James Wan
James Wan attending Comic Con, 2007.
Born	(1977-02-27) 27 February 1977 (age 35) Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1999 – present

James Wan (born 27 February 1977) is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.

Life and career[link]

Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia of Chinese ethnicity. He was raised in Perth, Western Australia from a young age. It was his dream to make films from the age of 11. He went on to study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, completing his Bachelor of Arts degree.^[1]

Before becoming popular in the film industry, he made his first feature film Stygian with Shannon Young, which won 'Best Guerrilla Film' at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2000.^[2]

He met future business partner Leigh Whannell while studying at RMIT. He would later go on to co-create and direct the 2004 horror film (and franchise),^[3] Saw with the help of Whannell, who wrote the script. Wan and Whannell made a short version of the film to showcase the script. Whannell played the role of David in the short film, and the leading role of Adam in the feature film. The three producers who saw the short film and read Whannell's screenplay agreed to produce the film before Wan and Whannell even landed in Los Angeles. Wan and Whannell decided to forgo upfront salary in return for gross profits. Shot for a low US$1.2 million budget, the producers had a straight-to-DVD release in mind. However, Saw was to become a surprise record breaking theatrical horror franchise, earning Wan and Whannell much more than they had originally predicted.^{[citation needed]}

Since creating the franchise, Wan and Whannell have served as executive producers to the sequels Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV,^[4] Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D. He has been busy creating other works with his film school partner Leigh Whannell. In 2007, he went on to broaden his filmography with another horror movie, Dead Silence, and the action drama Death Sentence.^[5] Having worked on his last three films back to back, Wan told CraveOnline that he is ready for "a bit of time off just to chill... but at the same time I'm using this opportunity to write again."^[6] Wan also directed a trailer for the survival horror video game Dead Space.

It has been announced that James' next film will be an adaptation of the graphic novel Fall Night, about a criminal sent to a Texas prison run by vampires.^[7] According to IMDB the film is titled 'Nightfall' instead of 'Fall Night', it is unclear which is the official title. As well as this, Leigh Whannell has stated that he and Wan are writing another project together called X Ray and described it as a film noir horror film. It has been reported that James Wan's next project will be Spectre a supernatural thriller and will star Nicole Kidman.

Wan's current film, Insidious, premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and began its theatrical release in April 2011.

The horror film news website BloodyDisgusting has confirmed that Wan's next film will be titled The Warren Files and will centre on the real life exploits of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple that investigated paranormal events. The film will reportedly focus on the couple's most famous case, second to the Amityville haunting, in which they investigate a witch's curse on a Rhode Island family farm. The film was to be originally titled The Conjuring. Patrick Wilson will once again star in Wan's next film making this the second collaboration with the filmmaker, the first being Insidious. Patrick Wilson and actress Vera Farmiga will play paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren respectively. The film is scheduled for a late 2012 release.

After work on The Warren Files is complete Wan has confirmed that he will indeed be helming a sequel to his 2010 release Insidious. The film will once again be written by long time collaborator and close friend Leigh Whannell, the cast of the film is yet to be confirmed. The film is scheduled for a 2013 release.

Filmography[link]

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Writer
2003	Saw (short film)	Y	N	Y
2004	Saw	Y	N	Y
2005	Saw II	N	Y	N
2006	Saw III	N	Y	Y
2007	Dead Silence	Y	N	Y
	Death Sentence	Y	N	N
	Saw IV	N	Y	N
2008	Saw V	N	Y	N
2009	Saw VI	N	Y	N
2010	Saw 3D	N	Y	N
2011	Insidious	Y	N	N
TBA	Insidious 2	Y	N	N
ТВА	House of Horror	N	Y	N
ТВА	Spectre	N	Y	N
TBA	The Warren Files	Y	N	N

References[link]

External links[link]

• James Wan at the Internet Movie Database

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Ed and Lorraine Warren are American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of hauntings.

Background[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Edward Warren Miney (September 7, 1926 – August 23, 2006) was a noted demonologist, author, lecturer, World War II US Navy veteran, and former police officer. Lorraine Warren, née Lorraine Rita Moran (January 31, 1927 – ), his wife, is a professed clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband.

The Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in 1952 and later opened the Occult Museum. They are the authors of numerous books about the paranormal and their own private investigations into various hauntings. They claimed to have investigated over 10,000 hauntings during their career. The Warrens were among the very first investigators in the controversial Amityville haunting.

The Warrens were responsible for training several current paranormal investigating demonologists including Dave Considine, Lou Gentile, and their nephew John Zaffis.

