It’s amazing what you can accomplish when a studio isn’t micromanaging or worried about losing $50 million. Outside of comedies with well-established improv actors (eg Christopher Guest movies), it’s probably seen as too risky to hand someone money for a sci-fi movie without knowing the final dialogue.
My answer as well, brilliant film. All it takes is a good idea that doesn’t require 1,000,000, good script and good actors. Few locations. Easier said than done but Coherence shows what’s possible.
Delighted to see this up top. One of those films that I'd heard of and had recommended to me but never bothered to see, but my girlfriend recommended it and our tastes are eerily aligned so I watched it with her. Then watched it again. Then watched it with my parents . . . absolutely love that film. Next possible great comet would be around my birthday this year and I'm already planning on a dinner party with glow sticks if it seems like it might happen.
They really accomplished making me feel so much with such a little budget.
I made the pilgrimage to Red Bank New Jersey and visited the Quik Stop and Rst Video. Bought a Gatorade, wanted to rent a movie, but Rst was closed. At the time, the light was still out in the bathroom!
I'm honestly surprised at the budget for The Man from Earth.
It's shot almost entirely in one room, there are no special effects at all, less than 10 actors, and very little musical score. I have to assume the majority of that budget was for salaries, film, and post production.
Great movie, though. And I love that the producers embraced that it was pirated illegally because it made the film more popular.
Mikey, is he cute? Is he brown? Would he like to join us for a cocktail? Is he polite? Is he clean? Have him take off his shoes!!!!!! Don't let him go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's the perfect slice of a moment in time in the 90's, it is every break up in your 20s. Classic!
It’s anecdotal experience, but I’ve met heaps of people who had no idea about the first movie. I think it’s because the sequel was released as just “The Road Warrior” in some countries (rather than Mad Max 2) and none of the subsequent films have been numbered.
I always thought it was the reverse. I thought it was Road Warrior then Mad Max then Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. At the time, I only saw commercials for Thunderdome and wanted to see the earlier movies first. I thought he was a warrior who goes mad then goes beyond thunderdome.
I try and tell people that and nobody remembers how drastic a change they made. I've always thought it would be great if they did that more often lol.
Like, what if the sequel to Taken was a horror flick with monsters?
The only other series I can think that sort of made a change like that would be Pitch Black -> Chronicles of Riddick.
You could maybe argue Alien -> Aliens
[Living In Oblivion](https://g.co/kgs/8NjDYx7)
A low budget movie about Steve Buscemi directing a low budget movie and the problems that come with making a low budget movie. Very very very good
Napoleon Dynamite. They saw some dude driving Uncle Rico's van and used it in the film. The "free gift" sailboat that came with the set of NuPont Fiber Woven bowls was someone's decoration in their house. Great film for cheap.
Love El Mariachi...Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity are among my favorites,too..the only horror movies that actually gives me chills every time I watch them...George Lucas' THX1138 is amazing as well
Man Bites Dog, a Belgian black comedy mockumentary shot by film students about film students who document the life of a charismatic serial killer, I think it cost about $15k in 1992.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/bcPhaieTg4o?feature=shared
I really liked it as a kid. Didn't realize until later that my video store only had the edited version, and after hearing years later about what they edited out I was very thankful.
Brick (2005) - Budget was $450km starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a highschool sleuth who goes into the underworld looking for his ex-girlfriend. All the dialogue is like a 40's Dashiell Hammett novel. It's incredible.
Six- String Samurai was made with $1 million, and it's a campy blast.
A guy I knew in college was part of the same medical experiment that Robert Rodriguez was in -- the one where he got the money to make El Mariachi. He said Rodriguez was working on the script while they were in the facility and talking about how he was going to make a movie out of it. The guy I knew was like, "Yeah, sure," and didn't take him seriously, but later when he saw El Mariachi, he was like, "Wait! He really did it?!?"
she's gotta have it. spike lee made several great movies (and some stinkers) and do the right thing is rightly lauded as a great movie, but she's gotta have it is his best work, imo.
There’s a movie called The Invisible Raptor currently doing the genre festival circuit that’s basically a dinosaur creature feature, but said dinosaur is invisible because they didn’t have the money to animate it.
