Why are 90% of indy or homemade films horrors?

David summed it up nicely.

Callaghan and I are writing a feature currently (37 pages in) that is a horror and I'm doing it purely to shop the script for an option or do it myself, low budget style. it is being writtten with realistic resources in mind.

I like the genre and there is a market for it.

Horror definitely has its market and many a director has gotten their start in the genre or has contributed to it:

Spielberg - Duel, Jaws
De Palma - Carrie, Sisters, Obsession, Dressed to Kill, Body Double
Hooper - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist
Carpenter - Halloween, The Fog, The Thing
Hictcock - Phycho,
Kubrick - The Shining
Raimi - The Evil Dead's
Roth - Cabin Fever, Hostel
Cronenberg - Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, The Fly
Rob Zombie - House of a 1000 Corpses, The Devils Rejects
Craven - Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream
Jackson - Dead Alive, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners

And to further support:

The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by: Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
Budget: $35,000 Budget: $140,530,000
Shot on: 16mm and Hi 8


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>The film was marketed as a documentary <LI class=text>The three lead actors shot much of the film <LI class=text>Nearly all the dialogue was improvised <LI class=text>Before the film was released, the three main actors were listed as “Missing—Presumed Dead” on IMDB.com ?
  • The movie made the Guinness Book Of World Records for budget/box office ratio
Eraserhead (1977)
Directed by: David Lynch
Budget: $10,000 Budget: $7,000,000
Shot on: 35mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>The film took five years to complete <LI class=text>John Nance kept his hair in “Eraserhead” fashion for the duration of the project <LI class=text>The original script was only 20 pages long, making financing a difficult task <LI class=text>David Lynch still will not reveal how the baby was created <LI class=text>It was one of Stanley Kubrick favorite films
  • Lynch headed up nearly every department on the film, with credits for the music, editing, art direction, sound and special effects
The Evil Dead (1981)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Budget: $150,000 Budget: $2,400,000
Shot on: 16mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>The famous “eyeball-in-the-mouth” scene was inspired by the Three Stooges? <LI class=text>Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell began their collaboration in high school, where they made many Super8 films with Sam’s brother, Ted <LI class=text>The film’s title was changed from Book of the Dead, as producers feared that kids wouldn’t see a movie with the word “book” in the title <LI class=text>The Arabic passages read from The Book of the Dead translate to: “Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi are the men on the side of the road”
  • To film the opening sequence, Raimi shot from a dingy while Campbell pushed him
The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by: William Friedkin
Budget: $12,000,000 Budget: $128,660,000


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>Friedkin was known to “scare” his actors into character, firing a gun before saying “action”—and reportedly even slapping someone across the face <LI class=text>Ellen Burstyn suffered a permanet spinal injury when a harness pulled her away from Regan’s bed too quickly, throwing her to the floor... The scene remains intact. <LI class=text>The Exorcist crew was the only Amercan film crew ever allowed to shoot in Iraq <LI class=text>In the original script, Burstyn’s character stated “I believe in the devil.” She would only agree to make the film if the line was removed.
  • Directorial duties for were first offered to John Boorman, who declined because he thought the film was cruel to children... Boorman later directed its sequel, The Exorcist II: The Heretic.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
Budget: $700,000 Budget: $56,920,431
Shot on: 35mm
Did you know:
n The producers wanted Sally Field for the lead?
n Tom Savini came up with the idea for Jason’s “re-emergence” at the end of the film, and would sneak into theaters during the last five minutes to see how the audience reacted
Halloween (1978)
Directed by: John Carpenter
Budget: $325,000 Budget: $65,500,000
Shot on: 35mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>Because filming took place in the spring, set designers had to purchase paper leaves and paint them... To save money, the same leaves were used throughout the film. <LI class=text>The film is set in Haddonfield, Illinois, but all of the cars have California license plates <LI class=text>Michael Myers wears a William Shatner mask <LI class=text>The entire film was shot in 21 days
  • Halloween is one of the most successful independent films ever made
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Directed by: George A. Romero
Budget: $114,000
Shot on: 35mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>Tom Savini was originally hired to do the make-up, but was called for military duty in Vietnam <LI class=text>Duane Jones is the first African-American to play a lead role in a horror film <LI class=text>Columbia Pictures passed on the film because it was in black and white... In 1990, however, the studio released the colorized version. <LI class=text>The zombies were paid $1 for their work—along with a T-shirt that claimed “I was a zombie in Night of the Living Dead”
  • One of the film’s investors was a butcher, who paid Romero in blood and guts
Scream (1996)
Directed by: Wes Craven
Budget: $15,000 Budget: $140,000
Shot on: 35mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>Drew Barrymore was originally cast in the lead... She dropped out because of scheduling conflicts, but offered to play the role of “Casey.” <LI class=text>When the MPAA asked Craven to cut the stabbing of Casey, he claimed (falsely) that he had only shot it once? The scene remains intact. <LI class=text>Approximately 50 gallons of fake blood were used during the production? <LI class=text>In his role as Fred, the janitor, Craven wears the same outfit as Freddy Krueger
  • The film’s original title was Scary Movie
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Budget: $55,000,000 Budget: $293,502,000
Shot on: 35mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>The movie was shot in sequence <LI class=text>Shyamalan pitched The Sixth Sense as “The Exorcist meets Ordinary People”
  • The film was 2000’s top video and DVD, with more than 80 million rentals
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Budget: $140,000 Budget: $30,859,000
Shot on: 16mm


Did you know:
  • <LI class=text>Leatherface is based on serial killer Ed Gein <LI class=text>The film was shot in chronological order <LI class=text>Hooper had intended to get a PG rating
  • Many of the actors claim that, because of the shooting conditions, much of the blood in the film is real— their own!
 
