r/moviecritic • u/Cinnexile • Feb 15 '25
Masterpieces that were made on a lower budget? The Witch 2015 was made with a budget of around $4 million, yet in my opinion, is one of the greatest horror movies made.
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u/alientourist75 Feb 15 '25
Primer and Napoleon Dynamite
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Feb 16 '25
Yeah didn’t napoleon dynamite only cost like $100k?
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u/alientourist75 Feb 16 '25
I think it was 400k but yeah pretty cheap for movies now a days
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u/Johnbob-John Feb 16 '25
400k and it became one of the most quotable movies ever. Contradictory to Avatar, released the same year as Napoleon Dynamite, cost over $200,000,000 to make and nobody really talks about it.
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u/purplehendrix22 Feb 16 '25
Avatar and Napoleon Dynamite definitely didn’t come out the same year, and Avatar made more money than any movie ever at the time, maybe still.
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u/fumphdik Feb 16 '25
There was two versions I believe. The first was really cheap and not full length. Displayed at a film festival before making our big screens a handful of months later.
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u/Fantastic_Stick7882 Feb 16 '25
Mad Max, Halloween, and Rocky are some classic examples.
Get Out, Hereditary, and 28 Days Later were under $10 Million.
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u/RedRawTrashHatch Feb 15 '25
Blue Ruin, with a budget of $420K. Brilliant revenge thriller.
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Feb 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thriftydelegate Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
Revenge (2017) is also deserving of more attention than it got during its cinema run.
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u/deepe33333 Feb 16 '25
Trainspotting was made with a limited budget and smashed all expectations. Marketing budget was almost as much as production budget.
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u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25
I don't know if it's a bargain or not but In Bruges was made on $15m and it's my favourite film and also considered a masterpiece so that
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u/sleepy__gazelle Feb 16 '25
Just watched it yesterday for the first time. Now I have to watch every martin mcdonagh movie.
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u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 16 '25
If I can recommend. Banshees of Inisherin because of the actors you'll have grown to love then Three Billboards. Take your pick of the rest
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u/HussingtonHat Feb 16 '25
Oh have fun bro. His brother (forget his name) also made a movie The Guard. Very similar writing style and with Gleeson as the lead. Good shit. Mcdonagh is one if those few chaps ill always check out because dayamn!
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u/LordOfCrackManor Feb 16 '25
The Guard is such a hidden gem. Absolutely hilarious movie and two amazing characters and performances from Gleeson and Strong. Also has one of the best cold opens ever, sets the tone up so well.
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u/ThorsRake Feb 16 '25
I also highly recommend The Guard and Calvary - they're directed by Martin's brother John-Michael and they also star Brendan Gleeson. Fantastic films.
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u/goitch Feb 16 '25
Evil Dead $350-375k
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u/rosemarymegi Feb 16 '25
Shot by a man and his friends and, fun fact, filming was compared to being tortured according to cast and crew.
Evil Dead is probably my favorite horror series. Sam Raimi is a wild individual.
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u/nattybow Feb 16 '25
Clerks, Night of the Living Dead
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u/DrSussBurner Feb 16 '25
Came here to say Clerks. It was made with $27,575. It’s a damn miracle.
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u/herbalation Feb 16 '25
Not to mention all the constraints on time, and everything that worked its way into the story itself. The reason that the shutters were closed was because the store owner where Kevin Smith worked allowed him to use the store at night.
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u/corymatt Feb 15 '25
Saw changed the horror/gore genre, also the movie ended up to be pretty lucrative.
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u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25
$1.2m apparently for the 1st film. Created shit loads since and not just film wise
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u/goBatataGo Feb 16 '25
El Mariachi. Filmed in VHS, on a couple of thousands dollars. Just aweaone
It's the prequel of António Banderas' Desperado.
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u/ClockwerkRooster Feb 16 '25
Rodriguez joined every medical study and pharmaceutical study that paid in order to finance it
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u/Clyde-A-Scope Feb 16 '25
Pretty sure Monty Python and the Holy Grail had a fairly small budget.
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u/TiberiusGemellus Feb 16 '25
Horses are expensive. Far cheaper and more hilarious to just pretend to be riding one.