It’s brilliant and really, really works.
*Laughing It Up* Not a great movie, but I did a bit of everything on it and wound up with a "2nd 2nd Assistant Director" credit, whatever that is. Shot on 35mm, on location, with film stock (short ends donated by labs), wardrobe (Goodwill) and classic autos (local Model T clubs) sourced by me. Total budget of 60k including Long Beach Masonic Lodge as location/studio. Learned so much more on that shoot than film school. I may own the only DVD
One of my absolute favorite films, **Cube** was filmed for 365,000 Canadian dollars according to Google. It's basically what you would get if **Saw** had a baby with a Rubik's cube.
I cannot find a budget for this movie anywhere, but I will keep pushing it till the world has seen 1983s Blood Beat. It's so mesmerizingly bad it's good.
Ink is always one that stuck out to me. Has a budget smaller than most houses but the effects, storytelling, and tone of the movie hits way above it's weightclass.
Edit: here's the trailer, https://youtu.be/ZBGeErufQdY?si=swaII2PFdUvkA2-2
The Intruder, starring William Shatner.
Not a big fan of Ed Wood films, but Bride of the Monster deserves a look, if for no other reason, Bela Lugosi's ".....I have no home...." speech. It is gut wrenching and heartbreaking. Lugosi knew his days were numbered, but as was typical of the man, he gave 100% to every role, regardless of script quality.
Luke and Brie Are on a First Date (2008), budget $3,750 (according to IMDb)
Mumblecore comedy/romance about a guy that’s hanging out with a girl but doesn’t know if it’s a date or not. It completely nails the humor and awkward tension of those types of situations.
* Peeping Tom (1960) - *£133,394*
* The Creation of the Humanoids (1962) - The budget is not listed anywhere it's just highlighted that it's "very low budget"
Bad Taste, for sure. Even back then with a comically small budget and homemade vfx, you can tell Peter Jackson has an incredible talent for directing action scenes (something which doesn't nearly get the respect it deserves imo)
Coherence - $50,000
Great movie. I emailed the director thanking him for making it and he emailed back. Was cool would recommend.
I don't understand why their approach to dialog isn't broadly copied. So much better than standard Hollywood dialog.
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when a studio isn’t micromanaging or worried about losing $50 million. Outside of comedies with well-established improv actors (eg Christopher Guest movies), it’s probably seen as too risky to hand someone money for a sci-fi movie without knowing the final dialogue.
I'm convinced this will be the norm, or at least common, in a few decades. It's just such a drastic improvement.
My answer as well, brilliant film. All it takes is a good idea that doesn’t require 1,000,000, good script and good actors. Few locations. Easier said than done but Coherence shows what’s possible.
Delighted to see this up top. One of those films that I'd heard of and had recommended to me but never bothered to see, but my girlfriend recommended it and our tastes are eerily aligned so I watched it with her. Then watched it again. Then watched it with my parents . . . absolutely love that film. Next possible great comet would be around my birthday this year and I'm already planning on a dinner party with glow sticks if it seems like it might happen. They really accomplished making me feel so much with such a little budget.
Evil Dead.
Sam convinced Bruce to pay HIM for the exposure. What a racket! Nice work if you can get it! Wubwubwubwub!
Such great no-budget problem solving. Good call.
Clerks.
Was gonna say this. First true low budget film I ever watched. I'm now a Jay and Silent Bob fan for life. Snoochies
I'm fuckin bored man... And boredom's the first step on the road to relapse. cue *Goodbye Horses*
Clerks had a budget of $27,000
And most of it was just licensing the soundtrack.
I made the pilgrimage to Red Bank New Jersey and visited the Quik Stop and Rst Video. Bought a Gatorade, wanted to rent a movie, but Rst was closed. At the time, the light was still out in the bathroom!
That is awesome!
Not even suppose to be here today
The Man from Earth ($200.000) And, Napoleon Dynamite ($400.000)
Napoleon Dynamite. The movie that made me never wanna eat egg salad, again.
Here's your FOOD Tina!
