Leigh Whannell

Writing

Leigh Whannell

Born 1977-01-17 · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Leigh Whannell (/ˈli ˈwɑːnɛl/; born 17 January 1977) is an Australian filmmaker and actor. He has written multiple films that were directed by his friend James Wan, including Saw (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Insidious (2010), and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). Whannell made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) and has since directed three more films, Upgrade (2018), The Invisible Man (2020) and Wolf Man (2025). Whannell and Wan are the creators of the Saw franchise. Whannell wrote the first installment, co-wrote the second and third installments, was the producer or executive producer for all the films, and appeared as the Adam Stanheight character in three of the installments. He was also the writer of the Saw video game (2009) and co-writer of the film Cooties (2014). Description above from the Wikipedia article Leigh Whannell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Insidious poster
7.0

A family discovers that dark spirits have invaded their home after their son inexplicably falls into an endless sleep. When they reach out to a professional for help, they learn things are a lot more personal than they thought.

Insidious

2011

Insidious: The Last Key poster
6.3

Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.

Insidious: The Last Key

2018

Insidious: The Red Door poster
6.5

To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh Lambert and a college-aged Dalton Lambert must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family's dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.

Insidious: The Red Door

2023

Insidious: Chapter 3 poster
6.3

A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.

Insidious: Chapter 3

2015

Insidious: Chapter 2 poster
6.7

The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

Insidious: Chapter 2

2013

Aquaman poster
6.9

Half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry is taken on the journey of his lifetime to discover if he is worth of being a king.

Aquaman

2018

The Matrix Reloaded poster
7.1

The Resistance builds in numbers as humans are freed from the Matrix and brought to the city of Zion. Neo discovers his superpowers, including the ability to see the code inside the Matrix. With machine sentinels digging to Zion in 72 hours, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must find the Keymaker to ultimately reach the Source.

The Matrix Reloaded

2003

Saw poster
7.4

Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.

Saw

2004

Wolf Man poster
6.1

With his marriage fraying, Blake persuades his wife Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit his remote childhood home in rural Oregon. As they arrive at the farmhouse in the dead of night, they're attacked by an unseen animal and barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. But as the night stretches on, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable.

Wolf Man

2025

Saw II poster
6.6

The chilling and relentless Jigsaw killer returns to terrorize the city once again. When a gruesome murder victim emerges with unmistakable traces of Jigsaw's sinister methods, Detective Eric Matthews is thrust into a high-stakes investigation. To his surprise, apprehending Jigsaw seems almost too easy, but what he doesn't realize is that being caught is merely another piece of Jigsaw's intricate puzzle.

Saw II

2005

Saw III poster
6.4

Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detectives scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.

Saw III

2006

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole poster
6.8

When a young owl is abducted by an evil Owl army, he must escape with new-found friends and seek the legendary Guardians to stop the menace.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

2010

Saw 3D poster
6.0

As a deadly battle rages over Jigsaw's brutal legacy, a group of Jigsaw survivors gathers to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.

Saw 3D

2010

Cooties poster
5.9

A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.

Cooties

2014

Death Sentence poster
6.8

Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.

Death Sentence

2007

The Bye Bye Man poster
5.2

When three college students move into an old house off campus, they unwittingly unleash a supernatural entity known as The Bye Bye Man, who comes to prey upon them once they discover his name. The friends must try to save each other, all the while keeping The Bye Bye Man's existence a secret to save others from the same deadly fate.

The Bye Bye Man

2017

The Mule poster
6.3

In 1983, a naive man is detained by Australian Federal Police with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach. After being apprehended, ‘The Mule’ makes a desperate choice... to defy his bodily functions and withhold the evidence – literally.

The Mule

2014

78/52 poster
7.1

The most famous murder scene in movie history comprises 78 camera settings and 52 cuts: the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. 78/52 tells the story of the man behind the curtain and his greatest obsession.

78/52

2017

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film poster
6.8

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, Nightmare on Elm Street revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when Scream brings humor and TV stars into the mix.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

2006

Crush poster
6.0

A secret admirer's crush on a high school athlete takes a fatal turn.

Crush

2013

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies poster
NR

Dive into 60 minutes of blood, bravado and brilliant scares as we trace the evolution of horror cinema from Dracula (1931) to today.