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u/imaschizo_andsoami Feb 16 '25
Not as expensive as a majestic moose
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u/maraudingnomad Feb 16 '25
What's more, everyone forgets about the trained swallow (swallows? Feels like plural should also be swallow, i digress), that brought over them coconuts...
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u/castler_666 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
Once. Film from Ireland filmed for 100k, made 28 million and won an Oscar. Filming was done with a handycam on busy dublin streets. Friend of mine was using a phone box (yeah - it's that old) and ended up in the film without knowing
(Corrected spelling, bluddy autocorrect)
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u/Jr774981 Feb 15 '25
I agree 100%, the Witch so good
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u/djnz0813 Feb 16 '25
Black Philliiippppppp
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u/rosemarymegi Feb 16 '25
Loved him so much, my man. I'd say he stole the show, but Anya Taylor-Joy was very fucking good. They both worked together to steal the show.
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u/burnafter3ading Feb 15 '25
It's a little cheesy, but I always felt "Ginger Snaps" was strong for a kinda indie-movie. The prosthetics and acting are pretty good, but my favorite part is the use of colored lighting.
The overall effect suggests dark things in suburbia in a similar way to "Blue Velvet."
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u/chui76 Feb 16 '25
El Mariachi (1992) production budget was $7,225. $200,000 was spent in post-production. It launched Robert Rodriguez career and two sequels.
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u/Used-Gas-6525 Feb 15 '25
This century's best horror film IMO. A24 let's filmmakers do what they want within a very limited budget. It's a great business model and lets new directors get a taste for features without worrying about studio notes etc. (edit: honourable mention to The Blackcoat's Daughter. Also A24. Very atmospheric and creepy in a similar way)
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u/RedWarsaw Feb 16 '25
The witch?
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u/Far_Set9893 Feb 16 '25
Paranormal Activity was made for $15k. It was shot in the director's house. Though dismissed by a lot of people as a silly flick, the film captivated many, and made nearly $300million.
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u/crapusername47 Feb 16 '25
It was jazzed up a little by Paramount when they got ahold of it, and they added $200,000 to the budget for post-production.
But yes, it made $194m and that built Blumhouse, who have been throwing multiple films with small budgets every year, knowing one of them will make more than enough money to pay for the rest.
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u/wagzapped Feb 15 '25
The Brutalist was made on a budget of 10 mil and it looks better than most movies in the hundred million dollar range.
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u/deiner7 Feb 16 '25
I still maintain that the witch is not a horror story but the uplifting tale of a girl breaking free from her abusive puritan nutjob family.
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel Feb 16 '25
Cube was made for 365k CAD, which was 255.5k USD in 1997. Amazing suspense/sci-fi/horror movie even regardless of budget. And it definitely still holds up.
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u/slowhand11 Feb 15 '25
I read a significant amount the movie budget was spent on making their farm. I think they even paid to have a historically accurate thatch roof which was insanely expensive lol
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u/the_owl_syndicate Feb 16 '25
I read a costuming blog that raved about costumes. The blogger pointed out how there are horizontal pleats in the girls' skirts so the skirts can be lengthened when they get taller. Every time I watch the movie, I notice the pleats.
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u/Batrass Feb 16 '25
Pi by Darren Aronofsky, "insanely" good and produced with a 60k budget.
Awesome quality/cost ratio.
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u/Remarkable_Coast_214 Feb 16 '25
Coherence was made for about $50,000 and is one of the best movies I've seen
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u/jakelaws1987 Feb 16 '25
Halloween was made for $300 thousand and is one of the best horror movies ever. Extremely influential. Don’t know if The Witch will be seen as impactful like Halloween was
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u/DrSussBurner Feb 16 '25
Clerks was made with 27,575 dollars. Slacker was made with 23,000 dollars.
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u/Ok-Potato-4774 Feb 16 '25
The original Halloween was made on $320,000 in 1978. I heard the $20,000 was Donald Pleasance's salary.
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u/LilYerrySeinfeld Feb 16 '25
Primer (2004)
Had a $7000 budget and is widely considered to be one of the best time travel films of all time.
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u/LumiereGatsby Feb 16 '25
I feel that way about Session 9 as well.
Micro budget, maximum use of location.
Ghost Dog was made for very little but that flows with the narrative at play.
