Why is Low Budget Horror So Popular?

[vid87]

This is coming off today's (7/21/13) box office report that "The Conjuring" made about $41 mil, the best opening for an R-rated horror beating out "The Purge".

I don't like horror - I hate jump scares, I see absolutely no fun in it, and I can't imagine how any of them are really that different from one another. So why is this becoming the new go-to genre? I know it's really cheap to make, but it's the audiences giving them these massive debuts that I just can't understand.

Any horror junkies care to weigh in?

 

[piinyouri]

Less to work with means more creativity and ingenuity.
Also true terror benefits from an empty atmosphere. (Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project)

You're just not a fan of horror, which is okay. : ]

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Because lower budget SOMETIMES leads to horrible movies

I love making fun of horrible movies, because the jokes just write themselves (and I'm trying to do riffings!)

 

[Chris Mosher]

People like the emotional rush and release from being afraid in a safe environment. If you don't understand the joy in getting all wound up end then jumping in your seat and finally laughing about it i doubt I am eloquent enough explain why. It's silly but it is fun. There are some theories about how it allows is to explore death and other societal fears without fear of actually being threatened. Also there is the couple factor. Gives two people an excuse to hold onto each other a little tighter. As for me, I am a twisted son of a ***** who likes dark and nasty shit.

Now for the low budget part it's simply a matter of economics . Film makers can take more chances with lower budgets then with higher budgets, they can be less worried about turning people off. 40 million for the conjuring and less for the purges mean both films were successful but for a blockbuster it is failure so cheap horrors are almost always a guaranteed profit for the production company .

 

[yeti585]

It could be a lot of things. Bad movies (if they are bad) are a category in themselves. And, a bad movie may be a classic because it is a "good" bad movie. Low budget may mean more creativity because big studios aren't taking big risks with new ideas. Whatever it may be, as long as the movie is good.

If you are speaking of horror movies in general; they've been popular. Fans of the genre like the suspense and such I guess.

 

[HardkorSB]

This is coming off today's (7/21/13) box office report that "The Conjuring" made about $41 mil, the best opening for an R-rated horror beating out "The Purge".

I don't like horror - I hate jump scares, I see absolutely no fun in it, and I can't imagine how any of them are really that different from one another. So why is this becoming the new go-to genre? I know it's really cheap to make, but it's the audiences giving them these massive debuts that I just can't understand.

Any horror junkies care to weigh in?

First of all, horror movies aren't about jump scares.
Using jump scares in a horror movie is like using a fart joke in a comedy. You can't get much lower than this. It can work but it has to be earned and used only a few times in key moments.

Horror movies should be about the atmosphere, the tension.
That feeling when you know there's something really close and it can jump at you any second... but it doesn't.
That moment when you think you saw something but you're not sure (and the movie doesn't just make a loud noise when that happens).
Those visuals when everything seems ok but you know there's something wrong yet you can't really tell what it is.
When you actually care about the characters and you don't want them to die.
When there are creative camera angles and lighting.

Most movie makers however don't know how to make horror movies. Instead, they make gore movies with jump scares. It's easier to make a movie with loud noises and buckets of blood, where the characters are just cannon fodder, just like it's easier to make comedy like American Pie than it is to make something like Shaun of the Dead.

The Conjuring is not a jump scare movie. There are 2 or 3 of them in there but the first one comes up about 50 minutes into the movie and it's earned by an eerie atmosphere, believable characters and genuinely creepy visuals.

Also, horror works better with low budget. When it's too clean and polished, it's less scary.
You know how people always say that older horror movies are better?
Part of the reason is the lower quality grainy picture. It gives the movie that extra something that high resolution doesn't. Even the Silent Hill games use a filter that makes it look like an old 70's movie.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

In terms of low budget being popular, I think David Walliams put it nicely in Awfully Good Movies when he said, "great film directors know that what's most scary is not what they show us, but what they don't show us, while bad film directors just think screw that, let's spunk our entire budget on a stupid green monster costume"

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Low budget anything is more popular than the high budget among a certain niche who believe that it automatically equals more creativity. To be honest, a $43 million opening weekend is not that spectacular in and of itself. It only stands out because of it having a low budget.

I'm not saying movie directors, or anyone else with a low budget, don't get creative to stretch the dollar, mind you. But it's not as if non-low budget movies just feel like throwing money around and praying they get it back. The highest grossing movies of all time, when not adjusted for inflation, are Avatar (budget without marketing: $237 million), followed by Titanic (budget without marketing: $204 million) and The Avengers (budget without marketing: $220 million). Low budget movies are not more popular, they just have a higher profit because they need to sell fewer tickets to do so.

 

[Ikasury]

i personally find them funny :3 oh don't get me wrong, i love horror... REAL horror, like body alterations, mind raping, psychological stints that sit in your brain for days on end afterwards and just fester in the mind until you're screaming one day on the subway and have no idea why...

what i typically find nowadays is either 'shock and awe' and should really be put in the 'action' section, or 'suspense' films where nothing really happens and its the 'anticipation' of what 'might' happen that gets everyone on edge... though really they usually fall flat... i have quite the active imagination and most nothing stands up ._.