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies

2025

Keep Watching poster
5.0

A family imprisoned by intruders is forced to play a terrifying game of "Kill, Or Be Killed". As the night unfolds, the game's mysterious rules become clear, and the family realizes their nightmare is being streamed live to riveted viewers all over the world, who are compelled to KEEP WATCHING... not knowing if what they're seeing is real, or staged.

Keep Watching

2017

Not Quite Hollywood poster
6.7

As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.

Not Quite Hollywood

2008

Saw poster
7.0

David, an orderly at a hospital, tells his horrific story of being kidnapped and forced to play a vile game of survival.

Saw

2003

Behind the camera

Insidious: Out of the Further poster
6.6

Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.

Insidious: Out of the Further

2026

Insidious poster
7.0

A family discovers that dark spirits have invaded their home after their son inexplicably falls into an endless sleep. When they reach out to a professional for help, they learn things are a lot more personal than they thought.

Insidious

2011

Insidious: The Last Key poster
6.3

Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.

Insidious: The Last Key

2018

Insidious: The Last Key poster
6.3

Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.

Insidious: The Last Key

2018

Insidious: The Red Door poster
6.5

To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh Lambert and a college-aged Dalton Lambert must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family's dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.

Insidious: The Red Door

2023

Insidious: Chapter 3 poster
6.3

A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.

Insidious: Chapter 3

2015

Insidious: Chapter 3 poster
6.3

A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.

Insidious: Chapter 3

2015

Insidious: Chapter 2 poster
6.7

The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

Insidious: Chapter 2

2013

Saw poster
7.4

Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.

Saw

2004

Upgrade poster
7.5

A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.

Upgrade

2018

Upgrade poster
7.5

A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.

Upgrade

2018

Dead Silence poster
6.5

Jamie returns to his hometown in search of answers to his wife's murder, which occurred after receiving a weird package containing a ventriloquist dummy named Billy, which may be linked to the legend of ventriloquist Mary Shaw. Destined to find out the truth, Jamie goes to the town of Raven's Fair, where Shaw used to perform and is buried. But Jamie is in for more than he expected.

Dead Silence

2007

The Invisible Man poster
7.1

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

The Invisible Man

2020

The Invisible Man poster
7.1

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

The Invisible Man

2020

Wolf Man poster
6.1

With his marriage fraying, Blake persuades his wife Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit his remote childhood home in rural Oregon. As they arrive at the farmhouse in the dead of night, they're attacked by an unseen animal and barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. But as the night stretches on, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable.

Wolf Man

2025

Wolf Man poster
6.1

With his marriage fraying, Blake persuades his wife Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit his remote childhood home in rural Oregon. As they arrive at the farmhouse in the dead of night, they're attacked by an unseen animal and barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. But as the night stretches on, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable.

Wolf Man

2025

Saw II poster
6.6

The chilling and relentless Jigsaw killer returns to terrorize the city once again. When a gruesome murder victim emerges with unmistakable traces of Jigsaw's sinister methods, Detective Eric Matthews is thrust into a high-stakes investigation. To his surprise, apprehending Jigsaw seems almost too easy, but what he doesn't realize is that being caught is merely another piece of Jigsaw's intricate puzzle.

Saw II

2005

Saw III poster
6.4

Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detectives scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.

Saw III

2006

Cooties poster
5.9

A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.

Cooties

2014

The Mule poster
6.3

In 1983, a naive man is detained by Australian Federal Police with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach. After being apprehended, ‘The Mule’ makes a desperate choice... to defy his bodily functions and withhold the evidence – literally.

The Mule

2014

Saw poster
7.0

David, an orderly at a hospital, tells his horrific story of being kidnapped and forced to play a vile game of survival.

Saw

2003

Doggie Heaven poster
5.1

The creative team behind the smash hit "Saw" films, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, tell the story of a young man who is having a dog of a day. Hes just been shot dead, but his real problems are only just beginning due to a clerical error that has sent him to the wrong heaven.

Doggie Heaven

2008

Untitled Saw Film poster
NR

Plot TBA.

Untitled Saw Film

No artwork available
NR

A newspaper publisher teams up with a martial arts expert to fight crime. A reboot based on the 1960 TV series.

The Green Hornet and Kato