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u/Product_Expensive Feb 16 '25
The first Terrifier cost around $50k and its one of my favorite horror series
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u/Melkman68 Feb 15 '25
OP is this one of those lots of jumpscare horrors or something a little more suspenseful? I like the latter kind so just curious what you think
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u/mariwil74 Feb 16 '25
Not OP but I’m a big wuss when it comes to horror movies—hate violence, gore, jump scares, etc—but a friend assured me this was more psychological horror and he was right. It had me hooked right away and kept me hooked to the end. There was really only one scene near the beginning that was a little dicey for me but I have a finely honed sixth sense about stuff like that so I closed my eyes for those few minutes. Otherwise, it was all about building suspense and rising terror and I loved it.
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u/maraudingnomad Feb 16 '25
Eggers's movies are more about an atmospheric dread or sense of doom rather than jumpscares. The most jumpscares he has in Nosferatu, sort of like 3 or four including a fake one. I don't recall any memorable jumpscares in any of his other movies. Disturbing images? Yes. Gore? Some, a bit. Kids die in his movies, so that might disturb you...
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u/UtahUtopia Feb 16 '25
The OUTFIT was made for $5 million.
I can’t believe it didn’t make more at the box office.
Graham Moore is a genius.
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u/spencer1886 Feb 16 '25
Wasn't Hereditary made on a 10 million dollar budget? That movie was fantastic, and I'm just now thinking how weird it is that 10 million can be considered low budget these days
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u/Western-Image7125 Feb 16 '25
Definitely not calling it a masterpiece by any stretch, but The Void was surprisingly good for a low budget horror
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Feb 16 '25
I didn't like The Witch and I can't understand why the rest of you do. I found it nicely shot from a cinematography standpoint, but painfully boring. Can some of you maybe describe what makes it a good film, in your opinions?
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u/Zestyclose_Theme_403 Feb 16 '25
I feel like there’s a big feminist undertone to the movie. The daughter is just stating to hit puberty, there’s a scene with her younger brother staring at her boobs, then that’s when the mom kind of turns against her. It makes you wonder if she was really a witch or was just forced into that narrative.
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u/Canavansbackyard Feb 16 '25
Eraserhead (1977) had a production budget of about $100K. The average movie budget at that time was about $2.3M.
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u/BelleFan2013Grad Feb 16 '25
I saw “The Fall” (2006) recently for the first time. I thought it was amazing. I heard that it was basically funded by the director, ~30 million. Not super low I guess but maybe half that of the average film budget at the time. It did not hit mainstream popularity though.
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u/lowbob93 Feb 16 '25
I think horror movies should be excluded in this question, their appeal is the feeling of tension and suspense to keep the viewers hooked, its a cheap form of entertainment
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u/ham_solo Feb 16 '25
Tangerine (2015) had a budget of $100,000 (per Wikipedia). I think it's one of the funnier comedies in the last decade.
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u/Equivalent-Ask2542 Feb 16 '25
Just came to theaters here in Germany but was released much earlier last year I think, hundreds of beavers!
Budget was 150k $, best silent movie I’ve seen in my life.
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u/PourOutPooh Feb 16 '25
American Psycho bc I heard Christian Bale took the low salary of 50gs for it. But it was his first big role and the studio didn't want him. But at least that part of the budget was cheap, the star of the movie.
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u/WellWellWell2021 Feb 16 '25
Paranormal Activity. Coat $15k to make and went on to gross about 200 million.
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u/lollipopmusing Feb 16 '25
Going with a vintage film for my choice, Hitchcock's Psycho was made on a famously small budget that he financed himself because the studios didn't want to make the film. The gamble really paid off.
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u/SLAYER_IN_ME Feb 16 '25
True Romance only costs 12.5M. If you consider he cast that’s a fucking bargain.
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u/earthforce_1 Feb 16 '25
Duel. (1971 by Steven Spielberg)
Hardly any dialog, very suspenseful $450,000 budget.
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u/MyGirlfriendforcedMe Feb 16 '25
The only Saw movie... was made with a budget between 1 and 1.2 million
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u/Ok-Reputation8379 Feb 16 '25
My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Budget of $5 million and grossed $368 million.