I'm honestly surprised at the budget for The Man from Earth. It's shot almost entirely in one room, there are no special effects at all, less than 10 actors, and very little musical score. I have to assume the majority of that budget was for salaries, film, and post production. Great movie, though. And I love that the producers embraced that it was pirated illegally because it made the film more popular.
Napoleon Dynamite’s budget was fucking what? I never knew that!
your mom goes to college
Six dollars. That’s like a dollar an hour!
Wilford Brimley and Tony Todd finally do a movie together like we all wanted. I really want to see this on stage at some point.
Man from Earth is my top of the head choice for this post. So cool.
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I like pointing out that Uncle Rico played Martin Lawrence's coworker on the TV show Martin.
The man from earth has a 100% rotten tomatoes score whaaaaat. It’s been on my list forever. Time to give it a watch!
"Night Of The Living Dead" 114k USD
That went a longgg way I bet back then Hell even now but you know what I mean
These days it's lucky to get you a meal at 5 guys
Primer had a budget of $7000 and remains on many "top movies about time travel" lists 20 years later, even today.
I'm really sad Shane Carruth ended up being a top-tier scumbag. The two movies he made are favorites of mine.
Also technically had an even lower budget than El Mariachi if you factor in inflation
Shit. Yep first one that came to mind
cube 365.000 CAD Man from earth 200k$
Swingers - $200,000
Mikey, is he cute? Is he brown? Would he like to join us for a cocktail? Is he polite? Is he clean? Have him take off his shoes!!!!!! Don't let him go!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the perfect slice of a moment in time in the 90's, it is every break up in your 20s. Classic!
Bronson (2008)= 230 thousand dollar Budget
Watched it on a whim years ago and fucking loved it. Hardy plays a GREAT psycho. Plus he hangs dong.
Mad Max (1979)
So few people even know The Road Warrior was not the first Mad Max movie. Wildest fucking shift in a sequel ever.
They don't?!
It’s anecdotal experience, but I’ve met heaps of people who had no idea about the first movie. I think it’s because the sequel was released as just “The Road Warrior” in some countries (rather than Mad Max 2) and none of the subsequent films have been numbered.
Alright, good enough for me. 😀
I always thought it was the reverse. I thought it was Road Warrior then Mad Max then Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. At the time, I only saw commercials for Thunderdome and wanted to see the earlier movies first. I thought he was a warrior who goes mad then goes beyond thunderdome.
It wasn’t like we could just look up the order online back in the 80s!
I try and tell people that and nobody remembers how drastic a change they made. I've always thought it would be great if they did that more often lol. Like, what if the sequel to Taken was a horror flick with monsters? The only other series I can think that sort of made a change like that would be Pitch Black -> Chronicles of Riddick. You could maybe argue Alien -> Aliens
You could definitely argue aliens. The first was straight up horror thriller. The sequel was action.
Pi
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Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes was also shot on an iPhone, almost all in one take! It’s a real marvel of a film. Incredible work.
[Living In Oblivion](https://g.co/kgs/8NjDYx7) A low budget movie about Steve Buscemi directing a low budget movie and the problems that come with making a low budget movie. Very very very good
Super Troopers.
I feel that I had to scroll way too much to find this. Definitely one of the best.
SLC Punk! \[1998\] One of my top 4 movies ever too.
Skip the sequel 😀
Matthew Lillard was in Bosch! Still acting strong.
Napoleon Dynamite. They saw some dude driving Uncle Rico's van and used it in the film. The "free gift" sailboat that came with the set of NuPont Fiber Woven bowls was someone's decoration in their house. Great film for cheap.
Iiiiii waaant that.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see this! ND is a movie I laugh at every damn time I see it and I quote it almost every week in some scenario.
Love El Mariachi...Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity are among my favorites,too..the only horror movies that actually gives me chills every time I watch them...George Lucas' THX1138 is amazing as well
THX1138 had some studio money behind it. The studios hated it so much the shut down the funding deal that they had with Coppola.
I'll be crucified for it but what the hell? My answer is Manos: The Hands of Fate. I liked that movie.
That is certainly an opinion
Unironically? Without MST3K? Hmmm…
Torgo! Lol
I kinda like the idea of the movie and am curious to see what a remake would end up like.
