This might be a poor question in that I have insufficient background knowledge even to construct it properly. But:
I watch a fair amount of movies streamed on Netflix, and as a dilettante of horror (although not an aficionado), many such films fall within that genre. Because Netflix dramatically lowers viewing cost I see a lot of movies I wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to. This is true particularly for films from independent studios or meant for DVD. Although most of these aren’t very good*, a lot of them seem to have rather high production values: large casts, on-location filming, costumes and makeup of reasonable quality.
How much does all of this tend to cost? Where does the money come from? I’ve never known anyone to buy a made-for-DVD flick; is the market more energetic than my experience would tell me? How much revenue could such a film expect to bring in, and through what vectors? It baffles me a little that investing months of work and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a direct-to-DVD horror flick could reap good returns.
[sub]* Films made within the US, at least. A majority of the quality independent horror I’ve seen, although by no means all, is imported (European and Japanese; but Korea and Australia aren’t slouches). I don’t know what difference this makes.[/sub]
Horror is one of the very few genres that plays equally well, world-wide. Comedies, dramas, etc., tend to be more cultural and don’t always translate as well to foreign markets. But horror… put a salacious cover, give it a decent title, and it will sell in almost all markets. I once had an exec at a small independent studio tell me that if you spent a million dollars or less on a horror film, made it at least relatively watchable, put a good cover on it and gave it a decent title, you were almost guaranteed to make your money back, plus. You can’t say that about any other genre. They’re just good investments for film financiers, who aren’t looking to make a fortune but want to at least make something of a profit.
I used to buy almost every direct to DVD zombie that I could find. I used to love collecting zombie movies. Some were gems some were awwwful.
I know some people who would do the same for cryptid movies.
Huh. I suppose that jibes with my experience; I haven’t noticed a lot of small-studio romances or dramas (at least not without elements of the horror or thriller genres). I assumed that I merely overlook such films due to the bias of selectivity. Still, I’d have to imagine that even low-budget horror—with its makeup and special effects—requires greater investment than a comedy with comparable production values. Horror must be considerably more popular among those who would consume low-budget films.
And I guess that jibes too, because I’ve heard of people exceedingly into horror fandom (exemplified by Push You Down) but not, say, comedy.
Does anyone know if revenues mostly from individual consumers purchasing the films for personal viewing? Or from rental(-like) establishments? I wonder if Netflix is a boon or a detriment to such studios … they get money for me to watch, but they must lose a significant amount for each person who would’ve bought the film were it not readily and more-or-less freely available.
Shucks, I bought one just a few weeks ago, based on the trailer and on the recommendation of a reviewer I trust. Haven’t even watched it yet. This is the one: Fugue.
Keep in mind that the terrible foreign horror movies just don’t make it over here; there’s no incentive to export those, so we tend to only see the cream of the crop. If you want to see something for free (again, haven’t watched it yet myself), there’s an Australian movie called The Tunnel that they’re distributing for free via torrent. You can get the link from the movie’s website. Can’t complain about free stuff, right?