Insidious

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by James Wan

Casted by:

Patrick Wilson as Josh Lambert
Rose Byrne as Renai Lambert
Ty Simpkins as Dalton Lambert
Lin Shaye as Elise Rainier

 Story:

 Renai and Josh Lambert have recently moved into a new house with their three children. One morning, Renai looks through a family photo album with her son, Dalton, who asks why there are no pictures of Josh when he was a child. Renai reasons that he has always been camera shy. One day, Dalton hears something in the attic and goes to investigate. He sees something that scares him and falls when the attic ladder breaks. The next day, Dalton does not awaken from sleep. Renai and Josh rush him to the hospital, where the doctors say he is in an inexplicable coma.

Three months later, Dalton is moved back to his home while still in a coma. Shortly after, disturbing events begin to occur. Renai believes the house is haunted when she begins to see and hear other people in the house. She confronts Josh about the events and the family soon moves to another house. In the new house, increasingly violent and supernatural events reoccur. Josh's mother, Lorraine, contacts a friend, Elise Reiner, who specializes in the investigation of paranormal activity. The family, Elise, and her team enter Dalton's room and Elise sees and describes a figure to one of her two assistants, who draws a black figure with a red face and dark hollow eyes on the ceiling of Dalton's room.

Elise explains to Renai and Josh that Dalton has the ability to astral project while sleeping and that he has been doing it since he was very young. The reason that Dalton is in a comatose state is because he has fearlessly travelled too far into different spiritual worlds (he believes the projections are dreams) and has consequently become lost in a land called "The Further"—the land is a place for the tormented souls of the dead. While Dalton's spirit is in this other world, he has left nothing but a lifeless body. The tormented souls crave another chance at life through Dalton's state, while the demon has a malicious intent. However, for a spirit to consume a body, a period of time and energy are required.

Skeptical at first, Josh later relents when he discovers Dalton had been drawing pictures which resemble the demonic figure Elise described. They run a session to try to communicate with Dalton where the demon uses Dalton's body to fight the group, along with 3 other spirits who want Dalton's body. After the session, Elise calls Lorraine and the two reveal to the couple that Josh also can astral project, and was terrorized by an evil spirit during his childhood. Lorraine shows them pictures from Josh's childhood, revealing a shadowy old woman (the same woman from the beginning of the film) nearer and nearer to Josh in each picture, which explains his fear of photos. Elise suggests that Josh should use his ability to find and help return Dalton's soul, to which Josh agrees.

Josh projects himself into The Further, finds and frees his son, who had been captured by the red-faced demon. In search of their physical bodies, Josh and Dalton flee the demon that is pursuing them. Just before the two awaken, Josh abandons his son to confront the shadowy old woman who appears to be inside his house. As he shouts for her to get away from him, she retreats into the darkness. Moments later, Josh and Dalton both awaken, just as all the spirits vanish.

With the family now happily reunited, Renai, Dalton and Lorraine chat in the kitchen as Elise and Josh pack up from the long night. Josh hands Elise the pictures from his childhood, and as she takes them from his hands, she senses something and takes a picture of Josh. He promptly goes into a rage, claiming she knows that he doesn't like to get photographed. Renai hears Josh yelling and goes into the room to find Elise dead and Josh gone. She searches for Josh and comes across Elise's camera. When she looks at the camera, she sees a picture of an old woman. It's revealed that what Elise saw was Josh's old and dirty hand and nails, similar to the old woman's, implying that she has possessed him. Josh then puts his hand on Renai's shoulder, and she is horrified to see what is behind her.

After the post-credits, the shadowy, old woman can be seen blowing out a candle.

L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

It is so good to watch a nice horror movie :) This movie really freaks me out a bit, I Love James Wan :) Haha, ok back to the movie... the storyline is good, a few scene of a ghost sudden pop out really created the creepy feeling. Especially the red fire face ghost behind Patrick Wilson, woah~ that one is scary enough... Its also kinda spooky when u see the ghost making the music with its long fingernail~ yuck...

But the make up is a bit ... lol~ how should i say? I dont knw why... but this is the reason i didnt score it a full...

Saw 1

Released Year: 2004
Directed by James Wan

Casted by:
Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon
Leigh Whannell as Adam Stanheight
Tobin Bell as John Kramer aka Jigsaw
Ken Leung as Steven Sing
Danny Glover as David Tapp
Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young
Story:

Adam Stanheigh, a photographer, awakens in a water-filled tub and finds himself in a disused bathroom along with Dr. Lawrence Gordon, an oncologist. Both men are chained at the ankle to the pipes at opposite ends of the room. Lying between them is a corpse in a small pool of blood holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. Adam and Lawrence discover tapes in their pockets; the men learn from both tapes that Adam must escape the bathroom, while Lawrence must kill Adam before six o'clock, or he'll lose his wife and daughter and be left to die. Lawrence's tape also implies that the corpse between them was a similar victim who shot himself before succumbing to the effects of a poison. They find a bag containing two hacksaws, though neither is able to cut through the chains. Adam breaks his saw and throws it at a mirror in frustration; Lawrence realizes that the saws are meant to be used on their feet.