Notable Warren investigations[link]

Amityville[link]

The Warrens are best known for their involvement in the Amityville Horror case in which New York couple George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their house was haunted by a violent, demonic presence so intense that it eventually drove them out of their home. "The Amityville Horror Conspiracy" authors Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan characterized the case as a "hoax". ^[1] Lorraine Warren told a reporter for The Express-Times newspaper that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax. The reported haunting was the basis for the 1977 book The Amityville Horror and 1979 and 2005 movies of the same name.

Demon murder[link]

In 1981, Arne Johnson was accused of killing his landlord, Alan Bono. Ed and Lorraine Warren had been called prior to the killing to deal with the alleged demonic possession of the younger brother of Mr. Johnson's fiancee. The Warrens subsequently claimed that Mr. Johnson was also possessed. At trial, Mr. Johnson attempted to plead Not Guilty by Reason of Demonic Possession. The case was described in a book, The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle (ISBN 0-553-23714-4).

Werewolf[link]

The Warrens claim to have exorcised a "werewolf demon" in 1983. The subject of the case, Bill Ramsey, had bitten several people, believing himself to be a wolf. The events surrounding this case were later described in a 1991 book written by the Warrens: Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession (ISBN 0-312-92864-5).

Smurl family[link]

Pennsylvania residents Jack and Janet Smurl reported their home was disturbed by various supernatural phenomena, including sounds, smells and apparitions. The Warrens became involved and claimed that the Smurl home was occupied by three spirits and also a demon that Jack and Janet Smurl alleged they were sexually assaulted by.

Criticisms[link]

The Warrens' most famous case, the Amityville Horror, has been refuted by eyewitnesses, investigations and forensic evidence. ^[2] Lawyer William Weber said that he, Jay Anson and the occupants invented the horror story "over many bottles of wine." ^[3]

Horror author Ray Garton who wrote an account of the alleged haunting of the Snedeker family in Southington, Connecticut later repudiated his book, saying, “The family involved, which was going through some serious problems like alcoholism and drug addiction, could not keep their story straight, and I became very frustrated; it’s hard writing a non-fiction book when all the people involved are telling you different stories”.^[4]

New England Society for Psychic Research[link]

The New England Society for Psychic Research was founded in 1952. According to the Warrens, the N.E.S.P.R. utilizes a variety of individuals, including medical doctors, researchers, police officers, nurses, college students and members of the clergy in its investigations.

Media appearances[link]

• Lorraine was featured in several episodes of the Discovery series A Haunting,^[5] in which she discusses some of the cases the pair worked on as paranormal investigators.
• She has also appeared on Paranormal State^[6] where she acted as a guest investigator.
• Both Ed and Lorraine have appeared on Scariest Places on Earth.
• Lorraine was featured on an episode of a show called MTV's Fear.

Books[link]

Ed and Lorraine Warren wrote or featured in a number of non-fiction books, including:

• The Amityville Horror, a True Story by Jay Anson (Prentice Hall, 1977)
• The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle (Berkley Books, 1980)
• The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle (Bantam Books, 1983) ISBN 0-553-23714-4
• The Haunted: The True Story of One Family's Nightmare by Robert Curran with Jack Smurl and Janet Smurl and Ed and Lorraine Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1988) ISBN 0-312-01440-6
• Ghost Hunters: True Stories From the World's Most Famous Demonologists by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1989) ISBN 0-312-03353-2
• Satan's Harvest by Michael Lasalandra and Mark Merenda with Maurice and Nancy Theriault and Ed and Lorraine Warren (Dell, 1990) ISBN 0-440-20589-1
• Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1991) ISBN 0-312-06493-4
• Graveyard: True Hauntings from an Old New England Cemetery by Ed Warren (St Martins Press, 1992) ISBN 0-312-08202-9
• In A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting by Ray Garton (Villard, 1992) ISBN 0-394-58902-5

Film[link]

A biopic directed by James Wan has been reported to be in the works, scheduled for a 2013 release, under the title The Warren Files. It is currently in production in Wilmington, NC, and it stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren.^[7]

The 2009 film The Haunting in Connecticut was loosely based on the Snedeker haunting investigated by the Warrens.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The New England Society For Psychic Research
• Article Detailing the Recent Danbury Court Case
• Hunting the Ghost Hunters: An Investigation of Ed and Lorraine Warren - Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella
• The Demonologist Page on the Warrens - Contains brief biographical information
• Internet Movie Database - Entry for Ed Warren
• Internet Movie Database - Entry for Lorraine Warren
• JREF reprint of Ray Garton letter - Ray Garton Letter refuting the Warrens
• Ed and Lorraine Warren Website

Leigh Whannell
Whannell at the Saw 3D premiere (28 October 2010)
Born	Leigh Whannell (1977-01-17) 17 January 1977 (age 35) Melbourne, Australia
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Corbett Tuck (m. 2009) «start: (2009)»"Marriage: Corbett Tuck to Leigh Whannell" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Leigh_Whannell)

Leigh Whannell (born 17 January 1977) is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.

