As I meet James Wan and Leigh Whannell, I mention to them that they helped get me a first in college, thanks to an essay I wrote about Saw II, in a module on gender in horror cinema, of all things.

“So we shaped your life then, didn’t we?” says Whannell. “I mean, if you failed that course, you could have dropped out of college, become homeless, taken up drugs – I’m not saying you owe us or anything but, you know, we did save your life.”
Life saving exploits definitely rank as a new spin on the Saw franchise. More often than not, the films are held up as the beginning of the end of good cinema, taste and decency, not to mention civilised society as we know it. Which is highly unfair – surely Paris Hilton has to take some of the blame too?
Having met in college in Melbourne, Wan and Whannell made a nine-minute short about a killer who traps his victims in a bathroom. Little did they know then that their amateur movie would soon evolve into a seven-film series that would change modern day horror.
“It’s crazy,” says the ever-beaming director Wan. “We have so many fans who tell us they literally grew up on Saw. I mean there was a film a year, so it basically punctuated their formative years – see, the well-adjusted kids got Harry Potter, whereas the sick and twisted little minds gravitated towards us (laughs).”
And apparently there are many sick and twisted little minds out there, as the films have grossed over $848 million worldwide (and counting). However, speaking to the duo, whose involvement with the franchise waned after the first film, their feelings seem mixed. Though both are quick to profess their affection for the Saw movies, it’s obvious that they’d had more lofty aspirations than becoming the kings of torture porn.
“It’s interesting to see how the franchise has developed,” reflects Whannell, who wrote Saw I, II and III. “When I wrote the first one, I wanted it to be a film like The Usual Suspects or Memento where it’s a very dark psychological thriller and everyone leaves talking about the twists and turns. I’m still so proud of the ending of Saw, and really that film isn’t about the traps: you think you see more gore than you do. But because I was still pretty naïve doing the sequels, the studios and I started focusing on what we thought the audience wanted, which was the traps. And it’s a little odd and sad to me that instead of Memento, the Saw franchise is now associated with films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not that it’s bad, but it just wasn’t the plan.”
While Whannell brushes off the generally scathing response critics have to the increasingly gore-filled sequels, he admits that he worried about telling his family about what waves of mutilation he was writing that day.
“I think they found it odd, but no trips to psychiatrists were suggested, thankfully. But I wouldn’t have blamed them! I mean, the trap in Saw III where the guy has to rip rings out of his own body parts? I created that and it still makes me want to puke. It worries me that as a civilised human being I created that. I try not to analyse what it says about me!”
But even though Saw may have developed into an infamously graphic series of stomach-churningly sadistic films, Wan objects to them being classified as torture porn.
“It’s just a term used to diminish horror. ‘Slasher films’ used to have the same prejudices behind it. They’re treated like they’re stupid or brainless, but there are so many scary films out there that aren’t scary in the slightest. There is an art to scaring people, just like there’s an art to making people laugh, and I think we do that well.”
For their latest film Insidious, they’ve abandoned the gore in favour of a traditional, jumpy haunted house film, and they both feel this new project indicates their maturity as filmmakers.
“I was so young writing Saw,” says Whannell. “I probably looked exactly like the fans – rock shirts, dyed black hair, generally angsty disposition! But now I’m just so aware of ageing and my own mortality, I guess, that I really wanted to work on something like Insidious. It’s all about the atmosphere surrounding this supernatural, afterlife presence and even the characters are so aware of their ageing process – it’s about a family dynamic, how they deal with loss and their beliefs regarding the afterlife. It’s great fun, but a bit more grown up. Still scary as hell though!”
For all of Saw’s hideous traps and Insidious’ demons and evil spirits, it’s a hushed admission from Wan that shocks me more than anything.
“This whole being a poster-boy for horror is weird. My favourite genre to watch is romantic comedies.”
Eh, what?
“Have you seen Music And Lyrics? I love that movie!”
Oh no. Now he really has gone too far.

Insidious is in cinemas from April 29.