I've gotten to the point where i would never even consider doing a horror or anything related because i feel like i'd just be contributing to the already killed and overdone wealth of low-budget indy horrors.
Click to expand...

It's no just the horror market that reflects this.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Horror definitely has its market and many a director has gotten their start in the genre or has contributed to it:

Spielberg - Duel, Jaws
De Palma - Carrie, Sisters, Obsession, Dressed to Kill, Body Double
Hooper - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist
Carpenter - Halloween, The Fog, The Thing
Hictcock - Phycho,
Kubrick - The Shining
Raimi - The Evil Dead's
Roth - Cabin Fever, Hostel
Cronenberg - Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, The Fly
Rob Zombie - House of a 1000 Corpses, The Devils Rejects
Craven - Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream
Jackson - Dead Alive, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners
Click to expand...

I'd also like to add to that list: Francis Ford Coppola, who got his start directing Dementia 13 for Roger Corman, and would later go on to make Bram Stoker's Dracula.
 
Gratuity is the enemy of filmmaking and I think the more gratuitous they are, the more we're moving backwards in evolution... Hey quit with stupid movies..." make some decent ones instead.
PEACE!
 
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Yes it does.

The 80's were filled with gratuitous horror films and they made a mint off of them. Calling a film pointless due to gratuitousness in the lack of connection.

Gratuity sells. Oh yes it does.

I found this off some sites but agree wholeheartedly

10. Halloween
What´s creepier than a little kid slapping on a clown mask and going O.J. on his sister? Having his sis be topless and cheerfully postcoital when he does it. It adds a whole sick incestuous dimension to an already messed up premise. The original nailed it perfectly in one five-minute sequence. Hear that, Mr. Zombie? No need for strippers or Nazareth.

9. Hostel
Ah, Europe (well, young American´s fetishized, imaginary version of Europe, anyway)—a place where supermodel-level former Eastern Bloc chicks can´t wait to ride doughy Yankee bodies like they´re the last horses out of town pre-Cossack invasion. Of course, there does turn out to be a catch. But who needs an Achilles tendon when you get ass like this as a trade-off?

7. Friday the 13th
You can´t really mess with a classic formula like this. A summer camp. A remote cabin. Two teenagers. Enough raging hormones to power a load lifter. The old "have sex, then die" routine was born out of scenes like this; and it´s a reason why Friday endures. So many boys became men during the course of this franchise.

6. The Return of the Living Dead
This slightly-decomposing-tongue-in-pockmarked-cheek take on the zombie movie gave itself a little challenge: How do you surpass the legendary George Romero? More zombies? No. Bloodier deaths? Not really. Aha! How about a random striptease in the middle of a cemetery? Talk about earning your paycheck.

5. Halloween
That´s right, the John Carpenter flick scores a second spot on the list. All you have to say to die-hard Halloween fans is "see anything you like?" and they know exactly what you´re talking about: a pigtailed P.J. Soles giving a sheet-covered Michael Myers a little prestab eye candy. Such perfection once again begs the question: What the hell was Rob Zombie thinking? You can´t hang with the Carpenter, man.

1. Carrie
Brian De Palma, if there was some kind of gratuitous nudity award (The Pokies?), you would earn yourself a lifetime achievement award for Carrie alone. Few directors go for nudity DURING THE OPENING CREDITS. Even fewer go for FULL BUSH SHOTS IN THE OPENING CREDITS. You are a wonder, Mr. De Palma. Our jaws are forever agape at your work. Just…wow.

Sex sells, violence sells ............. that's the connection.

The funny thing is, gratuity isn't necessarily pointless. I have a scene in my feature I'm writing with a woman in a shower and you can be damned sure I'm going to show it. Cutting away or composing as to not offend the puritans is the pointless approach.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
The funny thing is, gratuity isn't necessarily pointless. I have a scene in my feature I'm writing with a woman in a shower and you can be damned sure I'm going to show it. Cutting away or composing as to not offend the puritans is the pointless approach.
Click to expand...

You mean NUDITY isn't necessarily pointless right? Because gratuity by definition is pointless.

Why are you showing the nudity? Titillation?
 
Gratuitous violence and gore as a form of entertainment is on my short list of humanity's problems... but nobody ever wants to admit the connection to unintended consequences for anything... how many cigarette smokers do you know that admit cigarettes cause cancer? Pff.. none... they all have to make statements to minimize the habit or refute the facts because of some thing they read... and the same goes for fans of gratuitous violence and gore. That stuff isn't making the world a better place and it doesn't raise the standards for story telling either.

Every genre is getting more gratuitous these days... (think Indy 4)... and all it does is make normal movies that can stand on quality production and story... win the awards. It's like the junk-food industry has finally merged with filmmaking.



Don't ever put Hitchcock in with massacre, living dead, or freddie movies... there's a really big difference and anybody who can't see that is incapabable of evaluating anything.

Horror and "scary" thriller are not the same.

Jaws isn't horror either... again... thriller.

Call them what you want... if you want to call 'em horror go ahead, but if you think they're in the same camp as that other junk you're nuts.
 
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lack of good content will always surface T&A and/or violence.
These substitute writers more than anything else.
 
i guess i just didn't know what gratuitous meant. I was thinking it meant like no purpose. IE no plot and such. You guys win. I withdraw.
 
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