Lawrence tells Adam that their captor is the Jigsaw Killer, who places his victims in situations or traps, referred to as "games", in which they must be put through physical and/or psychological torture to survive and escape with a better appreciation for life. Flashbacks show that while Lawrence was talking with some students and an orderly named Zep Hindle about the terminal brain cancer of a man named John Kramer, he was approached by Detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing about his penlight being found at the scene of a Jigsaw "game". He viewed the testimony of Amanda Young, a heroin addict, who is the only known survivor of Jigsaw's games; she barely escaped from having her jaw ripped open during her game by a "Reverse Beartrap" and believes that her experience made her a better person. Other victims of Jigsaw's games included Paul, who was trapped in a cage filled with razor wire, and Mark, who was trapped in a room with a flammable substance all over his body along with a candle to help him read the walls covered with numbers that hid the combination to a safe. One of the detectives revealed that Jigsaw frequently watched his victims die — he "liked to book himself front row seats to his own sick little games".

Meanwhile, Lawrence's wife and daughter, Alison and Diana, are being held captive in their home by a man who is watching Adam and Lawrence through a camera behind the bathroom's mirror while tormenting Alison and Diana. Their house is simultaneously being watched by Tapp, who was discharged from the force. Flashbacks show that he became obsessed with the Jigsaw case after viewing Amanda's testimony, and that he and Sing illegally entered a warehouse they knew to be Jigsaw's lair and saved a man from being killed by drills aimed at his neck. Jigsaw managed to make a run for it after slashing Tapp's throat, and Sing was killed by a shotgun booby trap while pursuing him. After being discharged, Tapp began stalking Lawrence.

In the bathroom, Lawrence finds a cigarette, a lighter, and a mobile phone that can receive calls but not send them. He and Adam use the first two items to try to stage Adam's death, but an electric shock through Adam's ankle chain foils this plan. Following these events, Adam and Lawrence recall their abductions; they were both ambushed and knocked unconscious by a stranger wearing a gruesome pig mask. Lawrence receives a call from Alison, who warns him that Adam knows more than he is telling. Adam explains that he was paid to take pictures of Lawrence for the past few days by Tapp, and shows Lawrence a pile of pictures of him from the bag containing the hacksaws. Lawrence berates Adam for invading his privacy, while Adam shows Lawrence evidence that he was cheating on Alison. Adam then notices a picture of a man in Lawrence's house; Lawrence identifies the man as Zep Hindle, and the two deduce that Zep is their abductor. Adam then points out that it is six o'clock, the deadline. Zep moves to kill Alison, but she frees herself and manages to overpower Zep, gaining Tapp's attention in the process. He arrives in time to save Alison and Diana from Zep, allowing them to escape. Zep then flees to the sewers with Tapp in pursuit.

Lawrence, who is only aware of gunshots and screaming, is zapped by the ankle chain as well and loses reach of the phone; in desperation, he saws off his foot and shoots Adam with the corpse's revolver. Zep, who shot Tapp during the chase, enters the bathroom intent on killing Lawrence, only to be blindsided by Adam (whose shoulder wound had not been fatal) and beaten to death with a toilet tank cover. As Lawrence crawls away with the promise that he'll return with help, Adam searches Zep's body for a key and finds another microcassette recorder. He learns that Zep was another victim of the game, following rules to obtain an antidote for the slow poison within his body. In the film's iconic ending, the corpse in the middle of the room rises to its feet and reveals itself as John Kramer, the real Jigsaw Killer. He tells Adam that the chain's key is in the bathtub, which was drained when Adam accidentally kicked the plug out. Adam grabs Zep's pistol and tries to shoot Jigsaw but is electrically shocked by his hidden remote control before he can do so. Jigsaw then turns off the lights and seals the door to the bathroom, leaving Adam to die.

L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

The very first movie of the SAW's chain, directed and written by our Sarawak talented James Wan & Leigh Whannell who acted in one of the main character in this film. The first movie has less torturing scene compare to the others movies, but instead more freaky and scary which shows how's human being be when they are on fear.

A success of this first movie has lead the chain goes further till SAW 3D & makes James Wan won a few best director in a few awards. Bravo to our Malaysian director :)

Dead Silence

Released Year: 2007
Directed by James Wan

Casted by:
Ryan Kwanten as Jamie Ashen
Judith Roberts as Mary Shaw
Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Jim Lipton
Amber Valletta as Ella Ashen
Bob Gunton as Edward Ashen
Story:

Jamie Ashen and his wife, Lisa, receive a mysterious ventriloquist doll in the mail, 'Billy', in an unmarked package with no return address. Jamie and Lisa wonder who would have sent the doll. Lisa then remembers a poem she knew when she was younger, about a woman named Mary Shaw. Jamie disregards this and leaves to get dinner; Jamie returns to discover Lisa is dead with her tongue ripped out, and Billy is lying on the floor near her body. Detective Jim Lipton suspects Jamie of the murder, but there is no evidence against him. Jamie returns to his apartment and discovers that Billy belonged to Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist from his hometown of Ravens Fair.

