The Cutprice Guignol

(small spoilers ahead)

So, I think it’s fair to say that I’m a big fan of Leigh Whannel. His iconic movie Saw, which he starred in and wrote alongside long-time collaborator and star in his own right James Wan, was really my introduction to the kind of horror I love: pretensions of cerebrality, but at it’s heart, dense, entertaining, twisty-turny character-driven screeching panic. Beyond that, he’s gone on to have a killer career in some of the best-recieved and most-watched horror franchises of the last ten years, including Insidious (the third movie of which was his directorial debut). He’s a dedicated purveyor of horror, gleefully dedicated to the genre and all the toys he can play with within it.

Is Whannel the finest writer or director out there? Certainly not – his work has a blunt edge to it that doesn’t work for everyone, and he clearly subscribes to a…