Life and career[link]

Whannell was born in Melbourne. A writer since childhood, Whannell worked as a reporter and film critic for several Australian television shows, including ABC's Recovery hosted by Dylan Lewis. He also had a minor role in The Matrix Reloaded, as well as the video game Enter The Matrix as the character Axel.^[1]

Whannell believes that he inherited his love of storytelling from his mother and his fondness of filmmaking from his father, who worked behind the camera in the television industry.

While in film school, he met James Wan, who would eventually go on to direct the horror film Saw (co-written by Wan and Whannell) in 2004.^[1] After making a short film to showcase the intensity of the script, the feature film was made and became a low-budget sleeper hit in late 2004. Whannell played Adam Stanheight in the film, one of the main characters. The popularity of Saw led to a sequel, Saw II, which was directed and co-written by Darren Lynn Bousman, and on which Whannell co-wrote^[1] and revised Bousman's original script, titled The Desperate. Whannell also served as an executive producer.^[1]

Around the same time, Whannell returned to collaborate with Wan and they wrote a film called Dead Silence, which Wan directed.^[1] It was slated for a 2006 release, but small problems with the title pushed the release date back to March 2007, when it was released as Dead Silence. In 2006, the duo composed the story for Saw III, with Whannell writing the screenplay for the third time.^[1] It was again directed by Bousman and was released on 27 October 2006. Whannell has a featured cameo, reprising his role as Adam. Saw III was a huge financial success and raked in $33,610,391^[2] on its opening weekend, making around $129,927,001 worldwide (after 38 days in cinemas) and is currently the most successful Saw film to date.

Whannell's writing partner, Wan, was chosen to direct the film Death Sentence, the first feature film with their participation that they did not write themselves. Whannell has a small role as Spink in Death Sentence.^[1]

Whannell (right) and James Wan (left) attending the Saw 3D premiere on 27 October 2010.

In 2008, Whannell took off his "writing hat" to perform alongside Nathan Phillips in Dying Breed,^[1] a low-budget Australian horror film about a team of zoologists exploring the Tasmanian wilderness to locate a creature thought extinct, the thylacine, aka Tasmanian tiger. Instead, they wander into the domain of cannibals who retain their ancestor Alexander Pearce's taste for human flesh, and become prey.^[3]

Before and during the production of Saw, Whannell sought medical treatment. "I was going through a bit of a tough time healthwise and suffering anxiety," says Whannell. "The anxiety manifested itself in physical ways. I was suffering headaches everyday for nearly a year. It was serious stuff and really started affecting my life."^{[citation needed]} Spending time in a hospital inspired him to endow the lead antagonist of the Saw series, Jigsaw/John Kramer, with cancer. "It was weird to be 25 and sitting in a neurological ward and I'm surrounded by people who actually had brain tumors. It was very scary and it was my first proper look at mortality. I really wanted to get my health back and it really hammered home how important good health is. If you've got that, you've got everything."^{[citation needed]}

Whannell and Wan are currently developing a new feature, X-Ray, described as an action/noir film. He wrote the script for and acted in the 2011 paranormal thriller film Insidious,^[1] which was directed by Wan and produced by Oren Peli.^[4]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• Neighbours (1996) (TV series) – Stuart Maughan
• Blue Heelers (1999–2000) (TV series) – Jared Ryan
• Stygian (2000) – Clown/Punk Kid
• Enter The Matrix – Axel (voice)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003) – Axel
• Razors Eaters (2003) – Nick. D
• The Referees (2003) – Footy Mate
• Saw (2003, short) – David
• One Perfect Day (2004) – Chris
• Saw (2004) – Adam Stanheight
• Saw III (2006) – Adam Stanheight
• Death Sentence (2007) – Spink
• Dying Breed (2008) – Matt
• Doggie Heaven (2008) – Neil Sampson
• The Last Supper (2009) – Philip
• The Pardon (2009) – Clement Moss
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) Jatt
• Saw 3D (2010) – Adam Stanheight
• Insidious (2011) – Specs

Producer[link]

• Saw II (2005)
• Saw III (2006)
• Saw IV (2007), Executive Producer
• Saw V (2008), Executive Producer
• Saw VI (2009), Executive Producer
• Saw 3D (2010), Executive Producer

Writer[link]

• Saw (2004)
• Saw II (2005)
• Saw III (2006)
• Dead Silence (2007)
• Doggie Heaven (2008)
• Saw: The Video Game (2009)
• Insidious (2011)
• X-Ray (2012)

References[link]