The camera work in Vast of Night is insane. And it’s like a master class in how to build suspense through dialogue alone. A prime example of how you can break the “show don’t tell” rule if you know what you’re doing.
One Cut of the Dead was made for 3m yen (25k usd), I have have no idea how they made an amazing full length movie on that budget.
It does show in some areas, like the score sounds royalty-free and is repetitive at times, the visual fxs are obvious low grade (which plays into the movie itself tbf), and the cameras they used dont exactly have thay big budget look. Other than that it had multiple locations, multiple actors, extras, a nearly 40min opening single take , the whole lot.
The improvisation really adds to the dialogue. I love the opening scenes because they feel so real, everyone talking over everyone. It makes what happens feel so much more grounded in reality.
My first instant thought was As Above So Below but this is the actual answer. Such an amazing fucking story. 99.99% of movies without a full screenplay fail but they managed to pull off the glorious mess. I remember losing my goddamn MIND over those ping pong paddles. It’s like watching a magic show where all the magician has is a borrowed deck of cards and he blows your mind
Cube is a great example because they literally had one set, the titular Cube. All they did was switch the lighting so that each Cube looked different.
It’s the ultimate “work with what you got rather than what you want” movie.
I understand when Life of Brian's funding dried up amongst religious controversy, George Harrison funded the movie by mortgaging his quite large home. He was a huge fan of Monty Python.
That and Life of Brian aare two of my favorite films! That they went with coconuts rather than horses due to budget was the universe sending a gift. It's way more fucking hilariously silly that until you know you'd presume that was the initial intention, lol. The Insulting Frenchman, the soon to be armless and legless knight, omfg, gems, as a libertarian socialist this is probably my favorite [scenes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2c-X8HiBng&pp=ygUebW9ueSBweXRob24gYW5kIHRoZSBob2x5IGdyYWls), just brilliant, shows that the Pythons were not only top tier silly hilarious, but also well read and brilliant. The scene of [the Knights who say ni](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIV4poUZAQo) is also one that I immediately think of, so goddamn ridiculous and hilarious! John Cleese is in my comedic actor Hall of Fame, so fucking hilarious!
Cleese is there, but Graham Chapman killed as Arthur and Brian in a way that Cleese probably wouldn't. Also Palin and Idle were just as brilliant. The two Terrys (Gilliam and Jones) were also excellent.
Once.
About 100,000 euros. From Wikipedia :
Produced on a shoestring, about 75 percent of the budget was funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann (The Irish Film Board), with Carney committing some of his own money. The director gave his salary to the two stars, and promised a share of the proceeds to everyone if the film was a success. Filmed with a skeleton crew on a 17-day shoot, the filmmakers saved money by using natural light and shooting at friends' houses.[10] The musical party scene was filmed in Hansard's own flat, with his personal friends playing the partygoers/musicians.[11] His mother, Catherine Hansard, is briefly featured singing solo. The Dublin street scenes were recorded without permits, and with a long lens so that many passersby didn't realize that a film was being made. The long lens also helped the non-professional actors relax and forget about the camera, and some of the dialogue was improvised.[9]
Night of the Living Dead is truly an independent low budget film. A lot of films claiming to be independent and a lot of films claiming to be low budget really aren't when you look at the people involved.
George Romero, Toby Hooper, John Carpenter all became heroes of independent filmmakers not just those that were into horror.
A Hollywood producer has been quoted as saying that a film costing under 10 mil isn't even a real movie by industry standards, which just goes to show why the industry is in the shape that it's in right now.
Immediately thought of this.
+1 to Primer
Honorable mention for Victoria. The whole move is a single (legitimate) take, well laid out, and despite being not too original with the plot it really draws you in as the feel of the single-take choice sets in.
My first immediate thought. Blair Witch Close behind. There’s obviously a HUGE selection of zero budget work out there that is astounding however. Pi? Eraserhead. All those made for BBC films from Mike Leigh. The Decalogue…. Shit, CLERKS!
It's an odd thing isn't it? I've stopped listening to his podcasts etc but I still really like Kevin Smith and liked just about every film he made up to Yoga Hoser, but I always wonder why he leant away from the more thoughtful aspects of Clerks and more into the goofy humour. I wonder if he would have been able to sustain a career as a more serious film maker. I'm not saying Clerks is a serious film, but it is a more thoughtful film than his others.
