Good Low Budget and Independent Flicks
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 1, 2026 02:34
VIEWED: 28778
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11 Billion in Korean which is about 7 Million in US Dollars
My Daughter is a Zombie (2025) - Korean Movie Review
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I got some good ones here that I would assume have to fit in our low budget category, although I haven't looked at their actual budgets.
As always, I suggest going into movies knowing nothing about them, but if you need to see trailers first I'll put them here for you.
The Hole in the Ground (2019):
Made in Ireland, I believe, this one had a real Invasion of the Body Snatchers / Invaders from Mars vibe to it. I dug it.
Final Prayer (aka Borderlands) (2015):
I'm pretty sure that they were forced to change the name of this movie because the makers of the game series had a lot more lawyers on their side. The movie is known as "Final Prayer", but the title card still says Borderlands.
Given the religious overtones, the fact that it's a horror movie, and the Lovecraftian vibe which usually just doesn't translate well to screen, I was surprised how much I really, really liked this movie.
Landing: Stuck. I loved the ending of this movie.
Speaking of Lovecraft, this next one is a direct adaptation that I actually thought was done pretty darn well... I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few people have already seen this one. Somehow I missed it back when my brothers and I watched horror movies all the time growing up.
From Beyond (1986):
Lovecraft movies are rarely ever good, but this one wasn't half bad. Jeffrey Combs is always a treat to watch.
Beau is Afraid (2023):
I went into this one completely blind and I'm telling you I really didn't think I was going to make it about 10 or 15 minutes into it. It was very depressing, but then like a light switch being flipped things went bonkers immediately and never looked back. It wasn't until halfway through the movie that I took a break and realized an hour and a half had passed and I still had about another hour and a half to go, but by that time I was happy to see there was still so much more of it.
I will warn you that I hated the ending of the movie. I will be watching some analysis videos on YouTube to see if there was something that I missed here, which could very well be the case since I was watching it on a small laptop screen with tinny speakers and not a lot of volume.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Writing Perfection - Tremors
Budget $5–11 million
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I got some good ones here that I would assume have to fit in our low budget category, although I haven't looked at their actual budgets.
Beau Is Afraid, Budget $35 million (net) $50 million gross
The Borderlands I dont see a budget but I assume its cheap, a British found-footage horror film
Hole in the Ground 2019 no budget in articles but I assume its 'Low'
From Beyond, Budget $2.5 million but more expensive in today's money
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Wow. It is stupid that Beau is Afraid cost $35 Million.
I know it's got some pretty big names in it, and Phoenix himself probably can demand a pretty large payday even for indie films, but $35 Million!!!!
I mean there was some CGI stuff in it at points, but we're not talking Jurassic Park here.
I would have thought for sure only $15 or $20 tops. I'm going to look into that and see if I can find what the actors got paid.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Ineteresting...
Though no information is out there about what anybody else got paid, Phoenix did get $5 Million up front, so his share was 1/7th of the total budget off the top.
The rest of the explanation is here:
While it may not look like a CGI-heavy blockbuster, the remaining $30 million was spent on logistical complexity, specialized artistic effects, and a grueling location shoot that pushed independent film production to its absolute limits.
The rest of the money went into several resource-intensive areas:
## 1. The 20-Minute Mixed-Media Animation Sequence
The lengthy sequence where Beau walks into a play and envisions an alternate life was incredibly expensive. Rather than using standard digital animation, Ari Aster hired Chilean stop-motion artists Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña. They spent months handcrafting elaborate, surreal physical stop-motion elements blended with 3D digital effects, requiring an immense amount of time and meticulous frame-by-frame labor.
## 2. Full-Scale Suburban Set Construction
The middle act of the film takes place in a highly specific, stylized suburban home and forest community. The production team did not just rent a house; they built massive, intricate, custom soundstage sets and physical environments in Montreal to perfectly mirror Aster’s surreal, claustrophobic storyboards.
## 3. A 3-Hour Runtime and Shifting Genres
The film spans 2 hours and 59 minutes, effectively making it the length of two standard indie movies. It features four distinct acts, each requiring entirely different:
* Production designs and set builds
* Complex practical effects and makeup work
* Costume departments and unique background extras
A typical $10 million movie stays in one or two main locations to save cash. [Beau Is Afraid] changes its entire world every 45 minutes, multiplying the cost of props, design, and crew setup times.
## 4. High Insurance and COVID-19 Protocols
Filming took place in mid-to-late 2021. Because they were employing an Oscar-winning lead actor and filming a highly complex shoot during the height of pandemic restrictions, a significant chunk of the budget—often estimated between 10% to 15% of total film costs during that era—was eaten up purely by testing, compliance officers, and massive insurance premiums to protect the production from shutting down.
That all makes sense to me after having watched it.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Top 8 Underrated Cyberpunk Movies From the 80s and Early 90s!
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