Edward Gardiner ranks the films of James Wan…
James Wan: love him or hate him, he knows how to make an audience tick.
After navigating his way to the rare status of financially lucrative horror director, Wan landed the gig of helming the utterly mad-looking Fast & Furious 7, with series regular Justin Lin moving onto other things. As it gears up for an imminent release, this seems like a good opportunity to rank Aussie director’s films in order of quality so far. Wasting no time…
6. Death Sentence, 2007
A little-seen revenge picture starring Kevin Bacon as a family man who goes all one man army on a group of thugs who murdered his son, Death Sentence is an interesting but flawed piece. An enjoyably nasty performance from Garrett Hedlund and a terrific single-take foot chase stand out, and the frolicsome approach to the direction gives the impression Wan was letting off some steam after the tight, controlled method he necessarily deployed in Saw, yet it’s sometimes too chaotic for its own good and a few of the performances are dreary.
Still, it’s worth a look in as the one film in Wan’s back catalogue, excluding the upcoming Furious 7, which sees him depart from straight-laced horror.
5. Insidious Chapter 2, 2013
There’s a lot of great stuff in Insidious Chapter 2. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are on top form – Wilson is particularly great as a possessed husband descending into Jack Torrence levels of madness – and a little sequence involving Dalton (Ty Simpkins) speaking into a tin can telephone to who he thinks is his little brother, only to discover the other end is lost in a dark cupboard, is terrifically spooky. The whole thing is also rather cleverly tied into the events of the first film, but it falters through over explanation, by giving an in-depth exposé on the creepiest ghoul of the first film, and treating large portions of the plot like an episode of Scooby Doo.
The latest trailer for Chapter 3, helmed by writer and long-time Wan collaborator Leigh Whannell, is unspectacular, but there’s still hope that it can get right the things Chapter 2 gets wrong.
4. Dead Silence, 2007
2007 was a year of anonymity for James Wan, as his second least-seen film released just a few months before his least-seen (Death Sentence). Yet Dead Silence, rightly, has developed something of a cult following since then. True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten plays a recently widowed man who must return to his sleepy hometown in search of answers surrounding her death, only to discover that a creepy ventriloquist’s doll he mysteriously received shortly before her passing could have played a menacing part.
There are some creepy moments, but the reason Dead Silence has garnered the kind of love that Death Sentence could only dream is its slightly irreverent and playful undertones. It’s a film which has fun with being a bit camp and overcooked, epitomised by the wonderfully hammy performance from Donnie Wahlberg as the cop who follows Kwanten around on suspicion of murder, but spends most of the time making fun of him. Hidden gem might be a step too far, but this is a really fun little flick.
Originally published March 21, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
