Chloe's Not Scared

It’s no secret that I’m fascinated by the career of James Wan. In fact, I was just on a podcast gushing about the guy! At publication, Wan is 46 years old and has made only 10 feature length films, since his debut feature Saw in 2004 with his creative partner Leigh Whannel. Since then, Wan has produced many more films, started his own production company, and is one of the top 20 highest grossing directors of all time. He’s also of Chinese Malaysian Australian descent. Not many of the other successful directors of all time are non-American or non-white. We love a diverse perspective and we love someone who starts in the horror genre and stays!

To me, James Wan is the Ridley Scott of horror. He takes risks, making his movies stylish, twisty and sometimes silly. He also occasionally breaks from the horror genre to direct a big budget superhero movie like Aquaman or a Fast and the Furious entry, but always comes back to the his roots in genre fiction. Wan also works with the same actors and crew members over and over again, something that I think signifies that people love working with him and keep coming back for more. 

10. Aquaman (2018)

Aquaman is not actively bad, but it’s just not my favorite Wan. 

9. Death Sentence (2007)

A notoriously hard to find action movie.

8. Fast and the Furious 7 (2015)

It’s about family! This Fast movie has a lot of heart. Little did he know, Wan was making Paul Walker’s last movie. The sentimentality of the franchise hits different when you rewatch in present-day context.

7. Insidious 2 (2013)

While the ending relies on some lazy and dangerous stereotypes, this isn’t a bad Insidious movie by any means. I love how certain moments are explained from the previous film. While I’m certain that they were “reverse engineered,” it’s still very clever. 

6. Dead Silence (2007)

A controversial favorite! The opening and closing are terrifying, but everything in between is a bit dull. The setup of this movie with the urban legend aspect is truly inventive. I was almost certain that Mary Shaw was a real legend that I had heard about long ago. The ending blows my mind every time. You can’t help but laugh.

5. Saw (2004)

I wanted something a little more subtle in my horror in the mid 2000’s, so I never got around to seeing Saw. I also was super scared to see this movie, as I was a teen when it came out. I recently watched it for the first time and thought it was an effective low budget horror. It’s a bit dated in its treatment of mental health (especially addiction) but otherwise lives up to the hype. Also, the world premier for each Saw movie always hosts a blood drive and isn’t that super nice?

4. Insidious (2010)

I’m a fan of the Insidious franchise. I can tell the horror influences here, in the green lighting and gaunt ghoulish makeup/costumes. The red demon is actually quite scary (it’s actually called the Lipstick Faced Demon… what a terrible name). The characters aren’t super interesting, except for the psychic medium who comes to visit with her seance kit/ gasmask in tow. Insidious is getting points for creativity (I don’t think a horror movie about astral projection had been made until Insidious). And it is quite scary for a PG13 movie.

3. The Conjuring (2013)

When I first saw this movie, I didn’t think much of it. But when it blew up, I realized “oh it’s kind of a perfect haunted house film.” It gives audiences what they want: a story of good versus evil. And while I don’t love haunted house movies where the ghost turns out to be a demon, I’m able to overlook this because of the amount of quality jump scares in this film. Wan certainly knows how to crank up the tension. 

2. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

I’m truly obsessed with The Conjuring 2, aka the creepy Nun’s debut. I love the cinematography and directing choices. I love the Enfield Poltergeist story. I love everything about this movie except for the Warrens, who were kind of shitty people apparently. Luckily, they’re not in the movie that much and when they are, they are being terrorized by my gal Valek (the aforementioned nun). I could do without Elvis, though.

1. Malignant (2021)

You’ve heard me gush about Malignant, so I won’t go too far. I just love a story about families banding together. At the core, this schmaltzy story is about finding family in both your birth family and adopted family. But also, it’s a bloody masterpiece with twists and turns. Is it a giallo? Should there be a sequel?

What’s next for Wan? I think his new films might be in the same vein as Malignant, reinvigorating the horror comedy genre. I’d also love to see him do a PG gateway horror! But until then, I think he’ll continue with his production company Atomic Monster.

If you want to hear more about my takes on James Wan and get a sneak peek of my favorite horror of 2023, take a listen to Director’s Club. I’m a guest on this podcast giving listeners a bit of insight on how I became a cinephile to begin with. Plus, it was so fun to hang with my friend and fellow librarian Jim Laczkowski. Consider subscribing to his Substack 5 Years!