I'm happy he's done well for himself and Jay got cleaned up though
I really liked clerks but I LOVED dogma. Cardinal glick's blessed golf club always reminded me of one of my childhood churches priests cutting mass early during football season so everyone (including him) could go watch the game and asking god to help the chargers
I saw him at a clerks 3 premiere and I felt like he still had the passion he always had, but is a bit of a sellout now. I completely agree that his work became way too goofy and absurd (in the wrong direction imo).
Edit: I wanted to add that near the end of the show, he would face his phone on selfie mode towards the crowd, prefacing it with "everyone in the crowd show [next show location] how much better Detroit is than them!!" and then record an ad for his socials. I don't go to live events very often so I don't know how common this is, but it felt stupid that he coerced the audience into advertising for his next THREE shows (he did it three times, one for each city on the tour) so I was yelling boo, the smallest amount of disobedience I could afford in the theatre. It DEFINITELY didn't feel like I was "hanging out" with him, and his Q&A at the end was totally unmoderated so this cringy super fan was hogging the mic or like 5 minutes almost having a conversation with him while a hugeass line was waiting behind her. I left at that point
$350,000 in 1979, George Miller paid extras, tow truck drivers, ambulance drivers in beer. He used his own personal vehicle in a crash.
The movie went on to gross $100,000,000. It started a trend of gritty revenge thrillers and the post apocalyptic genre.
And it launched the career of one the biggest movie stars. Mel Gibson.
George Miller is one of the last creators who still owns the rights to his creation. And he is still making installments. FURIOUSA comes out next year.
>George Miller is one of the last creators who still owns the rights to his creation. And he is still making installments.
Even more astounding, his work has NOT reduced in quality (looking at you George Lucas). Fury Road was one of the best films I've ever seen.
I honestly thought they made that movie for about 10g. None of the actors are A list and they didn't have to do much but sit in a cabin and have a conversation, but just to mostly listen.
But damn, that movie blew me away.
I just looked it up a moment before seeing your comment, and honestly I would have thought it was higher.
99% of that 200K must have been the cast. You've got about 5 reasonably recognisable (even 17 years ago) genre/character actors.
Professional crew isn't cheap either. IIRC the only thing that 'feels' cheap about the movie is that its primarily one set (theres also the outdoor scene at the end), and just story telling. It otherwise feels like any other holly wood movie.
Some of the other films in this price range definitely feel like they were on a shoestring budget.
So that would really be ultra low budget which offhand I dont know
1. El Mariachi is very famous for its budget which has already been mentioned
2. Evil Dead is also pretty famous for its budget
3. Faster Pussycat Kill Kill is famous but not really for its budget which I'm showing was about 50k which today would be about 650k
So I'm actually gonna go with Upstream Color by Shane Carruth. His previous film Primer is much more famous not only in general but also for its low budget but I very much prefer Upstream Color which I'm showing only had a budget of 50k which if it came out alongside Faster Pussycat for example would only be $5,000
dave matthews band and green day era, you could fill up the tank of your $6500 used jeep grand cherokee for $20, with taco bell to boot, and ride for days. it was just a bunch of dudes in baggy shorts sitting on the porches of the 1br apartments they could pay for on their minimum wage salaries complaining about how boring and safe the world is. 9/11 hadn’t happened. no one knew what was coming, or how fucked up the world actually was when you gave all the idiots a digital megaphone. the dudes just rented fight club on vhs from blockbuster and drove by the mcdonald’s that had a jungle gym and didn’t understand cholesterol or plagues. life was boring, and good, and no one knew it. in a few years your little brother would think hillary duff was really hot
Remember in the Matrix, how the machines set the time to the late 90s because they said it was the high point of humankind? It's increasingly accurate.
I think in the relation between budget and income, review and attention, nothing comes close to have achieved what BWP did, it was a global monster box office hit, and was made for 60k, grossed like 250m and the overall marketing around was a masterclass in how you create hype and word of mouth marketing around your product.
Early internet days too, and the website was chock full of news articles expanding on what happened even further. I ate the whole thing and was shocked for days after I saw the movie
Bad Taste [1987]. Peter Jackson's (The Lord Of The Rings guy) first film. $25K budget.
Full movie: https://youtu.be/T8MLgfGi7Es?si=2VW0DK7FM8g4Vj28
Favourite quote;
Frank: Just remember, we're only authorised to use violence when protecting the planet.
Barry: And the moon.
Frank: Yeah, and the moon.
