‘Insidious’ becomes a scary hit for the ‘Saw’ guys

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Australian filmmaker James Wan and his collaborator, screenwriter and actor Leigh Whannell, were flying high back in 2004, when their low-budget horror flick ‘Saw’ become a box office sensation and began spawning annual entries into the horror-torture film derby. Unfortunately, their big studio follow-up, ‘Dead Silence,’ proved a dud commercially and critically.

This weekend, the duo came roaring back with the success of their ghostly thriller ‘Insidious,’ which returned them to their low-budget roots (it cost roughly $1.5 million to produce) and raked in more than $13 million at the box office in its first weekend. So will we be seeing ‘Insidious’ sequels every year? It’s too soon to say, but Wan and Whannell did talk about the origins of this film in a Q&A on Hero Complex. The team discussed everything from their ghostly actor in drag to their red-faced demon who likes to wear lipstick. For those who haven’t seen ‘Insidious’ yet, beware: There are a few minor spoilers there.

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— Patrick Kevin Day