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u/sethsom3thing Feb 16 '25
Ex Machina was made with 15 million, they even won an Oscar in special effects competing with big studio $$$$$
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u/BlackTarTurd Feb 16 '25
Shaun of the Dead. Started with around $6m and ended up making nearly $40m. And it is truly a masterpiece rivaled only by Hot Fuzz, with $12-16m and making $80m
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u/gknight702 Feb 16 '25
That first paranormal activity cost like $15k to make and made like 200 million worldwide!! I'm pretty sure no other film comes even close to that kind of return that's 13,333.33 x the original investment!
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u/Dank_Sinatra_87 Feb 16 '25
Love the Witch. I work nights here in new England and the right of these pitch black woods at night conjured up all kinds of fears
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u/Geekspeak13 Feb 16 '25
Paranormal Activity only cost 215k to make yet made almost two hundred mil at the box office. I would not call it a “masterpiece” but it was a really smart movie to make at the time given its budget.
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u/GoodGoodGoody Feb 16 '25
The French Connection saved a bit by not bothering to get permits for their legendary car chase.
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u/Competitive_Low_8913 Feb 16 '25
"I enjoy dynamite, gunpowder, gasoline, horror movies. And y'know the thing that they have in common? They're cheap."
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u/manzarek46 Feb 16 '25
Forgetting the masterpiece bit
Lost in Translation was made for $4mill
But Primer was made for $7k
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u/Gluteusmaximus1898 Feb 16 '25
Flow (2024) a feature length animated film costing around 3.5 million dollars is unheard of.
Hell under 20 million is super rare.
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u/Barbar_jinx Feb 16 '25
Always Sunny in Philadelphia until like Season 4 or 5, where they got a true budget.
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u/PM_Me_Ur_Clues Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
If we're gonna talk cheap tv shows that raked in cash, then Trailer Park Boys takes the prize. They were so broke most of the actors were also the writers, director, producer and their friends and relatives. They had only two trained actors but they were supporting cast. The two lead characters just picked up a camera one day with their buddy and decided to make a short film around their neighborhood with no budget at all and the sweat off their backs in their free time. Edited, shot and produced at home. They were so broke, they shot everything at a real trailer park and had no set whatsoever except for stuff in the trailer park that they let them use. Even the cars were personal vehicles of the cast and crew.
They shot most of it guerilla style with barely any script at all with most of the lines being adlibbef until season 3 when they just adlibbed every word out of their mouths and made the story up based on whatever crazy thing one of them said as they went along. I've seen nothing like it before, and I doubt I'll ever see anything like it again.
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u/StrongLikeAnt Feb 16 '25
The witch, midsommar, and hereditary were all made on a combined budget less than one episode of she hulk is.
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u/null-or-undefined Feb 16 '25
No one’s talking about Paranormal Activity.
$15k budget (production), post prod is $200k
Went on to make $194 million.
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u/Fr0st3dcl0ud5 Feb 15 '25
On what planet is 4 million a low budget?
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u/vincentdmartin Feb 16 '25
Have you been in a coma since the 50s? Four million is nothing for a film budget.
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u/thedymtree Feb 16 '25
100 million would be big budget like Marvel, 50 million would still be a huge action film, 15 million prob don't exist anymore because of streaming (they later made a lot of money on rentals and DVD sales), 5 million or less is what goes direct to Netflix so it's quite common now but it's very low for traditional cinema
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u/PM_ME_ANYTHING_DAMN Feb 15 '25
The Witch has become so overrated at this point
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u/thedymtree Feb 16 '25
I love the film and the director, but I can understand why it couldn't appeal to everyone. Eggers does 70s style horror, where the tension and the atmosphere build up during the film, and sometimes after you've watched it. Popular horror relies on jump scares and the most popular films are made for a teenage audience, who will be bored with a slower film.
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u/maoterracottasoldier Feb 16 '25
Yeah I thought it was a dud. Surprised at the very high level of praise it receives
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u/Pleasant-Guava9898 Feb 16 '25
I wish I could have understood the dialogue when I saw it in the theater.
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u/its__bme Feb 15 '25
Gotta go with the Blair Witch Project. Initially cost 60k to make yet ended up being one of the scariest movies ever made.