Message Board

Hi everyone,

What movies with low budgets $250,000-$750,000 look polished and good to you?

Thanks so much for your input.

Heather

I was enthralled with "Once" when I first screened it. On a second or third look, I'm sure there are plenty of flaws in the quite modest production values that pros can point to in an instant...

...But that first experience of seeing it? Invisible. In fact, the characters, their relationships and the story became even more authentic and real through the way it was shot -- on a shoestring in Ireland, mimicking the creative process underway within the plot itself.

A great story unfolding hides many flaws...

American Graffiti is another great example of this...

Budgets (IMDbPro):

Once -- $150,000 ($180,000 Euros). BO: $9 million

American Graffiti -- $777,000 (1973 dollars) BO: $151 million.

Thanks so much, John.

And The Blair Witch Project (not polished, per se, but arresting) and Napoleon Dynamite. There was another movie called The Tao of Steve that was shot on a low budget too and looked good for what it was.

And of course - anything by Robet Rodriguez.

I was going to say one of my favs "Reservoir Dogs" but I believe the budget was just over a mil.

I read where some of the actors provided their own wardrobes and also the Caddy Madsen stuffs the kidnapped cop into was his own personal vehicle.

Thanks so much you guys! I forgot about Napoleon Dynamite.

Clerks. That was shot on super-vhs and it's amazing how they digitally cleaned it up.

Golan-Globas shot Halloween for I believe $190 thousand US and it held a record for Profit based on COP for quite some time.

Jamie Lee Curtis was payed 5 grand and it made over 30 million initially??

Set the boys up to start a run of movies that boggles the mind as far a Action and Horror...one of the most profitable partnerships ever in Film.

Steve

The look and feel of the first Halloween owes a lot to 1970's Italian Giallo films though.