Saw II makes Melbourne lads millionaires

SAW II is set in a booby-trapped crack house with six victims locked inside.

A horror movie by two young Australians has hacked its way to the top of the US box office.

SAW II, made by Melbourne masters of horror Leigh Whannell and James Wan, scared up the big bucks at the North American box office over the Halloween weekend, raking in $US31.75 million ($NZ45.95 million).

A year ago Melbourne lads Whannell and Wan frightened the world with head-crushing bear traps and posed the question: To save your life would you saw off your leg?

It was so "demented", the Hollywood Reporter wondered if Whannell and Wan "might have well benefited from extensive therapy as children".

In SAW II, the villain, the cold-blooded Jigsaw, is back with more bizarre death traps, including forcing one of his victims, who is trapped in a putrid drug den, to jump into a pit full of thousands of syringes.

Early reviews for the sequel have been mixed - just what Whannell and Wan expect as they aim to earn an extreme reaction from moviegoers, good or bad.

"The film's energy is fuelled by fast-paced editing, overblown dialogue ('Oh, yes, there will be blood'), the multilayered guessing game (will anybody solve the riddle of how to get out of that house?) and the truly disgusting (hey, let's toss this ex-druggie woman into a big pile of used needles and syringes)," Atlanta-Journal Constitution critic Bob Longino wrote.

"SAW fans - and there are plenty - will be pleased."

SAW had a strong North American box office opening weekend in October last year, collecting more than $US18 million ($25.8 million) over the first three days.

Worldwide, it made $US103 million ($148 million). Add another $US100 million ($143 million) in DVD and video sales and that is a lot of cash for a film that cost only $US1 million ($1.4 million) to make.

SAW II cost $US4 million ($5.7 million) to shoot in Canada, but it is expected to make more than $US20 million ($28.7 million) from Friday through to Sunday.

Whannell and Wan, both graduates of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's media arts course, were struggling to make a living in Melbourne before US film company Evolution Entertainment agreed to shoot SAW in Los Angeles.

Whannell, who wrote and starred in SAW, and Wan, who directed it, made the decision of their lives when Evolution offered them a deal.

Instead of taking an upfront payment, the 28-year-olds opted to take a cut of the profits of SAW, including merchandising. It made them millionaires.

Whannell and Wan were originally not interested in making the SAW sequel, but with Evolution planning to make it without them, both came on board. Whannell co-wrote the SAW II script. Both he and Wan are executive producers.

Another young film-maker, Kansas-born 26-year-old Darren Lynn Bousman, directed SAW II and co-wrote it with Whannell.

"I think it equals the original with intensity and a good story," said Whannell.

SAW II is set in a booby-trapped crack house. Jigsaw has locked six victims in the house and lethal nerve gas is pumped into the building, giving the six a limited time to follow his instructions and escape alive.

The success of SAW has opened up plenty of doors in Hollywood for Whannell and Wan, who are now based in LA.

Their first big Hollywood studio film, the horror-thriller Silence, with Universal Pictures, just wrapped in Canada, with Whannell writing the script and Wan directing.

- AAP

* Saw II opens today.