Posted in: Blumhouse, Movies | Tagged: james wan, leigh whannell, saw

SAW: James Wan On Return To Franchise: "Let's Make It Scary Again"

SAW is with Blumhouse-Atomic Monster now, and James Wan is talking about where the franchise may go from here in interviews.

SAW fans were shocked to learn that Lionsgate was letting Blumhouse-Atomic Monster take control of the franchise last year, but happy that it means series creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell will be back creatively. One could also argue that the series' quality rebounded with the last film, released in 2023, but having the creators back is a big deal. As far as what they want to do with it, a new interview with Letterboxd sheds some light on what to expect.

SAW For A New Generation

"For me to finally come back to it, I feel I have probably the freshest outlook. I feel I can come back to it with a new perspective, whilst knowing that with this next movie I want to hark back to the spirit of the first movie," says Wan. "One of the things I really want to do with this next Saw is make it scary again. I want to make a scary Saw — not just gory, but psychologically scarring, like what Leigh and I did in the first movie. Leigh and I both want to recapture the spirit of that first film and revisit Jigsaw's philosophy, which is that he goes after people who don't appreciate their lives. If you're a scumbag, but you appreciate your life, he doesn't see you as someone who's wasting your life, so I want to go back to what we touched on in the first movie with regard to that."

"At the same time, I want to honor what people have come to love about the franchise, whilst trying to do something fresh and new that we haven't seen before. This next movie would be the eleventh installment, and there have been lots of films in this world. We need to do something different in order to reach out to a new generation that didn't grow up with it."

I don't really think SAW needs to be all that different to stand out or be good, as other installments that Wan and Whannell had nothing to do with were fine. The thing that stands out most about that first film is the production design, which is grimy and gross more than "scary". It feels more like a detective film as well, so maybe that is a direction they could take, but at this point, fans come for the traps and Jigsaw. Messing with that could be a mistake.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!