Director James Wan has solidified himself as a modern master of horror movies, achieving what few filmmakers have in creating multiple horror movie franchises. Though Wan has expanded beyond the genre with movies like Furious 7 and the Aquaman franchise, he continues to return to the horror genre which is where he has found some of his biggest hits. From gritty low-budget movies to supernatural blockbusters, Wan has created some horror IP fans keep coming back to.

Wan broke onto the scene with Saw, which was based on a short film he made alongside fellow horror legend Leigh Whannell. Saw was a surprise hit that launched Wan's career. Though he suffered some early setbacks with some standalone movies following the success of Saw, Wan quickly bounced back with the likes of Insidious and The Conjuring. With all these movies becoming popular enough to get sequels, prequels, and spinoffs, it is worth considering which of Wan's horror franchises is the best.

3 Insidious (2010-2023)

5 Movies To Date (1 Movie)

In 2010, James Wan reunited with writer Leigh Whannell to craft Insidious, which Wan both directed and edited. However, the duo stepped away from the "torture porn" genre of horror movies and focused on the supernatural with Insidious. The film focuses on the Lambert family battling evil forces to prevent them from dragging their comatose child into the realm known as The Further. Wan returned to direct 2013's Insidious: Chapter 2, which found the Lambert family struggling with their established connection to the supernatural world.

For Insidious: Chapter 3 and Insidious: The Last Key, Wan took a producer role, with Whannell staying on as a writer. These movies also switched to prequels, focusing on the character of Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), the psychic who appeared in the first movie. The third film deals with Elise on a case before meeting the Lamberts, while the fourth movie takes place after those events but before the original Insidious. The most recent entry in the franchise, Insidious: The Red Door, brings back the Lambert family, dealing with the dark past between father and son.

Insidious always remained the best and most interesting movie in the franchise with the others failing to see as fresh afterward.

As is usually the case for Wan's franchises, the Insidious entries he directed are the clear standouts, presenting lots of ghastly demonic activity, jump scares, and great performances from Lin Shaye, Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. The primary reason Insidious takes the lowest ranking here is that Chapter 3 and The Last Key are both quite underwhelming, alongside a lack of the Lambert family.

While Shaye does a commendable job transitioning her Elise Rainier character from ing player to franchise lead for these later sequels, the movie seemed to lose its direction with the prequels. Insidious always remained the best and most interesting movie in the franchise with the others failing to see as fresh afterward. Even bringing the Lamberts back for the fifth movie wasn't enough to turn the franchise around. However, there is some hope for the Insidious 6.

2 Saw (2004-2023)

10 Movies To Date (1 Possible Movie)

Saw was a feature-length expansion of Wan and Whannell's prior short film and the movie that launched their respective careers. The first movie was a low-budget horror movie that helped launch the "torture porn" subgenre. The first movie follows two men locked in a basement and forced to play a twisted game constructed by a serial killer known as Jigsaw. The second expanded on the character of Jigsaw aka John Kramer with Tobin Bell giving a performance that helped create a new horror icon.

Wan only directed the first movie, and while Saw is best ed for its twisty ending and gory traps, it marked an impressive display of low-budget horror filmmaking, launching a surprise franchise off such a small movie. Interestingly, the sequels stuck close to the continuity established in the first movie, with the first seven movies building a very complex mythology. ing characters in one movie would suddenly be the lead characters in the next film, while Kramer's legacy was built on continuously, even after the character was killed off.

Jigsaw was the first time the movie attempted to somewhat break away from the continuity, focusing on new characters, but bringing it back to John Kramer. Spiral was a surprising spinoff of sorts, set in the same universe as the rest of the movies but focusing on a copycat killer targeting police officers with Jigsaw's sadistic games. However, it was with the tenth movie in the franchise that Bell was put back in the spotlight for a return to form that also contained more depth than expected.

As to be expected with a franchise that has gone on this long, the quality among the Saw movies can be quite uneven. It's hard to overstate the impact the first movie had on the horror genre, while the second movie is a solid follow-up. However, the next several installments in the franchise falter with an overreliance on the gore and a lack of interesting characters. However, the connected nature of the movies makes for enjoyable watches for fans of the franchise.

