How to Make Horror Movies Cheaply

One of the models I have been observing a lot in trying to emulate in my career is adapting Jason Blum’s recipe for success in making successful films which is based on making movies in-expensively and giving more control to the directors. While the directors don’t make any money up-front, they get more creative control and rights to profits once the movie is released in theater. He promises that everyone will make their money back by VOD and DVD release.

This “cheap” model with creator-control has worked for him and his team. In an interview with Total Film, Blum stresses that it’s all about making a film with a “high concept, but small budget.” -And by the numbers in the box office anyone can see that this is a successful model to follow as the top grossing films (which a lot are horror-related) are the most memorable movies of our time. Whether we particularly like the horror genre or not.

In an example that was pointed out in an article entitled “Big Bang, Small Cost” by The Hollywood Reporter, “Nearly everything about horror movies is less expensive than typical Hollywood releases: production costs, development and star salaries.” (Example: Insidious: Chapter 2 cost $5 million and is nearing $90 million at the worldwide box office.) Many of these movies include Jason Blum’s titles that fall under his very famous horror movie production house, Blumhouse Entertainment. Now anyone can expect that if there’s a horror movie coming to the theaters and it has Jason’s name attached, it will be a very memorable and bloody-good experience. The research I’ve done in the last year for my movie has been completely centered around “good horror move, for cheap.” -So it’s been important for me to acclimate myself with the big players in the business that got this model down to a science.

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