'most' people i've seen who like to claim to like 'horror' are typically in the pus-*cough* i mean 'lighter' section of those two... they don't get why the original Alien as such a breakout movie aside from it being the first real Scifi/Horror... they would pick a generic Freddy/Jason/Slasher movie and not get the more psychological implications of the original Psycho and why it as such a trip... and don't get me started on the squick of the Hellraiser movies, that instinctive cringe to just about anything in those gorn-fests...

*shrugs* people like to dare themselves to the 'new scare' despite it all being so safe and easy... who knows, i may just be generalizing, i haven't seen this new film but it was supposed to have a PG-13 rating but they made it R cause it was 'too scary', that only tells me 'suspense' and someone doesn't want their kids watching... so still quite in the 'light' section of some psychological horror... nothing Cathulu-worthy though...

why people watch it? cheap, easy, proves they're 'manly'? i like to go with the option of 'going to get laid' :3 its been scientifically proven that nothing gets a woman hotter then Horror movies, most likely derived from some psychological instinctive urge that we're 'threatened with death, MUST BREED!' and since that's more common knowledge, i can see guys, girls, whatevers taking their female companion to these 'suspense' films just for that... hey, if titillation works for HBO i don't see it not here XD

 

[xshadowscreamx]

well higher budget horror can look too clean. like 'the unborn'.
there is something more appealing watching say the exorcist or poltergeist on VHS

 

[FireAza]

I don't like horror - I hate jump scares, I see absolutely no fun in it, and I can't imagine how any of them are really that different from one another.

"Jump scares" are NOT horror. Jump scares are a sign of poor horror, there's many horror movies that don't use them. Try watching a Japanese horror movie sometime, they never fail to make my skin crawl and they do it without the cheap jump scares that a lot of Hollywood movies uses as a crutch.

There's many different types of horror (body horror, slasher, splatter, creature etc) and all have varying themes, but they all come down to basic fears (i.e body horror prays on our fear of illness and losing control of our bodies), which appeal to us since we don't often have to deal with fear thanks to our cushy civilization thing.

As to your subject, I think there's two schools of thought:
1) You're a filmmaker who wants to make a horror movie, but don't have a big Hollywood budget. Low budget it is!
2) You're a viewer who enjoys getting a laugh out of the amateurish direction, bad acting and bad special effects of the former.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Danm I thought this thread was on more about those b- z rated films! Anyway I guess the less money they have, the more impressive they can pull of it like a hard challange but a better reward for doing it so.

 

[ChadSexington]

If you're referring to b-grade, low budget horror people watch it because it's hilarious. You know, the whole so bad it's good thing. At least that's why my friends and I watch them.

 

[tomtom94]

Certain genres can frequently benefit from having a low budget, such as horror and sci-fi, because the director has to get creative with his effects rather than just saying "we'll make this CGI, we'll make this CGI, we'll make this CGI and at some point someone will jump out of a closet very suddenly. SCARY." - it's the principle of Nothing Is Scarier (obligatory TVTropes mention).

As for why horror's so popular, it's the adrenaline rush and the atmosphere. Some people go for the adrenaline because it makes them feel a rush. Other people go because they enjoy the atmosphere, and enjoy looking at how it's constructed. It helps that good horror movies can be seen twice and give you a different experience each time. You could just as easily ask why people play survival horror games and the reason is the same.

 

[twistedmic]

The way I see it is that with a low-budget movie the director/creator has to work harder at being actually scary. Instead of being able to use CGI for monsters, or hiring some big-name horror actor for the villain, they have to resort to older movie and stage tricks to pull off the scares.

Look at the original 'Halloween' and 'Friday the Thirteenth'. Both had low budgets and both were, if not outright scary, at the very least unnerving due to not seeing the killer very well and having limited blood and gore. In fact, they were downright tame compared to modern-day 'horror' films (which tend to use fake blood as foundation make-up).


And look at 'Jaws'. It might not have been a low-budget movie, but using a few low-budget tricks, namely using the camera as the shark's POV made it far more effective than if they could have if they had managed to get the shark working and give it more screen time.

 

[randomrob1968]

horror is the most successful entry point for low budget films, they tend to get viewed more by more people, and produce a healthier return for the investment.

 

[stroopwafel]

Also, horror works better with low budget. When it's too clean and polished, it's less scary.
You know how people always say that older horror movies are better?
Part of the reason is the lower quality grainy picture. It gives the movie that extra something that high resolution doesn't. Even the Silent Hill games use a filter that makes it look like an old 70's movie.

Indeed, this is the main reason. More than any other genre horror relies on atmosphere and mood. These low budget/old horror movies have that grainy feel to them that engages your imagination and enhances the experience. Expensive CGI or big budget film making breaks the atmosphere b/c the techniques used don't work for horror films. The only downside is that horror movies absolutely need to have a good story b/c it can't compensate with anything else. That's why so few of them are actaully good.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think it's one of those things people like to "enjoy ironically".

 

[Ishal]

I think it's one of those things people like to "enjoy ironically".

What irks me about these horror movies is they ALWAYS seem to advertise them as, "Based on a True Story." If they get to say that about their horror movies, then I get to say that about Star Wars.

OT: I feel the same way as the OP, I'm no fan of horror. I think its one of the least entertaining genres out there especially in movies. My friends used to get really ticked at me for never going with them to see horror films, I'm not about to waste money on that.