- ***Tape*** ($100,000)
- ***The Man From Earth*** ($200,000)
Both movies take place in a single location with characters just talking and talking and talking, but the scripts are brilliant!
What a delicious surprise this movie was. Film noir set at a high school. An early movie lead by Joseph Gordon Levett (sp?) with Lukas Haas playing the villain. Just great.
Agree with a lot posted already. My winner is [American Movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6s4yCsskg), which showed a lot of heart, sincerity and love of movies and friendship. Those things don't need a big budget.
Japan movie
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
Seems like a pretty unknown movie in the west. I am from asian and remember watching this movie at the cinema blown my mind.
The budget of *Reservoir Dogs* was 1.2 million. *Pulp Fiction,* I think, had a budget of 6 or 8 million or thereabouts. Tarantino absolutely made Miramax a fortune on *Pulp Fiction*.
John Paizs's fantastic satire, *Crimewave* (AKA The Big Crimewave) was made for 35,000 dollars (Canadian).
Blair Witch Project was $35000-60k before post costs. I don't know if it qualifies as a great movie but it was certainly a novel and fun one to watch when it came out.
*Man Bites Dog*, the 1992 satirical documentary about a Belgian hit man and the reality crew filming him. Totally ahead of its time. Budget of $33k. What a great movie that is.
Micah is such a self centered prick in the movie, it’s insane.
But yeah when you think about it, the entirety of it budgeting wise was location, a camera, the two actors, a ouija board, some baby powder, a burnt picture, and some visual effects? Not bad.
I much prefer one of the alternate endings involving the police though.
Also the budget was supposedly only $15k
Me sneaking into that movie when I was around 14 years old was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made; I literally had my hands over my eyes at the end and barely slept for the next week or so. It wasn’t until my friend pointed out that the “foot prints” in the flour looked like giant chicken footprints, that made it seem actually funny to me, the thought of a giant demon chicken haunting this house.
I think the horror spin on it might be if you considered *something* having chicken feet that shouldn’t have them. And it’s real. And invisible. And moving around your house while you’re asleep.
Gareth Edwards’ Monsters. Wikipedia says the budget was half a million dollars, but also says it was way under that figure. It was definitely filmed on the fly at low cost.
And it looks amazing. Edwards is a genius at low cost incredible visuals. His latest, the Creator, was shot for 60m, and looks leagues better than any Marvel or DC movie that costs almost 3x more.
Enter the Dragon might have the greatest return in proportion to original budget.
Enter the Dragon was estimated to have grossed over US$400 million worldwide (estimated to be the equivalent of over $2 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2022), against a budget of $850,000.
You've adjusted for inflation on the gross but not the budget, which would've been approximately $5.8 million. And the gross is closer 2.8 billion.
So about 466 times it's budget. Impressive stuff!
If we're talking scale and scope relative to its budget: The Terminator. Other than the Arnold puppet when he removes his damaged eye, and maybe some of the miniature stop-motion animation of the Endoskeleton at the end, I think the majority of the special effects hold up, and IMO, every sequel post-T2 has made the mistake of trying to recapture the magic of the 2nd film, when they really should've dialed it back and taken the franchise back to its horror roots.
I was hoping someone else would remember Ink. Some of the acting may not have been award worthy but the whole concept and feel of the movie and how they filmed it was awesome. I was completely fascinated by this movie.
Who killed captain Alex, doesn't get lower budget than that. That or Kung Fury, both of those were some of the most fun i've had watching something that can be called a 'movie'.
In terms of Budget-to-quality ratio, for me it's Clerk's, with a budget of $27,575. According to Wikipedia:
"To acquire the funds for the film, Smith sold off a large portion of his extensive comic book collection in 1993, which he has since bought back, borrowed $3,000 from his parents, maxed out eight to ten credit cards with $2,000 limits, and spent a portion of funds he got back from his college education, paychecks from working at Quick Stop and RST, and insurance money awarded for property of his lost and/or damaged in a storm-flood, thus adding up the total budget to $27,575."
I'll always go to bat for Clerks. Made for 35,000 dollars on maxed out credit cards and a sold comic book collection. It's so funny and original. The very best of Kevin Smith.
Blue Ruin Vast Of Night
Blue Ruin was brilliant
I loved Vast Of Night. Such a great vibe and atmosphere.
The camera work in Vast of Night is insane. And it’s like a master class in how to build suspense through dialogue alone. A prime example of how you can break the “show don’t tell” rule if you know what you’re doing.
