# The good cheapo movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091 "2005-07-12T00:28:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/21 "2005-07-12T20:10:45Z")
Who could forget **[The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra](http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thelostskeletonofcadavra/)**? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/22 "2005-07-12T21:21:33Z")
Can’t believe I get to be the first: [The Last Broadcast](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122143/). Made for, if I recall, under $1,000; shot on digital and edited on a home computer. Nice little chiller; if you watch it, you’ll notice a distinct resemblance to the idea of _The Blair Witch Project_; but _The Last Broadcast_ was made first, was actually cheaper, and was better, possibly because it used an actual script. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/23 "2005-07-12T23:53:25Z")
> [@Cat Fight](#): > > If you liked **Dead End** , including Lin Shaye, you may also enjoy the upcoming [2001 Maniacs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264323/), which also stars Shaye, this time as a fading Southern belle. And a cannibal. And a killer. In a Civil War village whose inhabitants prey on Yankee outsiders. It’s so ridiculously offensive and politically incorrect, it must be seen by all. Also, there’s a great remix of “The South Will Rise Again.” Looking forward to it. It’s a remake of H. Gordon Lewis’s 2000 Maniacs. I love H. Gordon. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/24 "2005-07-13T05:03:55Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > I just watched a little movie called “ **Dead End.** ” There are several movies by that title. Which did you see? The 1937 one that introduced the Dead End Kids was the first thing I thought of. But that was a big budget “A” movie. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/25 "2005-07-13T06:21:21Z")
**The Gods Must Be Crazy** - I can’t find how much it cost, but I’d guess it’s under a million. Googling turned up that the film’s writer/director/producer/editor, Jamie Uys, died in 1996. It’s too bad; he could do a lot with a little. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/26 "2005-07-13T14:01:04Z")
**Swingers** had the look of a cheap-o indie film, but I don’ t know if that’s from actual cheap-o-ness or an artistic choice. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/27 "2005-07-13T14:43:41Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > There are several movies by that title. Which did you see? The 1937 one that introduced the Dead End Kids was the first thing I thought of. But that was a big budget “A” movie. > **[Dead End (2003) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308152/)** > > Dead End: Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa. With Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Alexandra Holden. Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years.... ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/28 "2005-07-13T17:15:46Z")
Two early films by Jim Jarmusch: _Stranger Than Paradise_ and _Down by Law_. Maybe slow going for some, but I thought they were a hoot. Also a few by Hal Hartley: I liked _The Unbelievable Truth_, _Trust_ and _Simple Men_. ---
**Author:** ![phoebo32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@phoebo32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phoebo32)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/29 "2005-07-13T19:46:11Z")
I thought that _Thirteen_ was a very good low budget movie. It’s quite funny if you watch it with the audio commentary they spend ages talking about how they filmed scenes on such a low budget i.e the car scene the cast pushed the car from behind while the camera guy sat in a shopping trolley (or something along those lines.) Very neat. Holly Hunter is incredibly fantastic, and fully worth watching the movie for. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/30 "2005-07-14T22:52:26Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > … > the Corman-Price-Poe pictures I came in here just to mention Roger Corman. His Poe films are great, although you mentioned Vincent Price but left out Peter Lorre - see _The Cask of Amontillado_ for one that just wouldn’t be the same without him. Try Corman’s [book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306808749/qid=1121380747/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-2907489-9296929?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) about his career for some good hints on keeping the budget down. For example, he had rented a ghost town for the weekend to shoot a western, and finished within the two days, even though the female lead fell off a horse and broke her leg. He says they rearranged the shooting schedule and rewrote the script so she could finish her scenes sitting down, and did it all before the ambulance arrived from the nearest town. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/31 "2005-07-14T23:14:20Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Also a few by Hal Hartley: I liked _The Unbelievable Truth_, _Trust_ and _Simple Men_. I came here to mention _Trust_. I couldn’t find a site for how much it cost to make, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/32 "2005-07-15T01:58:43Z")
Citizen Kane was a low budget picture. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/33 "2005-07-15T02:12:31Z")
No, it wasn’t. _Citizen Kane_ was the biggest budgeted movie RKO made that year, and RKO was one of the seven major studios. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/34 "2005-07-15T02:44:38Z")
**Detour** is a good film noir that was apparently very cheap to make. Unfortunatly, few people have heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/35 "2005-07-15T11:53:24Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > No, it wasn’t. _Citizen Kane_ was the biggest budgeted movie RKO made that year, and RKO was one of the seven major studios. How Green was my Valley had almost twice the budget of Kane $1,250,000 compared to $685,000 for Kane. Sgt York was $1,400,000 but then again The Maltese Falcon only had a budget of $300,000. So I guess Kane is a middle budget picture. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/36 "2005-07-15T17:29:56Z")
John McTernian’s first film, _Nomads_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/37 "2005-07-15T17:52:10Z")
**The Incredible Shrinking Man** and the original 1950s D.O.A.\*\* were both literally “B” movies – meaning movies that were given low budgets. They’re really good, though. So is **Panic in Year Zero** , a low budget science fiction film about Ray Milland frantically trying to save his family after the commies nuke L.A. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/38 "2005-07-15T20:22:29Z")
“Hester Street” is one of my favorites. It’s about Jewish life in the lower east side around 1900. Carol Kane is wonderful in it; makes you wish she’d not spent all the rest of her career doing broad comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/39 "2005-07-21T14:17:40Z")
For a long, long time, [Manos, the Hands of Fate](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/combined) was King of the Hill on IMDB’s worst movie list. I think it should still be there. Two incredibly telling points from IMDB’s trivia about how cheap the movie was: Filmed entirely with a handheld camera that could only record thirty seconds of film at a time. The film was shot without sound; all the lines were later dubbed by only three people - two men and one woman. The only two members of the cast that were paid for their performances were Jackey Neyman and the Doberman. Jackey got a bicycle and the Doberman got a bag of dog food. Every other member of the cast was to be paid by a cut of the movie’s profits, which, of course, never materialized. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091/40 "2005-07-21T15:16:17Z")
_Eating Raoul_: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083869/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083869/) Budget: 350k. Excellent movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-cheapo-movies/312091.md?page=3)