Returning to the town for Lisa's funeral, he first confronts his estranged father about Mary Shaw. Jamie's father has suffered a stroke and is now wheel-chair bound, and he has a new wife, Ella, who takes care of him. His father and Ella remind him of the children's poem regarding Shaw and her penchant for cutting out her victims' tongues. "Beware the stare of Mary Shaw, she had no children – only dolls; and if you see her in your dreams, be sure you never, ever scream." Jamie leaves his fathers home, warning Ella that his father is a monster. After Lisa's funeral, Jamie wanders into an old cemetery where he finds Shaw's grave and those of her puppets. Marion, the mortician's senile wife, warns him of the danger of Shaw's puppets, and he realizes he should rebury Billy the Puppet. He does so, only to find the puppet in his room later in the night, accompanied by Lipton, still not convinced of Jamie's innocence. Jamie tells him about the poem, but Lipton is skeptical. The next morning, Jamie steals Billy from the detective, and he brings him to the mortician, Henry, who finally tells him about Mary Shaw.

Shaw was a famous ventriloquist whose ambition was to make the perfect puppet. One night at a performance, a young boy named Michael heckled her, claiming that he could see Mary's lips moving. Mary quickly rebuffed this by presenting herself and Billy talking at the same time, and impressed the entire audience. Michael went missing shortly after. While his body was never found, Shaw was blamed, and the Ashen clan murdered her by cutting her tongue out. Her final wish was to turn her body into a ventriloquist's puppet and to be buried with her 101 puppets. Henry, at a very young age, wandered into his fathers mortuary and accidentally knocked the coffin over. Shaw's body came to life and she began approaching Henry. He survived because he covered his mouth to keep from screaming; Mary can only kill her victims when they scream. Henry's father then burst into the room, and discovered Henry cowering in the corner and Shaw's body on the floor. Mary Shaw's 100 puppets. Note the Billy puppet from Saw at the bottom.

Jamie investigates the theater and finds Shaw's dressing room. He discovers an old book with plans to make the perfect puppet. Jamie confronts his father later in the night and learns that the missing boy was his great-uncle. His father tells him that the boy's family murdered Shaw by forcing her to scream and then ripped out her tongue. The men involved were then killed off one by one, found with their tongues ripped out. Their wives, children, and children's children all suffered the same fate. His father then tells him Shaw will come back for himself and Jamie as well. Lipton then arrives and tells Jamie that Shaw's grave has been exhumed and that all of her puppets are missing. Jamie then receives a phone call from Henry, telling him to go to the theater. With the detective following close behind, Jamie returns to the theater and Shaw's living quarters. Discovering a hidden back room that Jamie didn't locate the first time, they find the body of Michael Ashen, strung up like a marionette, and 100 of Shaw's puppets placed in cases on the wall. Mary Shaw did kill the little boy. Suddenly, one of the dolls begins talking to them. The doll, possessed by Shaw, tells them she wants to silence those who silenced her, and that she killed Lisa because she was pregnant.

Shaw herself appears behind the doll but Lipton shoots the doll and she disappears. She then begins materializing via the other dolls. After setting the room on fire, they run from the theater with Shaw's ghost chasing them. When the catwalk in which they are running collapses, Shaw kills Lipton in mid-fall after he screams. Jamie, however, continues to climb upward on the collapsed catwalk, only to be greeted by Mary Shaw when he reaches the top. He falls through the floor of the theater and lands in the lake on which the theater was built. Grabbing the fallen flashlight, he makes his escape. The theater burns down, destroying all of Shaw's dolls and puts an end to her reign of terror.

After he drives away, Jamie realizes that Billy is the only remaining puppet, and that the only way to get rid of Shaw is to destroy him. He goes to Henry, with who he had left Billy, only to discover that he is dead with his tongue ripped out. After his wife tells Jamie that his father took the doll, he returns to his father's house to destroy Billy. When he arrives, Mary Shaw reappears, but is forced to retreat when Jamie throws Billy into the fireplace. As she is forced back into the shadows, Jamie finds his father sitting in his wheelchair, staring blankly into space. As he approaches him, Jamie is horrified as he discovers his father is dead with his entire back hollowed out and replaced with a wooden shaft used in ventriloquist dummies. Jamie realizes his father had been wearing the same suit the entire time, and Ella had been at his side the entire time with her hand behind his back. He realizes that Ella is the perfect puppet that Shaw strove to make and has been using the elder Ashen's corpse as a puppet to lure Jamie. Ella heckles Jamie and reveals herself as the ghostly Mary Shaw in disguise. Jamie screams and Mary Shaw takes his tongue, killing him. The film ends with the poem being recited as Shaw is looking through a scrap book with the pictures of her recent victims turned into dolls.

L² Scored: 6/10

L² Comment:

Directed by a Malaysia born chinese Australian, James Wan, he has definitely hit his name in the US entertainment industry. The trailer was not bad but the movie line is a bit slow, and it has been withdraw from most of the cinemas in US at that time after 16 days. Quite sad huh?

But anyway, puppet and clown is always the things which i scare the most. So, this movie works for me then~ lol