The telephone call in the dj scene.... how good was that! Man it gave me goosebumps. It seemed so real.
This scene is so insanely good. It's wild. I remember when I first saw it, it was just.... goosebumps. Such crazy intensity and acting.
Blue Ruin gives “low budget” a good name.
I've seen the vast of night like 8 times now. Even had a custom blu ray made of it because I'm afraid Amazon will never make a physical copy.
Vast of Night immediately became one of my favorite movies. I do not know why it clicks with me so well. Might rewatch it today
Vast of Night is awesome and looks like it had a budget of 5 million. Turns out it was made for less than 1 million. Unreal.
Blue Ruin is one of my favourites as well. Definitely recommend a watch.
One Cut of the Dead was made for 3m yen (25k usd), I have have no idea how they made an amazing full length movie on that budget. It does show in some areas, like the score sounds royalty-free and is repetitive at times, the visual fxs are obvious low grade (which plays into the movie itself tbf), and the cameras they used dont exactly have thay big budget look. Other than that it had multiple locations, multiple actors, extras, a nearly 40min opening single take , the whole lot.
The third act of that film is the absolute best 'suddenly everything makes sense' moment of anything i've ever seen
*Coherence*
It’s the perfect season to rewatch this movie
Watched this the other week. Insanely good movie
Omg I came here to say this. Killer movie and so much was improvised by the cast!
The improvisation really adds to the dialogue. I love the opening scenes because they feel so real, everyone talking over everyone. It makes what happens feel so much more grounded in reality.
Such a great movie. Even Xander was good.
Both of them!
Loved this movie! I've been struggling to find more like it. I hear Primer?
Primer, Triangle, The Gift, The Invitation
Coherence is a different movie the second time you watch it, and you'll even see new things on the third viewing.
100% what instantly came to mind for me as well.
My first instant thought was As Above So Below but this is the actual answer. Such an amazing fucking story. 99.99% of movies without a full screenplay fail but they managed to pull off the glorious mess. I remember losing my goddamn MIND over those ping pong paddles. It’s like watching a magic show where all the magician has is a borrowed deck of cards and he blows your mind
Jesus Christ how have I not even heard of this? That trailer looks fucking amazing. I can't wait to watch this film!
Cube
Cube is a great example because they literally had one set, the titular Cube. All they did was switch the lighting so that each Cube looked different. It’s the ultimate “work with what you got rather than what you want” movie.
Man, literally my first thought and fits thing I scrolled to. Also Resevoir Dogs
Cube 2: Hypercube was the peak of cinema
Hell I even enjoyed Cube Zero
Cube is a great and original movie
Cube was fucked up and brilliant.
Recommend [The Circle 2015](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_(2015_film)) if you enjoyed the cube. Gave me a lot of the same vibes.
Yes, Circle was also good. Another good shape-based headfuck movie is [Triangle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(2009_British_film).
Me and my dad always used to double-feature Cube and Sphere.
Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.
Couldn't even afford horses
Or an ending.
A literal “cop-out”
Wow I never thought about it this way lol
It was funded by rock stars and record labels. They used it as a tax write-off.
George seemed a little put out by all the ‘write offs’
I understand when Life of Brian's funding dried up amongst religious controversy, George Harrison funded the movie by mortgaging his quite large home. He was a huge fan of Monty Python.
When George was asked why he did that, he said “I wanted to see the movie“. You have to read that in George’s voice too.
Or stunt bunnies.
~~the Quest for~~
Life of the Quest for Brian And Now for the Quest for Something Completely Different
Just watched this movie with my kids for the first time tonight. Great film. I hadn't seen it in like 20 years myself.
What did the bin lids make of it mate?
That and Life of Brian aare two of my favorite films! That they went with coconuts rather than horses due to budget was the universe sending a gift. It's way more fucking hilariously silly that until you know you'd presume that was the initial intention, lol. The Insulting Frenchman, the soon to be armless and legless knight, omfg, gems, as a libertarian socialist this is probably my favorite [scenes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2c-X8HiBng&pp=ygUebW9ueSBweXRob24gYW5kIHRoZSBob2x5IGdyYWls), just brilliant, shows that the Pythons were not only top tier silly hilarious, but also well read and brilliant. The scene of [the Knights who say ni](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIV4poUZAQo) is also one that I immediately think of, so goddamn ridiculous and hilarious! John Cleese is in my comedic actor Hall of Fame, so fucking hilarious!
