Low-Budget Classics
Ranked by (inflation-adjusted) budget, cheapest first.
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- DirectorRobert RodriguezStarsCarlos GallardoConsuelo GómezJaime de HoyosA traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.$7k- About $15k in 2023 money
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.$10k- About $50k in 2023 money
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonMarilyn GhigliottiA day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.$27k- About $55k in 2023 money
- DirectorJames Ward ByrkitStarsEmily BaldoniMaury SterlingNicholas BrendonStrange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.$50k- About $65k in 2023 money
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsDivineDavid LocharyMary Vivian PearceNotorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".$10k- About $72k in 2023 money
(John Waters and George Romero movies could fill out half this list, on their own, so I only kept their cheapest respective movies, which also happen to be their best-known. Female Trouble, Dawn of the DeadDesperate Living, Polyester, and The Crazies all got trimmed) - DirectorFrank HenenlotterStarsKevin VanHentenryckTerri Susan SmithBeverly BonnerA young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed, formerly conjoined twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.$35k- About $106k in 2023 dollars
- DirectorDaniel MyrickEduardo SánchezStarsHeather DonahueMichael C. WilliamsJoshua LeonardThree film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.$60k- About $108k in 2023 money
- DirectorMike CheslikStarsRyland Brickson Cole TewsOlivia GravesDoug MancheskiIn this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.$150k
- DirectorTrey ParkerStarsTrey ParkerDian BacharStephen BlackpoolThe sole survivor of an ill-fated mining expedition tells how his taste for gold was replaced by that of human flesh.$125k- About $262k in 2023 money
- DirectorPenelope SpheerisStarsEugene TatuAlice Bag BandBlack FlagA look into the Los Angeles punk rock scene, that was largely ignored by the rock music press of the time.$100k- About $330k in 2023 money
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.$111k- About $350k in 2023 money
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsTerry PotterPete O'HerneCraig SmithThe population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.$200k- About $530k in 2023 money
- DirectorWes CravenStarsSandra PeabodyLucy GranthamDavid HessTwo teenage girls heading to a rock concert for one's birthday try to score marijuana in the city, where they are kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychopathic convicts.$90k- About $650k in 2023 money
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittLukas HaasEmilie de RavinA teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.$475k- About $730k in 2023 money
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsBarry NewmanCleavon LittleCharlotte RamplingDuring the 1970s, car-delivery driver Kowalski delivers hot rods in record time, but always runs into trouble.$150k- About $850k in 2023 money
- DirectorMartin DavidsonStephen VeronaStarsSylvester StalloneHenry WinklerPerry KingTwo members of a social club in 1950s Brooklyn have more interest in romance than in rumbles.$160k- About $976k in 2023 money
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsNicole de BoerMaurice Dean WintDavid HewlettA group of strangers awaken to find themselves placed in a giant cube. Each one of them is gifted with a special skill and they must work together to escape an endless maze of deadly traps.$525k- About $980k in 2023 money
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.$114k- About $985k in 2023 money
- DirectorPaul BartelStarsMary WoronovPaul BartelRobert BeltranA relatively boring Los Angeles couple discovers a bizarre, if not murderous, way to get funding for opening a restaurant.$350k- About $1.01mil in 2023 money
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPaul HamptonJoe SilverLynn LowryThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.$185k Canadian CAD in 1975; Around $1.01mil in 2023 USD
- DirectorTommy WirkolaStarsJeppe Beck LaursenCharlotte FrognerJenny SkavlanA ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.$800k- About $1.1mil in 2023 money
- DirectorWes CravenStarsSusan LanierRobert HoustonJohn SteadmanOn the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.$230k- About $1.1mil in 2023 money
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonJoanne SamuelHugh Keays-ByrneIn a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.$300k- About $1.2mil in 2023 money
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsGene EvansRobert HuttonSteve BrodieA ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.$100k- About $1.2mil in 2023 money
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.$350k- About $1.2mil in 2023 money