Join the ranks of horror legends John Carpenter, George Romero, Eli Roth, and David Cronenberg who all got their start by writing, directing, and producing low budget horror movies. Low budget horror movies are some of the most sought after scripts in Hollywood. These types of films have a built in fan base and are generally considered to be a low risk investment compared to high concept action movies or dramatic period pieces. Think about movies like Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project. Paranormal Activity cost a mere $15,000 to make but raked in over $193 million dollars in profit worldwide. The Blair Witch Project cost a total of $60,000 to make and made $248 million dollars in profit worldwide. This type of net profit generally
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Save it for the big reveal. Dirk suggests, “For low-budget monster movies I recommend you save all of your budget for the big reveal at the end of the film. Writing in too many little gags before your big reveal will blow-up your budget and basically take away from the money you would put into your monster’s big reveal. Since these types of films are all about the monster; you want your monster to look as good as possible. Both Jaws and Alien did this. With Jaws the shark’s big reveal at the end of the film was not intentional. The special effects crew couldn’t get the shark to work properly and this ultimately minimized the shark’s screen time forcing Spielberg to find other ways to suggest the shark’s presence. In general the more screen time you give your monster the more it’s going to …show more content…
Show the aftermath not the execution. Dirk suggests, “To keep cost down when writing or directing a slasher film I suggest showing the aftermath of an attack vs. showing the attack itself. Showing someone getting hacked to pieces requires casting, molds, and complicated rigging. It’s incredibly cost effective to show someone laying on the ground covered in blood and wounds and focusing on the aftermath of that attack. Any amateur make-up artist can apply blood and wounds to your actor who would just need to lay still for a few moments. Even if you write in a complete amputation it’s easier to show the audience the aftermath of the amputation rather than the amputation
Save it for the big reveal. Dirk suggests, “For low-budget monster movies I recommend you save all of your budget for the big reveal at the end of the film. Writing in too many little gags before your big reveal will blow-up your budget and basically take away from the money you would put into your monster’s big reveal. Since these types of films are all about the monster; you want your monster to look as good as possible. Both Jaws and Alien did this. With Jaws the shark’s big reveal at the end of the film was not intentional. The special effects crew couldn’t get the shark to work properly and this ultimately minimized the shark’s screen time forcing Spielberg to find other ways to suggest the shark’s presence. In general the more screen time you give your monster the more it’s going to …show more content…
Show the aftermath not the execution. Dirk suggests, “To keep cost down when writing or directing a slasher film I suggest showing the aftermath of an attack vs. showing the attack itself. Showing someone getting hacked to pieces requires casting, molds, and complicated rigging. It’s incredibly cost effective to show someone laying on the ground covered in blood and wounds and focusing on the aftermath of that attack. Any amateur make-up artist can apply blood and wounds to your actor who would just need to lay still for a few moments. Even if you write in a complete amputation it’s easier to show the audience the aftermath of the amputation rather than the amputation