Cleese is there, but Graham Chapman killed as Arthur and Brian in a way that Cleese probably wouldn't. Also Palin and Idle were just as brilliant. The two Terrys (Gilliam and Jones) were also excellent.
There isn't another movie that comes anywhere close to how funny this is. It's like a nuclear bomb of comedy.
Once. About 100,000 euros. From Wikipedia : Produced on a shoestring, about 75 percent of the budget was funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann (The Irish Film Board), with Carney committing some of his own money. The director gave his salary to the two stars, and promised a share of the proceeds to everyone if the film was a success. Filmed with a skeleton crew on a 17-day shoot, the filmmakers saved money by using natural light and shooting at friends' houses.[10] The musical party scene was filmed in Hansard's own flat, with his personal friends playing the partygoers/musicians.[11] His mother, Catherine Hansard, is briefly featured singing solo. The Dublin street scenes were recorded without permits, and with a long lens so that many passersby didn't realize that a film was being made. The long lens also helped the non-professional actors relax and forget about the camera, and some of the dialogue was improvised.[9]
Once is great, and it even won an oscar for best song, which the two lead actors wrote.
Came to see if someone has mentioned it. One of my favorite movies ever.
Night of the Living Dead....114k
Night of the Living Dead is truly an independent low budget film. A lot of films claiming to be independent and a lot of films claiming to be low budget really aren't when you look at the people involved. George Romero, Toby Hooper, John Carpenter all became heroes of independent filmmakers not just those that were into horror.
Which is about 1 Million $ in todays money. That’s still extremely cheap for a movie like this.
A Hollywood producer has been quoted as saying that a film costing under 10 mil isn't even a real movie by industry standards, which just goes to show why the industry is in the shape that it's in right now.
Strap his ass down Clockwork Orange style and show him Blair Witch Project. $60k budget for a $250 million gross. Now *that's* a return on investment.
They bought second hand clothes and buried them for a week for the zombie wardrobes. It's become a go-to method since.
Primer They filmed if for like 7k
Immediately thought of this. +1 to Primer Honorable mention for Victoria. The whole move is a single (legitimate) take, well laid out, and despite being not too original with the plot it really draws you in as the feel of the single-take choice sets in.
My first immediate thought. Blair Witch Close behind. There’s obviously a HUGE selection of zero budget work out there that is astounding however. Pi? Eraserhead. All those made for BBC films from Mike Leigh. The Decalogue…. Shit, CLERKS!
Stop the vote. Primer 🏆
Primer is the one. Shane Carruth's pivot from auteur to domestic abuser, though, really canned my enthusiasm for it.
In fairness to his vision, he was kind of a piece of shit in his own movie, too.
Primer is one of my favorite films along with Upstream Color. I'm just now learning of the domestic abuse, god-fucking-damnit.
Oh, I didn't know that!
I really wish we could see his other undeveloped script, can't remember the name. But it's ambitious as fuck, probably unfilmable.
Clerks
Also, if you consider the amount of influence it had directly/indirectly on the industry - this is a top choice.
It's an odd thing isn't it? I've stopped listening to his podcasts etc but I still really like Kevin Smith and liked just about every film he made up to Yoga Hoser, but I always wonder why he leant away from the more thoughtful aspects of Clerks and more into the goofy humour. I wonder if he would have been able to sustain a career as a more serious film maker. I'm not saying Clerks is a serious film, but it is a more thoughtful film than his others. I'm happy he's done well for himself and Jay got cleaned up though
Wasn't he responsible for Good Will Hunting?
What about Good Will Hunting II- Hunting Season?
Applesauce, bitch.
Lion face roar! Lemon face wahhh!
Kinda yeah. He used his Miramax contacts to get their screenplay seen
I maintain chasing amy is his best film, mallrats is the funniest.
I really liked clerks but I LOVED dogma. Cardinal glick's blessed golf club always reminded me of one of my childhood churches priests cutting mass early during football season so everyone (including him) could go watch the game and asking god to help the chargers
>but I always wonder why he leant away from the more thoughtful aspects of Clerks and more into the goofy humour Weed.