It is also a franchise that has had success switching things up a bit. Spiral was flawed, but it makes for a fresh new approach to the story with Chris Rock as the unexpected lead. However, Saw X brings the franchise back to a place where fans can get excited about what's to come two decades after the franchise started. was set to turn things around but was removed from the studio's schedule.

1 The Conjuring (2013-2021)

9 Films To Date (1 Movie)

The Conjuring

Created by

James Wan

First Film

The Conjuring

Cast

John Noble, Ruairi O'Connor, Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Brad Greenquist, Lulu Wilson, Talitha Bateman, Grace Caroline Currey, Mckenna Grace, Taissa Farmiga, Bonnie Aarons, Demián Bichir, Jonas Bloquet

Movie(s)

The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring 3, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Nun II

The Conjuring is a multi-film franchise that started in 2013 with James Wan's The Conjuring. Since then, it has expanded with spinoffs like Annabelle, The Nun, and sequels to the original film. Due to the popularity of the movies, The Conjuring has become one of the most profitable franchises in Warner Bros.' portfolio. 

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James Wan's The Conjuring franchise has the added benefit of horror movies based on true stories, regardless of how loose that basis might be. The original The Conjuring reunited Wan with Patrick Wilson along with Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple who investigated paranormal events. While the Warrens' history as alleged paranormal investigators has been greatly debated, the movies have presented their real cases as true supernatural occurrences.

While Ed and Lorraine have served as the exceptional heroes of the franchise, their adventures have also been supplemented with a number of spinoff movies. Annabelle and The Nun were both spinoff movies that delved into the origins of some of the demonic entities that the Warrens encountered during their cases. Those spinoffs have subsequently gotten sequels of their own with three Annabelle movies and two The Nun movies. Furthermore, though The Curse of La Llorona is not as linked, it does feature a character who appeared in a previous Conjuring movie.

If The Conjuring franchise only consisted of the three mainline films, it would be one of the most consistently good in horror history. However, while the spinoffs were not all effective, the franchise had a way of bouncing back. Following the disappointment of Annabelle, The Conjuring 2 brought the franchise back on its feet, followed by the much-improved Annabelle: Creation. Though Wan only directed the first movie, his influence as producer of every film can be felt.

The Conjuring universe excels at presenting nightmares to audiences and suggesting to them that they could be real. However, when the movies moved away from the Warrens, the movies lost a bit of that fun and simply became supernatural horror movies with familiar plots and predictable scares. That makes the future of The Conjuring franchise bittersweet as the Warrens will return for the The Conjuring: Last Rites, which will be their final movie.

Standalone James Wan Horror Movies

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While James Wan has created some notable horror franchises, his work in the genre has also included some standalone movies. Dead Silence is a supernatural horror film that is likely one of the most overlooked projects Wan has made. The movie follows a man who returns to his hometown following the death of his wife and begins investigating the circumstances behind it. This leads him to discover a connection between his family and a ventriloquist in the area.

Dead Silence showcases Wan's love of supernatural horror stories as well as the use of creepy dolls. However, the movie was a financial flop and failed to excite fans in the way Saw did. Wan later spoke about his motives behind making the movie and how it eventually found its audience (via The Hollywood Reporter):

"Dead Silence, my second movie and first studio film, was really me responding to the reaction that Saw was getting, meaning that people were harping on the torture aspect of Saw. So I made a very conscious decision to move away from that style of film and into something that was more of a haunted house, ghost story, which is a genre I love. But, of course, Saw made such a strong impression that it carried into Dead Silence. A lot of people were expecting something similar to Saw, but it wasn’t. Ultimately, it didn’t do that well, financially, and at the time, people didn’t really like it. But now, strangely, so many fans reach out to tell me how much they love Dead Silence."

While Dead Silence was Wan early in his career, Malignant was a movie released after he had already become a hugely bankable director in Hollywood, both with his horror franchises and other genre blockbusters. The movie follows a woman who begins having visions about murdering people only to discover the killings are happening in real life. The movie was another bomb, but it received strong reviews from critics, mostly due to its wild twist and giallo style.