following year. The instalments continued to arrive on a yearly basis for quite some time, making the series synonymous with Halloween.

After the huge success of Saw, director James Wan continued to carve out a very impressive career for himself in the movie industry. He reinvigorated the horror genre once again in 2010 with his hit Insidious, and had equal success with his next movie, The Conjuring, both of which have since spawned huge multi-film franchises. He has also broken out of the horror genre into making more mainstream movies with Fast & Furious 7, which grew to be one of the highest-grossing films of all time, and with his adaptation of the DC comic book hero Aquaman.