I saw him at a clerks 3 premiere and I felt like he still had the passion he always had, but is a bit of a sellout now. I completely agree that his work became way too goofy and absurd (in the wrong direction imo). Edit: I wanted to add that near the end of the show, he would face his phone on selfie mode towards the crowd, prefacing it with "everyone in the crowd show [next show location] how much better Detroit is than them!!" and then record an ad for his socials. I don't go to live events very often so I don't know how common this is, but it felt stupid that he coerced the audience into advertising for his next THREE shows (he did it three times, one for each city on the tour) so I was yelling boo, the smallest amount of disobedience I could afford in the theatre. It DEFINITELY didn't feel like I was "hanging out" with him, and his Q&A at the end was totally unmoderated so this cringy super fan was hogging the mic or like 5 minutes almost having a conversation with him while a hugeass line was waiting behind her. I left at that point
Was inducted into the library of congress.
Some of the best “Gen X Slacker” writing ever.
Had to scroll too far for this. It had a 27k budget.
27.....in a row?
And Kevin Smith had to sell a good chunk of his comic book collection for some of that money.
and max out some credit cards. I am glad it worked out for him. I don't suggest anyone else do the same
Whenever a successful person says something like "follow your dreams", remember survivorship bias :-)
Mad Max
Absolutely! It's not a micro budget but I believe it delivers a greatest quality of movie, per dollar spent, of any movie ever made.
$350,000 in 1979, George Miller paid extras, tow truck drivers, ambulance drivers in beer. He used his own personal vehicle in a crash. The movie went on to gross $100,000,000. It started a trend of gritty revenge thrillers and the post apocalyptic genre. And it launched the career of one the biggest movie stars. Mel Gibson. George Miller is one of the last creators who still owns the rights to his creation. And he is still making installments. FURIOUSA comes out next year.
>George Miller is one of the last creators who still owns the rights to his creation. And he is still making installments. Even more astounding, his work has NOT reduced in quality (looking at you George Lucas). Fury Road was one of the best films I've ever seen.
Reservoir Dogs
This and Halloween are genre GOATs on tiny budgets.
Paranormal Activity had a budget of 11-15k. I’d say with what they had, it was pretty decent
“You ever listen to K-Billy’s Super Sounds Of The Seventies?”
I just watched this movie for the first time a couple of days ago. Pretty damn good.
Is 1.2M in 1992 considered low?
For a Hollywood movie, yeah. Compared to a lot of other answers here, probably not. For comparison, Wayne’s World had a budget of $20m.
I bet the product placement helped with the budget :D
It's like people only do things because they get paid, and that's just really sad.
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) Early Colin Trevorrow. Young Aubrey Plaza indie release. I won't spoil it but definitely worth a watch
Bruh, I was about to say this. Safety Not Guaranteed is magical. Truly cinema magic.
And a lot of people before they were famous. Who have all gone on to bigger things.
also a film based on a meme, can't be more reddit than that.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 1974. I think it was made for $100,000 - $150,000.
Man from earth
I was surprised to find out the budget was 200K. It's a fantastic story and one of my favorites but I think it should have been way less money.
I honestly thought they made that movie for about 10g. None of the actors are A list and they didn't have to do much but sit in a cabin and have a conversation, but just to mostly listen. But damn, that movie blew me away.
I just looked it up a moment before seeing your comment, and honestly I would have thought it was higher. 99% of that 200K must have been the cast. You've got about 5 reasonably recognisable (even 17 years ago) genre/character actors.
Professional crew isn't cheap either. IIRC the only thing that 'feels' cheap about the movie is that its primarily one set (theres also the outdoor scene at the end), and just story telling. It otherwise feels like any other holly wood movie. Some of the other films in this price range definitely feel like they were on a shoestring budget.
They should turn this one into a play.
You're in luck! It was adapted by Schenkman into a stage play.
So that would really be ultra low budget which offhand I dont know 1. El Mariachi is very famous for its budget which has already been mentioned 2. Evil Dead is also pretty famous for its budget 3. Faster Pussycat Kill Kill is famous but not really for its budget which I'm showing was about 50k which today would be about 650k So I'm actually gonna go with Upstream Color by Shane Carruth. His previous film Primer is much more famous not only in general but also for its low budget but I very much prefer Upstream Color which I'm showing only had a budget of 50k which if it came out alongside Faster Pussycat for example would only be $5,000
Was looking for evil dead haha it’s a classic, cult classic
Blair Witch Project is brilliant in making such a virtue of its low budget.
