The Saw franchise is getting ready to play another game and Lionsgate has found its director in Mike P. Nelson, the filmmaker behind the upcoming Beware Boiúna.
The new installment also marks James Wan’s return to the billion-dollar horror franchise he helped create, with the filmmaker producing through Blumhouse Atomic Monster alongside Jason Blum and original Saw co-writer Leigh Whannell.
That combination makes this next chapter particularly exciting. Wan and Whannell know the DNA of Saw better than anyone, while Nelson has spent a good chunk of his career playing around with bloody genre material.
The screenplay comes from Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock, whose credits include Below and Dune: Prophecy.
Wan directed and co-wrote the original Saw with Whannell, turning a savage little horror concept into one of the biggest genre franchises of the past two decades.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson is particularly excited about bringing Nelson into the fold: “It speaks volumes that James Wan is passionate about returning to this franchise, and his belief in Mike evokes his own breakthrough with the original Saw.
“Mike is one of the promising voices shaping the next generation of horror. He has a singular vision for this film, and we’re incredibly confident in what he’ll deliver.”
Wan also explained why Nelson felt like the right filmmaker to take on the new movie: “Making the original Saw was a defining experience for me, so it was essential to find a director who would honor that world.
“Mike has a raw, distinctive filmmaking voice with an inventive approach to the genre, and I believe he’ll bring something truly unique and special to the franchise.”
Nelson sounds more than ready to get bloody with it. He teased a movie that will reconnect with the mystery of the original while finding some new and twisted ways to put people through hell.
“Being asked to play in this twisted sandbox with James is nothing short of a dream come true. Greg and Geoff and James have crafted such a wild script that brings the mystery of the original while exploring new insane bloody ideas that meld so well with the brutal moral compass of the franchise. Let the games begin!”
Nelson has plenty of horror experience to bring to Saw. He directed the recent Silent Night, Deadly Night revamp, Wrong Turn, the “No Wake” segment of V/H/S 85, and the short film Sweet Revenge, which brought Jason Voorhees back to life.
Before he enters Jigsaw’s world, Nelson has Beware Boiúna arriving in theaters October 2. The action horror thriller takes audiences into the Amazon rainforest, where a team of doctors on a local mission encounters the Boiúna, a dangerous animal predator that isn’t particularly thrilled about their arrival.
As for Saw, the franchise has come a ridiculously long way since the original movie debuted in the Midnight section of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It has since grown into a 10-film theatrical horror series with one continuous mythology, without rebooting, remaking, or resetting its canon.
Now the franchise is circling back to one of the filmmakers responsible for creating the whole bloody machine, and the creative team that understands what made the franchise work while looking for new ways to make audiences squirm.
Source: Deadline