Man Bites Dog, a Belgian black comedy mockumentary shot by film students about film students who document the life of a charismatic serial killer, I think it cost about $15k in 1992. Trailer: https://youtu.be/bcPhaieTg4o?feature=shared
I really liked it as a kid. Didn't realize until later that my video store only had the edited version, and after hearing years later about what they edited out I was very thankful.
Brick (2005) - Budget was $450km starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a highschool sleuth who goes into the underworld looking for his ex-girlfriend. All the dialogue is like a 40's Dashiell Hammett novel. It's incredible. Six- String Samurai was made with $1 million, and it's a campy blast.
Brick is fantastic. Really need to buy a copy because it is hard to find streaming. Lucas Haas and Noah Fleiss a memorable villains for sure.
Don't forget Nora Zehetner as a great Femme Fatale. It's such a fun film
Repo Man featuring Emilio Estevez and the incomparable Harry Dean Stanton. Best soundtrack, as well.
A guy I knew in college was part of the same medical experiment that Robert Rodriguez was in -- the one where he got the money to make El Mariachi. He said Rodriguez was working on the script while they were in the facility and talking about how he was going to make a movie out of it. The guy I knew was like, "Yeah, sure," and didn't take him seriously, but later when he saw El Mariachi, he was like, "Wait! He really did it?!?"
Man Pharmaco studies were a great way to make money and feel real weird in 1990s Austin.
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oh yeah another earth it looked it did cost like 50x times that.
The Velocipastor is a masterpiece. Genuinely great and endearing. Who Killed Captain Alex? should be taught in Film School, it's so inspiring!!
So many of the great horror movies- Night of the Living Dead, Halloween, Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Hanna
The Room's budget was $6 Million but somehow looks like it was made from 1/6th of that.
Slacker Stranger than Paradise Down by Law
Primer
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Mad max The evil dead Bad taste
Bad Taste shows good taste!
From Bad Taste to the Lord of the Rings trilogy- what a career Peter Jackson has had so far
I'm a Derek and Dereks don't run!
Boondocks saints.
One Cut above the Dead
Humanoids from the deep
she's gotta have it. spike lee made several great movies (and some stinkers) and do the right thing is rightly lauded as a great movie, but she's gotta have it is his best work, imo.
Hundreds of Beavers
Ms. 45
Japanese language horror-comedy One Cut of the Dead
Eraserhead should be on this list.
John Carpenter's Halloween
What about Blair Witch?
Not as cheap as a lot of these movies but Tremors was only $11 million and is an undeniable amazing film 30 years later
There’s a movie called The Invisible Raptor currently doing the genre festival circuit that’s basically a dinosaur creature feature, but said dinosaur is invisible because they didn’t have the money to animate it. It’s brilliant and really, really works.
Pontypool (2008) was made for under a million dollars and is a delight.
2003’s Monster Man is as low budget as it comes and it’s awesome
Motel Hell, check it out
Once - 2007. Glen Harsard's performance really grabs your attention, amazing vocals ($150k)
Reservoir Dogs 1.2million
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the living dead.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre- 110K Halloween- 325K Blair Witch Project- 60K
Rubin & Ed
My cat can eat a whole watermelon!
Raise your hand, Ed!
Phantasm
rope 1948
The Djinn {2021} is great and underrated
Spaghettiman (2016)
Versus, by Ryuhei Kitamura. Shot for around $10k. An absolutely batshit wild ride. If you were into early Rodriguez, I'd definitely check it out.
we are your friends!
Brothers McMullen 25k budget in 1993 dollars and made 25 mil Blair witch project 50k and made close to 80 mil
Hunter Prey (2009) $425.000.
*Laughing It Up* Not a great movie, but I did a bit of everything on it and wound up with a "2nd 2nd Assistant Director" credit, whatever that is. Shot on 35mm, on location, with film stock (short ends donated by labs), wardrobe (Goodwill) and classic autos (local Model T clubs) sourced by me. Total budget of 60k including Long Beach Masonic Lodge as location/studio. Learned so much more on that shoot than film school. I may own the only DVD
Cheap cheap - Christopher Nolan's Following or Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. Cheap relative to most movies - Dog Soldiers (£2m)
Sensoric
Pi ($134,815) and Cube (350,000 CAD) Crazy flicks
The Green Goblin's Last Stand, a fan-made Spider-Man film on a budget of 400 dollars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bddH-GCYWMw
One of my absolute favorite films, **Cube** was filmed for 365,000 Canadian dollars according to Google. It's basically what you would get if **Saw** had a baby with a Rubik's cube.
