The horror genre is often a good way for young creators how to get their foot in the door and make a feature film for a relatively small amount of money. People like to get scared, and they don't need big-budget movies to achieve it. The old rule states that sometimes the scariest thing is something people can't see.
This can include demons, ghosts, or killers hiding in the dark and only striking from time to time. The horror film genre has a long history, and throughout the decades, many films made a lot of money at the initial box office even though their budget was very low, at least in comparison to the majority of Hollywood films.
10 Psycho (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock has the reputation of one of the best horror film directors of all time. Despite that, Hitchcock only directed a few horror movies and mostly focused on thrillers. Psycho is the exception to this rule and it still works even now. Every horror fan now knows Norman Bates, not just thanks to this film but also the TV series Bates Motel.
Interestingly enough, even though the film's budget was only 800 thousand dollars, Hitchcock had trouble getting the finance for it and had to use his own money. It worked out well for him since the film made the box office of 50 million.
9 Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Making low-budget horrors that earn a lot of money isn't a modern trend. George A. Romero is known as the father of zombie films, and it all started with this movie. Before him, zombies have rarely appeared in films, and if they did, they weren't portrayed as brain and flesh-eating monsters. Romero had a budget of 114 thousand dollars and the box office was 30 million.
Since the original budget was even lower, mere 12 thousand dollars, it forced the creative team to improvise. For example, the blood used in the film was chocolate syrup or red ink.
8 Carrie (1976)
Stephen King has the reputation of the king of horror. Even among his dozens of books, Carrie holds a special position since it was King's first book... and first film adaptation made just two years after the release of the film. Carrie tells the story of a bullied shy girl who gets supernatural powers and gets revenge on her tormentors.
Not so many people believed the film would turn out to be a success. Its budget was 1.8 million dollars and King only got 2500 dollars for selling the movie rights. The film presented a pleasant surprise since its box office was 33 million. It also got two Oscar nominations, one for the titular Carrie played by Sissy Spacek, unlike its 2013 remake.
7 Halloween (1978)
Another horror classic came in 1978 and helped set up a different genre - the popular slasher movie. The story of the murderer Michael Myers led to a series of spin-offs and it also brought Jamie Lee Curtis to fame.
Jamie Lee Curtis gained the reputation of the original scream queen. She even reprised her role many years later. The film's budget was 325 thousand dollars and Halloween's box office was 70 million dollars.
6 Friday The 13th (1980)
Speaking of the slasher genre, Friday the 13th is another classic that has spawned plenty of sequels over the decades, including one in space. And just like Halloween, it led to multiple sequels.
The story is well familiar to horror fans and even spawned a video game of the same name years after. A mysterious murderer haunts a group of young people at Crystal Lake. The film cost 550 thousand dollars and its box office was 59 million.
5 Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986)
Even though it's not as famous as other horror films, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer still has a lot to offer to all interested in the topic. The horror film was loosely based on real events, more specifically the crimes of Henry Lee Lucas.
Back in the 1980s, it was a controversial movie after it came out and it still remains so to this day. The movie cost only about 100 thousand dollars and its box office reached over 600 thousand dollars.
4 The Blair Witch Project (1999)
By far one of the most famous low-budget horror films that turned out to be extremely successful is The Blair Witch Project. The film used clever viral internet marketing in times when online marketing was still new.
It convinced people that the events portrayed in the film were real and that the characters were indeed missing. The film cost 60 thousand dollars to make and its box office was 248 million.
3 Saw (2004)
Just like multiple horror films, Saw also started its own series with many sequels. But what many fans of the franchise might not know is that the first film might not have ever existed. The director James Wan was just starting out at the time and he had trouble getting financing for his film.
The original plan was for Saw to go straight to video. After its success at the Sundance Film Festival, Lionsgate decided to run it in theaters, and the rest is history. With a budget of 1.2 million dollars, Saw's box office was 103 million.
2 Paranormal Activity (2007)
Sometimes all it takes to start a successful horror film franchise is as little money as 15 thousand dollars. That's what the first part of the Paranormal Activity series cost to make back in 2007. The creators only needed a week to make this film about a young woman haunted by a demon.
Even though the director had no previous film experience, Paranormal Activity went on to become a huge success. It had a box office of 193 million dollars, almost 13000 more than what it cost to make the film in the first place.
1 Get Out (2017)
Meeting a partner's parents for the first time can be stressful and sometimes it can go seriously wrong. Get Out shows such an extreme case of things going wrong. Young photographer Chris realizes that his white girlfriend's family is hiding something sinister from him.
Get Out was the first time director Jordan Peele focused on a different genre than comedy. It cost 4.5 million dollars, a relatively small budget, and its box office was 225 million. What's more, the film got multiple Oscar nominations, including the one for the best picture.