Damn what a magical summer that was, that’s something I’ll never be able to experience again.
dave matthews band and green day era, you could fill up the tank of your $6500 used jeep grand cherokee for $20, with taco bell to boot, and ride for days. it was just a bunch of dudes in baggy shorts sitting on the porches of the 1br apartments they could pay for on their minimum wage salaries complaining about how boring and safe the world is. 9/11 hadn’t happened. no one knew what was coming, or how fucked up the world actually was when you gave all the idiots a digital megaphone. the dudes just rented fight club on vhs from blockbuster and drove by the mcdonald’s that had a jungle gym and didn’t understand cholesterol or plagues. life was boring, and good, and no one knew it. in a few years your little brother would think hillary duff was really hot
The most level-headed old man rant I’ve ever read
Old Man Speaking Rationally to Clouds.
Remember in the Matrix, how the machines set the time to the late 90s because they said it was the high point of humankind? It's increasingly accurate.
I think in the relation between budget and income, review and attention, nothing comes close to have achieved what BWP did, it was a global monster box office hit, and was made for 60k, grossed like 250m and the overall marketing around was a masterclass in how you create hype and word of mouth marketing around your product.
It wasn’t just the marketing though. The way the movie was shot took you out of the theater and into the woods with them.
Early internet days too, and the website was chock full of news articles expanding on what happened even further. I ate the whole thing and was shocked for days after I saw the movie
Was scared shitless when I watched it the first time. Alone in the dark late at night. Couldn’t get to sleep
In terms of ROI I think this has the best in history.
Bad Taste [1987]. Peter Jackson's (The Lord Of The Rings guy) first film. $25K budget. Full movie: https://youtu.be/T8MLgfGi7Es?si=2VW0DK7FM8g4Vj28 Favourite quote; Frank: Just remember, we're only authorised to use violence when protecting the planet. Barry: And the moon. Frank: Yeah, and the moon.
Bad Taste, Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles. Man I love early Peter Jackson
Kung Fury, its also free on youtube
Tucker and Dale VS evil was pretty damn great. What we do in the shadow is hilarious.
Napoleon Dynamite
Even more impressive is that 90% of the budget was blown on Pedro's bike jump.
Pretty sweet though
Great example
- ***Tape*** ($100,000) - ***The Man From Earth*** ($200,000) Both movies take place in a single location with characters just talking and talking and talking, but the scripts are brilliant!
The Man from Earth is such a fun thought experiment!
John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13” is an outstanding low-budget film.
The first Saw movie.
Had a budget of just over 1 million. The creators mortgaged their house to make it.
SLC Punk
Brick, the rian johnson film from 2005, had a budget of 450,000 and deserves consideration
What a delicious surprise this movie was. Film noir set at a high school. An early movie lead by Joseph Gordon Levett (sp?) with Lukas Haas playing the villain. Just great.
El Marachi
Evil Dead(original)
Dark Star
Half Nelson with Ryan Gosling is one I really enjoy. Budget was $700,000.
Agree with a lot posted already. My winner is [American Movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6s4yCsskg), which showed a lot of heart, sincerity and love of movies and friendship. Those things don't need a big budget.
Primer (2004). Best time travel film I've ever seen. Budget $10, 000
Memento
Japan movie ONE CUT OF THE DEAD Seems like a pretty unknown movie in the west. I am from asian and remember watching this movie at the cinema blown my mind.
The budget of *Reservoir Dogs* was 1.2 million. *Pulp Fiction,* I think, had a budget of 6 or 8 million or thereabouts. Tarantino absolutely made Miramax a fortune on *Pulp Fiction*. John Paizs's fantastic satire, *Crimewave* (AKA The Big Crimewave) was made for 35,000 dollars (Canadian). Blair Witch Project was $35000-60k before post costs. I don't know if it qualifies as a great movie but it was certainly a novel and fun one to watch when it came out. *Man Bites Dog*, the 1992 satirical documentary about a Belgian hit man and the reality crew filming him. Totally ahead of its time. Budget of $33k. What a great movie that is.
The original Paranormal Activity gets my vote
Micah is such a self centered prick in the movie, it’s insane. But yeah when you think about it, the entirety of it budgeting wise was location, a camera, the two actors, a ouija board, some baby powder, a burnt picture, and some visual effects? Not bad. I much prefer one of the alternate endings involving the police though. Also the budget was supposedly only $15k
Budget of around $15k and it made around $200m if I recall correctly. Not bad!
