Leigh Whannell

Leigh Whannell Will Tackle the Escape From New York Remake

Just when you thought you’d escaped the Escape From New York remake, once again it rears its giant, decapitated Statue of Liberty head. Fox won the rights to remake the classic 1981 John Carpenter film in 2015 and been looking for the right people to do the job ever since. Alita: Battle Angel director Robert…

A New Invisible Man Film Rises as the Dark Universe Dies

The moment we all knew was coming has arrived. Variety reports that Universal has “tabled” its idea for an interconnected universe of classic monster movies (called the “Dark Universe”) and are starting thing fresh with Invisible Man. Leigh Whannell, one of the co-creators of Saw and Insidious, has signed on to direct an Invisible Man…

A Bionic Man Sets Out for Revenge in the Trailer for Upgrade

The plot of Upgrade sounds like a modern spin on RoboCop or The Six Million Dollar Man. It’s about a man who’s paraplegic who gets implanted with a mysterious new technology that makes him an ultra-powerful, deadly killer. The timing works out too because his wife was recently murdered and he wants revenge. Written and…

Upgrade Offers a Subversive, Self-Aware Update to the Classic Scifi-Action Formula

Upgrade lives up to its name in more than one way. It presents a series of tropes you already knew and polishes them up with modern executions, giving us a main character ready to star in updated version of the Six Million Dollar Man. On one level, the film, written and directed by Leigh Whannell…

How Insidious: The Last Key Kept Things Fresh the Fourth Time Around

By the time a franchise gets to its fourth installment, there’s got to be a damn good reason for it to continue. Finding that reason was the primary focus of the team behind Insidious: The Last Key, including director Adam Robitel. “By the fourth installment you need to go in different directions otherwise it gets…

Insidious: The Last Key Takes the Franchise in Some Surprising (and Welcome) Directions

The fourth film in a horror franchise, released on the first weekend of the new year, is just about the easiest movie to write off ever. And yet, you shouldn’t do that with Insidious: The Last Key, despite it being all of those things. It’s a creepy, unpredictable, and surprisingly heartfelt addition to the franchise—and easily…

The Creator of Saw and Insidious Walks Through His Own Worlds at Halloween Horror Nights

At Halloween Horror Nights, Universal Studios’ annual scare event, you don’t have to look far to find something iconic. There’s The Shining; there’s Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface; Ash vs. Evil Dead; American Horror Story; you name it. The Saw and Insidious franchises are also represented with mazes at the year’s event, and we took a…

Shaye’s Going Back to ‘The Further’ in Insidious: Chapter 4

One of the most successful new supernatural horror franchises in recent memory is getting a fourth film. Universal Pictures just announced that Insidious: Chapter 4 is coming in October 2017 with a new director but a familiar star. Leigh Whannell, who wrote and directed the previous three movies, will write part four but is handing…

Would you watch a scifi movie made by the Saw and Insidious co-creator? In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Leigh Whannell (set to make his directorial debut in 2015 with Insidious: Chapter 3) said: “If I had to pick one genre next, I’d love to make a scifi film. I grew up in the ’80s, going…

Secrets of Insidious: How To Make A Low Budget Horror Movie That Doesn’t Look Like Crap

What’s really frightening about Insidious was how little it cost to make this rather large film, only $800,000. How can you make a movie this scary on such a tiny budget? We asked, and the Insidious crew answered. Including Oren Peli, of infamously cheap Paranormal Activity. Oren Peli Insidious producer — and director of Paranormal…