According to IMDB (not the best source) the Budget of Jaws was about 12 Mio USD. I would say 12 Mio was a big buget for 1975! I don’t think there were a lot of Big Budget Movies round that time.
Ok the OMEN had about only 3 Mio USD. :-\
Col: Totally agree with you. You don’t need a big budget for a good horror flick but you don’t need a big budget for a good movie either. 
that’s right you don’t need a big budget to make a good horror film. Well, you generally don’t need a big budget to make a good film.
Jaws was made for 10 mio bucks according to a book by Peter Biskind, but was originally planed to make for 3,5 mio. It was one of the first film which were pushed into the cinemas with a mass start accompanied by a massive advertisement campaign. It was intended as a blockbuster and it became one. Not only the film itself was responsible for its big success.
[quote=“Stanton, post:222, topic:405”]that’s right you don’t need a big budget to make a good horror film. Well, you generally don’t need a big budget to make a good film.
Jaws was made for 10 mio bucks according to a book by Peter Biskind, but was originally planed to make for 3,5 mio. It was one of the first film which were pushed into the cinemas with a mass start accompanied by a massive advertisement campaign. It was intended as a blockbuster and it became one. Not only the film itself was responsible for its big success.[/quote]
Haha, these budget figures have been all over the place haven’t they. I read that the production budget was set at $4m and ran over to $7m. Whatever, the average budget in the mid seventies I think was around the $4m mark so Jaws was originally planned as an average budget picture. Not sure where they ran over on costs. Hopefully not that mechanical shark. But you are right Stanton, the real money spent on Jaws was on the promo. That is where their investment really paid off and that is where the modern blockbuster as we know it was born.
A perfect example of this Mark Robson’s “The Seventh Victim” (1943) which was made on a B-picture budget, and while not making complete sense (thank you Hays office!), it has some wonderfully atmospheric, more so that some of the big budget pictures that were coming at around that time.
John Welles, do you have this Val Lewton DVD box with all the horror films. If so, does it have english subs? I think it’s not regoion free.
No, unfortunetly. I saw “The Seventh Victim” a few years ago when it appeared really late at night on TV.
Anybody else who has this box?
R1 Lewton box has English, French and Spanish subs.
A lot of it was. They had major issues filming that thing. They also filmed a lot of it in the Fall…in New England! Those actors must be freezing as the water here is frigid even in the summertime!
Thanks. I would like to get it
Everybody lets list our top ten favorite all time horror movies (since I’m obsessed with making lists).
That is going to be hard :-.
I have another “rule” for my list.
(unfortunately most slashers suffer this failing)
and as suggested by Paco Roman:
Col., I think some of us did here earlier in the thread?
It’s not really a Top 10 - I selected thirteen titles to begin with - but I have enjoyed these movies enormously (in many cases more than once):
DAWN OF THE DEAD ('78) - The best in bad taste. Saw this movie nearly unprepared so I still feel the thrills of the first zombie having a snack
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON - Probably the best blend of full humour and genuine horror
ALIEN - Saw this one prepared, but not well enough: nobody had told me why John was called hurt
ALIENS - The conclusion - Rambolina in Space - is a bit over the top, but this is probably the best scifi war horror blend.
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET - Don’t worry, babe, it’s only a dream
THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL - Brilliant creepy stuff, really creepy, from a director who must have loved westerns
DON’T LOOK NOW - No, please look: this is one of the most beautiful films you’ll ever see (and it is scary to boot)
OBSESSION - I prefer this De Palma fantasy to Hitch’s Vertigo; a breathtakingly beautiful film, emotionally wrenching too: the final scene is pure schmaltz, but De Palma is the best director of melodrama in history
THE BIRDS - Like most Hitch movies this doesn’t make much sense, but that’s probably a good thing here: who needs an explanation when a film is this scary? My sister cried of fear when she first saw it as a kid
JAWS - Sharks are even more scary than birds; when my sister saw it as a teenager, she wanted to cancel a holiday in a seaside resort
BLACK WATER - Crocs can be scary too. A recent Aussie thriller of people terrorised by something down under in the water
FRANKENSTEIN - A unique film: you’re dead scared that something might happen to … the monster
M - I saw this when I was small (my parents thought I was a brave boy) and have been scared for people looking like Peter Lorre ever since
I also have trouble with coming up with only 10 titles, so I just picked ten titles that I really like currently… as you can see, most do not follow your rules 
But all of these are excellent to me in their own ways, and are not picked for being scary movies necessarily
Pieces
Touch of Death
The Beyond
Basket Case
I Drink Your Blood
Suspiria
Cannibal Holocaust
Rosemary’s Baby
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Demons
Have been saving this one for quite some time now. Really must get around to watching
[quote=“autephex, post:236, topic:405”]I also have trouble with coming up with only 10 titles, so I just picked ten titles that I really like currently… as you can see, most do not follow your rules 
But all of these are excellent to me in their own ways, and are not picked for being scary movies necessarily
Pieces
Touch of Death
The Beyond
Basket Case
I Drink Your Blood
Suspiria
Cannibal Holocaust
Rosemary’s Baby
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Demons
Have been saving this one for quite some time now. Really must get around to watching[/quote]
Thats a great list of movies. They may not follow all my rules but they follow most of them and thats enough for me.
My top ten all time
Most of these movies don’t follow all my rules either
Here is a list of old, classic horrors as opposed to more modern ones:
Forgot:
CHILD’S PLAY
The first Chucky, a real fine horror movie with a very nasty doll
Some of the (later) sequels aren’t bad either, but none of them eaquals Tom Holland’s original effort
Suppose there will be a few others
Don’t know some of the titles mentioned by others:
Night of the Seagulls
And now I can’t get Neil Diamond out of my head
And I suppose Whip and the Body is a joke?
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:239, topic:405”]Don’t know some of the titles mentioned by others:
Night of the Seagulls[/quote]
That’s the third(i think?) in the Blind Dead series (Tombs of the Blind Dead)
I’m also a big fan of the original Nightmare on Elm St. Also part 2 is underrated IMO… a unique standout in the Elm St. sequels