Despite his success with the Saw franchise and his rapid rise to the top of the chain in the world of horror cinema, Bousman couldn’t get a studio to finance the musical.īy 2008, Bousman decided he didn’t need the support of Lionsgate, the same studio that distributed Saw, and financed 90 percent of the musical himself, taking it on a cross-country trip and handing out flyers to college kids to get them to see the movie. The script got into the hands of Leigh Whannell and James Wan, who had become overnight celebrities in the horror world thanks to their film, Saw, and invited Bousman to direct the sequel.īousman would hang on to direct the second, third and fourth Saw films before handing it off to David Hackl, and although he loved working on the movies, there was always another pet project that he wanted to launch: a horror-musical set in a dystopian future based on a play he staged in both New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, director Darren Lynn Bousman sought to ride a wave of horror films focusing on grotesque, boundary pushing imagery with his script for what would become The Desperate.īousman tried to sell The Desperate to a couple of studios but was told his story was too grisly for a mainstream audience.

Whether that's the scariest movies you haven't seen yet or a look at a popular Treehouse of Horror episode, this is our tribute to the world of the strange, creepy and downright horrifying that exists within popular culture.

31, Polygon will publish 13 opinion pieces about different films, shows and specials that exemplify what Halloween means to us.

Welcome to Polygon's 13 Days of Halloween series! Between Oct.

Genetic rock opera