What are the weird, low budget movies you’ve been enjoying lately?
Oh man here I come to plug my favorite low budget or indy-ish sci-fi movies!
First, Coherence (2013). This movie was quite low budget but doesn’t feel like it because the story is so engaging. The hours I spent reading about this movie, reviewing timelines, etc after I watched it… It’s a great film and the discussions and theories about it are exactly the type of rabbit hole I love.
Resolution (2012) has a unique and interesting concept, but I mention it mostly because it is low budget and related to The Endless (2018) which is pushing the definition of low budget but is phenomenal. The story lines overlap and Resolution came out first, but I watched The Endless before I’d ever heard of Resolution and I think I prefer that watch order, honestly. Both are great films though and worth the watch if you’re interested in cosmic horror/sci-fi type stories.
Clicked through intending to suggest Coherence, thrilled to see you beat me to it!
Ahh nice another obscure sci-fi fan. I tell everyone who will listen how great that movie is.
Coherence is fantastic. If this thread wasn’t about low budget movies, but instead about some of the best mind bending movies, this would probably still be my answer. If you haven’t seen it, I’d certainly recommend checking it out.
Not super low budget but there is something about Run Lola Run that makes it feel low budget and there are some weird parts to it as well.
Primer (2004) if you like time travel and being confused
An excellent summary. This was my answer too.
Low budget time travel is almost better than high budget time travel.
It’s gotta be The Room for me. A perfect balance of fun bad and cringe, quotable as hell too
I 100% recommend watching any movie made by Neil Breen, if you are looking for a bizarre low-budget movie. I remember watching Fateful Findings a few years ago and every scene from it felt so surreal (but unintentionally so). The final scene blew my mind that such a movie could even exist.
I finally got around to watching Brian and Charles last night, and can’t get over how good it was.
But despite coming out almost a year ago, I only know of one other person who’s seen it, and he’s the one that recommended it to me.
Monsters (2010) is one of my favorite low budget films. Shot for half a million. Lots and lots of the things shot on location were later modified in post, like signage changed to have warnings about the alien quarantine zone.
“NASA discovered a few years ago the real possibility of alien life and consequently a probe was set up and launched in order to collect sample. After crashing during the re-entry over Central America, new life forms began to appear and spread rapidly. Half of Mexico is quarantined as an infected zone. In this context we follow the story of a US journalist escorting his bosses’s daughter through this area to the United States.”
Super 8 (2011) and Brazil (1985)
…Brazil low budget?
I cant edit comments in my app yet so… Edit: I missed the weird part. So not Super 8 but definitely Brazil lol.
Neither of those films are anywhere near low budget. Super 8 was a CGI blockbuster film. Brazil cost $15MM in 1985. Back to the future came out that same year and had a budget of $19MM, ET had a LOWER budget than Brazil. Both are great films, neither are low budget.
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011). Not Rutger Hauer’s absolute finest work, Roy. But it has it’s moments!
One of my favorite movies was lowest of the low in terms of budget lol. It is called Beer Money and I think it was a USA Original back when I was in high school. It took me YEARS to find a file of it online and now it’s on my Plex server and I keep a copy on a USB stick just in case. It sucks and it’s hilarious.
Can’t forget Dark Star.
The teach-the-bomb-philosophy scene is one of the greatest moments in sci-fi comedy.
We recently watched Hellbender (2021). Not your average horror flick, but definitely worth a watch and they really make the most out of their tiny budget.
On edit: Fixed the title of the film (Hellbenders -> Hellbender).OoOoOoh man, The Roost was an excellent, incredibly low-budget horror movie. The plot is rudimentary, but the pacing and tenseness is pervasive.
Also, it’s got cheeky, late-night horror flic aesthetic. May not be good, but I love it a lot.
I just watched Follow Her. It’s not really low budget but more a B Grade thriller. But I really enjoyed it. Good story, a few twists. I won’t say any more in case of spoilers.
Mythica: A Quest for Heroes was fun. Came out awhile ago but only recently watched it with some friends. We’re now intending to check out the entire Mythica series!
