The Best And The Worst James Wan Movies
James Wan is one of those directors that is capable of both greatness and mediocrity. He is the driving force behind two of the 21st centuries most successful horror franchises, but also the creative mind behind the unbearably bad Dead Silence. That’s why this is one of those rare top ten lists that span the polar ends of the ten-point rating system.
To be fair, no one in their right mind would write off John Carpenter for that god-awful blip in his filmography Ghosts of Mars. Although he may not have consistency, Wan is still one of those names in horror (and increasingly film in general) that generates a lot of excitement.
Now on to the list.
10. Dead Silence, 2007
Dead Silence cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Director and story
There are some horror films that are so bad they’re funny. Okay, there are a lot of horror films that are so bad they’re funny, but for some of us horror junkies that’s a redeeming quality. If a horror movie isn’t shit-your-pants scary, it should at least be fun.
Dead Silence is just bad. It’s the kind of movie that gives horror a bad rap—a jumble of genre tropes and clichés that are so offensively ineffective they’re boring. It is one of the loudest movies you could fall asleep to.
Dead Silence is about a ventriloquist who haunts the living through her creepy dolls because she was once shamed by an audience member for being a crappy ventriloquist. For some reason, she only kills those who scream when they see her M.O. by cutting out their tongue. Hence the title, I guess.
1/10
9. Death Sentence, 2007
Death Sentence cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Director
A revenge thriller so typical you could probably guess the plot. A man’s son is killed in a gas-station robbery. The man is upset. The man wants revenge. The man, I kid you not, shaves his head à la Taxi Driver and goes on an implausible killing-spree.
While the plot is stale and predictable, Death Sentence does have some decent action sequences and at least remains mostly entertaining to the end. While Wan treads no new ground here, he at least treads old ground with style.
4/10
8. Annabelle, 2014
Annabelle cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Producer
Annabelle is sort of a horror film tragedy. If Wan directed the movie like he did with the first two Conjuring films, who knows what it could have become. But alas, we are stuck with the Annabelle we have.
Annabelle is inspired by the truish story of one of the Warren’s most famous cases, a haunted doll that terrorizes a young nursing student. But Annabelle tells a fictional story of the family that owned the doll before her.
The film’s tension essentially relies on a series of increasingly menacing shots of a creepy porcelain doll. It’s one of those horror films whose supernatural antagonist has no real defined powers, but rather is capable of doing whatever is convenient for the scare, which make the scares themselves feel kind of cheap.
5/10
7. Insidious 2, 2013
Insidious 2 cinematic trailer
Wans role: Director and story
The suspenseful, slow-burn build that made the first Insidious so great is sadly cast aside in its sequel. Wan makes the mistake of so many contemporary horror directors and opts for an endless stream of mediocre jump scares over a handful of effective ones.
But Insidious 2 is by no means a bad movie. The story is solid and doesn’t feel forced, it’s well-acted, and there are some genuinely scary moments. Its biggest problem is that the first film was just so damn good, and Insidious 2 couldn’t live up to its expectations.
6/10
6. Furious 7, 2015
Furious 7 cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Director
With Furious 7, Wan proved he was more than a talented horror movie director. He took his skill at action sequences that he displayed in Death Sentence and put them on full display.
It’s is difficult to separate the film from the tragic death of one of its leads Paul Walker. Wan handles the tragedy gracefully and turns the film into a poignant tribute to Walker.
As far as story goes, the movie doesn’t amount to much more than a demolition derby, but that’s entirely what a Furious movie should be, and Furious 7 is one of the franchise’s best.
7/10
5. Insidious, 2011
Insidious cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Director
The first two-thirds of Insidious are nearly perfect. It has Hitchcockian levels of suspense, well-executed and creative scares, and a sense of humor. It’s when the movie attempts to explain itself that it gets into some trouble.
If there’s one thing that’s universally terrifying, it’s the unknown. Insidious turns the unknown forces that haunt its characters into less interesting knowable phenomena. But it’s an error that is easy to forgive considering how amazing the rest of the movie is.
8/10
4. The Conjuring 2, 2016
The Conjuring 2 cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Director and Writer
The second instalment in Wan’s Conjuring series delivered on the high expectations set by the first. The scares are not only terrifying, they are artful. From the Crooked Man’s uncanny smile to the glowing eyes of the Nun, all the film’s scares are well-conceived and effective.
The Warrens are paranormal investigators that are called in to investigate the daughter of a single mother who is showing signs of demonic possession. It’s a pretty typical ghost story, but expertly executed.
8/10
3. Lights Out, 2016
Lights Out cinematic trailer
Wan’s role: Producer
While Lights Out might not be a James Wan movie, he had a key role in its production: trusting amateur David Sandberg to direct it. The movie became one of the best horror movies of 2016 and Sandberg is now one of the most promising horror directors out there.
Lights Out is about a young woman whose mother is mysteriously attached to supernatural entity. Not only is the movie scary, it is also an interesting allegory for depression. It’s rare for a horror film to be both scary and smart, but Light Out succeeds at both.
2. The Conjuring, 2013
The Conjuring trailer
Wan’s role: Director
The first Conjuring film was a sensation when it was released. Even though nothing specific in the movie warranted an R-rating, the MPAA gave it one because it was too scary.
The Conjuring is really just an old-school haunted house flick, but it is so well-done and scary that it is easily forgiven any genre tropes or clichés it ends up using.
9/10
1. Saw
Saw cinematic trailer
Saw is a testament to what a filmmaker can do with a limited budget and some creativity. The story is tight and tense, with an iconic twist ending that spawned one of the great catch phrases of horror film: “Game over.”
Saw is about a serial killer named Jigsaw who technically has never killed anybody. Instead, he kidnaps his victims and confronts them with deadly puzzles in which they can either make an incredible sacrifice and escape or die.
Jigsaw is a killer with a purpose beyond killing. He wants his victims to confront the fragility of the life they take for granted and be grateful to have it all. Wan’s amazing debut is one of the only truly iconic horror flicks to be released in the 21st century, and it will be remembered for a long time to come.
9/10
James Wan is a difficult director to pin down. He’s one of the best horror directors working today, but is also responsible for some stinkers in the genre. What’s more is he is a hell of an action director, so good that DC has brought him on board to direct the upcoming Aquaman movie, set to be released on December 21, 2018.
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