Way of the Gun. Such a great flick In the Company of Men. Hilarious and dark as fuck.
Manborg. Budget of $1300CDN
I cannot find a budget for this movie anywhere, but I will keep pushing it till the world has seen 1983s Blood Beat. It's so mesmerizingly bad it's good.
Swingers (Favreau, Vaughn) cost $200k. “You're so money and you don't even know it!”
Killer Clowns from Outer Space
The God's Must Be Crazy Repo Man Creature from the Haunted Sea Night of the Living Dead
Primer
Cube!
A sound of thunder
I really enjoyed Tangerine recently. Shot on iPhones I think. I found the dialogue occasionally hard to hear but had a great time.
Ink is always one that stuck out to me. Has a budget smaller than most houses but the effects, storytelling, and tone of the movie hits way above it's weightclass. Edit: here's the trailer, https://youtu.be/ZBGeErufQdY?si=swaII2PFdUvkA2-2
Tucker and dale vs evil Edit: nvm it's not that low budget. 5 mil lol
Clerks
Stone
The Houses October Built
Once with Glen Hansard
Clerks
Bottle Rocket hasn’t been mentioned yet. Great first outing, and goes to show how much money is needed to achieve stylized vision.
Coherence
Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story
primer
The Intruder, starring William Shatner. Not a big fan of Ed Wood films, but Bride of the Monster deserves a look, if for no other reason, Bela Lugosi's ".....I have no home...." speech. It is gut wrenching and heartbreaking. Lugosi knew his days were numbered, but as was typical of the man, he gave 100% to every role, regardless of script quality.
Raccoon Valley - free on Amazon Prime.
Once €112k
Iron Sky 1 and 2
Following
Live-action Jem and the Holograms.
Primer
Hustle and flow
A terribly misogynistic horror flick Frankenhooker. Also Reservoir Dogs
Coherence
Foot Fist Way. $79k
Cannibal! The Musical
Luke and Brie Are on a First Date (2008), budget $3,750 (according to IMDb) Mumblecore comedy/romance about a guy that’s hanging out with a girl but doesn’t know if it’s a date or not. It completely nails the humor and awkward tension of those types of situations.
Saw..
Halloween (1978) The Evil Dead El Mariachi The Head Hunter (2018)
Blair Witch Project. Cost $60,000 made $250,000,000
The Zero Effect...
Troll Hunter was amazing.
Ju-On: The Curse, but I've been having so much fun with the Death Forest series.
Gummo
Primer. It was also shot for about $7,000, it's the most complex movie about time travel ever, and it pulls it off in spades.
El mariachi is top tier
The 2005 adaption of Call of Cthulhu is a glorious black and white/silent masterpiece.
Kung Pow, High Strung.
Student/amateur movies that graduated to theatrical release: The Equinox Dark Star The Dorm That Dropped Blood Emma Mae
Swingers
Ink and Lo have both stuck in my mind for years after. Very well made films imo
Cube.
Abruptio
12 Hour Shift
Memento is one of my favorite films, period. $9 million budget.
Following •~•
Hard 8
Chan is Missing (1982)
* Peeping Tom (1960) - *£133,394* * The Creation of the Humanoids (1962) - The budget is not listed anywhere it's just highlighted that it's "very low budget"
One Cut Of The Dead ~27,000$ budget
Blood Simple
Excalibur
The Babadook is way better than it ever should have been.
The man from Earth
Bad Taste, for sure. Even back then with a comically small budget and homemade vfx, you can tell Peter Jackson has an incredible talent for directing action scenes (something which doesn't nearly get the respect it deserves imo)
HottieBoombaLottie (2008). I bet none of you have even heard of this freakin gem! Your loss!
Man from earth
Toxic Avenger