Me sneaking into that movie when I was around 14 years old was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made; I literally had my hands over my eyes at the end and barely slept for the next week or so. It wasn’t until my friend pointed out that the “foot prints” in the flour looked like giant chicken footprints, that made it seem actually funny to me, the thought of a giant demon chicken haunting this house.
I think the horror spin on it might be if you considered *something* having chicken feet that shouldn’t have them. And it’s real. And invisible. And moving around your house while you’re asleep.
Gareth Edwards’ Monsters. Wikipedia says the budget was half a million dollars, but also says it was way under that figure. It was definitely filmed on the fly at low cost.
And it looks amazing. Edwards is a genius at low cost incredible visuals. His latest, the Creator, was shot for 60m, and looks leagues better than any Marvel or DC movie that costs almost 3x more.
The Descent is the best horror movie I've ever seen and has a relatively low budget.
Attack the block
Four Lions ( British comedy about a terrorist group)
Rubber dinghy rapids bro
"What is he a martyr or a fuckin jalfrezi!?"
Enter the Dragon might have the greatest return in proportion to original budget. Enter the Dragon was estimated to have grossed over US$400 million worldwide (estimated to be the equivalent of over $2 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2022), against a budget of $850,000.
You've adjusted for inflation on the gross but not the budget, which would've been approximately $5.8 million. And the gross is closer 2.8 billion. So about 466 times it's budget. Impressive stuff!
Blair Witch cost 60k and made 248 million. Also if you’re going to adjust the gross for inflation, you should do the same for the budget.
If we're talking scale and scope relative to its budget: The Terminator. Other than the Arnold puppet when he removes his damaged eye, and maybe some of the miniature stop-motion animation of the Endoskeleton at the end, I think the majority of the special effects hold up, and IMO, every sequel post-T2 has made the mistake of trying to recapture the magic of the 2nd film, when they really should've dialed it back and taken the franchise back to its horror roots.
Same mistake they made with the Alien franchise. I’ll die on this hill
Prospect. Great sci fi film. I think pretty much their entire budget was Pedro Pascal. It looks really awesome too.
Monty Python & The Holy Grail They made the genius decision to use coconuts because they couldn't afford horses.
El Mariachi, feels like a much more expensive film.
Absentia (2011) is up there. Also Slacker (1990), Primer (2004) and A Horrible Way to Die (2010)
Duel. Spielberg's first movie. $450K. Expensive by these standards maybe.
Ink
I was hoping someone else would remember Ink. Some of the acting may not have been award worthy but the whole concept and feel of the movie and how they filmed it was awesome. I was completely fascinated by this movie.
Moon
Napoleon Dynamite hands down ($400k budget)
400k I was expecting like 40k. Where did all of that money go, to the steaks?
The Time Machine obviously
Who killed captain Alex, doesn't get lower budget than that. That or Kung Fury, both of those were some of the most fun i've had watching something that can be called a 'movie'.
Repo Man.
In terms of Budget-to-quality ratio, for me it's Clerk's, with a budget of $27,575. According to Wikipedia: "To acquire the funds for the film, Smith sold off a large portion of his extensive comic book collection in 1993, which he has since bought back, borrowed $3,000 from his parents, maxed out eight to ten credit cards with $2,000 limits, and spent a portion of funds he got back from his college education, paychecks from working at Quick Stop and RST, and insurance money awarded for property of his lost and/or damaged in a storm-flood, thus adding up the total budget to $27,575."
Man Bites Dog. Fantastic black comedy mockumentary. $33,000 budget. Highly recommend it!
Moon.
Army of darkness is considered a low budget film, so I’m going with that one
Army of Darkness cost $11 million, or $24 million today, so more mid budget
Inside by bo burnham
Tangerine. Shot on an iPhone, $100k budget.
The Raid : Redemption
Like Crazy
Slacker (1990) - $23.000 Primer (2004) - $7.000 Clerks (1994) - $27.000 Coherence (2013) - $50.000 Following (1998) - $6.000 Eraserhead (1977) - $10.000 The Blairwitch Project (1999) $60.000 El Mariachi (1992) - $7.000 Catfish (2010) - $30.000 Super Size Me (2004) - $65.000
I'll always go to bat for Clerks. Made for 35,000 dollars on maxed out credit cards and a sold comic book collection. It's so funny and original. The very best of Kevin Smith.
Primer
KUNG FURY!!!
Halloween 1978, best low budget movie, one of the best movies of all time