‘Saw’ Filmmakers on 20 Years of Games, Twisty Timelines and Tobin Bell | Digital Cover

When you think of Sundance movies, you usually think of quirky, optimistic or melodramatic coming-of-age stories. Films like “Manchester by the Sea,” “CODA” or “The Big Sick.” But the movie that spawned the most successful franchise from its Sundance debut is none of those things. In January 2004, Sundance audiences were knocked on their collective butts by “Saw,” an out-of-nowhere horror flick from two unknown Australian filmmakers.

Director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell’s “Saw” offered a deceptively simple premise of two desperate men chained together in an empty room with little idea of how they got there or how to get out.