Scream fest Saw producer Hoffman is dead

Scream fest Saw producer Hoffman is dead

Gregg Hoffman, one of the key men behind the well-received Saw movies, died on Sunday aged 42. Hoffman had been complaining of neck-pain and was admitted to the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital where he passed away.

Hoffman's penchant for horror movies led him to discover an eight-minute short film made by Australian filmmakers Leigh Whannell and James Wan about a serial killer who deviously instigates his victims to kill each other. Confident that he was on to something, it didn't take him long to convince his Twisted Pictures' business partners Koules and Burg that making Saw as a full length feature would pay rich dividends.

Sure enough, Saw,which was released last year and cost just about $1million to make, not only fetched more than $102 million through DVD sales and box office revenue, but also set the stage for a sequel - Saw II. The sequel made on a budget of $4 million grossed $86 million at the box office within six weeks, earlier this year.

Hoffman's entry into the world of film-making happened in 1995 when he started working for Disney. He rose to be a senior vice president of production besides earning a mention as producer in the credits of the comic flick George of the Jungle in 1997.

In 2003, he joined Evolution Entertainment, the management and production company started by Koules and Burg. Later that year, the trio mobilised funding for Saw and launched Twisted Pictures to make low-budget scary movies.

The stupendous success garnered by the two Saw films won Twisted Pictures multi-picture development deals with Lions Gate and Dimension Films. Lions Gate had distributed both Saw and Saw II.

The third movie in the series Saw III and another horror film Crawlspace were in the pipeline when Hoffman died.

Hoffman's friends and colleagues have described him as a selfless, modest man driven by creative pursuits and a will to work collaboratively.

Hoffman leaves behind his wife Lucienne; two children Jared and Luke; his mother Stephanie; and his sister Tracy.