Splatter Flicks:
How to Make Low-Budget Horror Films
Book Review
Even if you aren’t a budding horror maestro itching to lens your first indie testament to terror, you will learn a lot about how good movies get made, not just horrors, in Sara Caldwell’s Splatter Flicks: How to Make Low-Budget Horror Films. The reading is smooth as pâté spiced with essential experiences and guidance from pros in the field who worked themselves through and upward in their filmmaking craft.
I have watched quite a few horror movies over the years, beginning with Shock! Theater and the television horror hosts. I was seven when my parents, short of a babysitter, took me to The Terror. I sat between them, barely comprehending the movie (which I found out, years later, no one else did either), and never forgot watching the love interest melting like a wax candle in the arms of Jack Nicholson at the end. With movies like that, you kind of wish this book was available back then.
There are so many elements that go into making a worthwhile, an entertaining, and a good movie, especially one that aims to scare you. Caldwell breaks it down logically and concisely, outlining the functional aspects involved with making a low-budget horror film: the dynamics of the miniscule budget you are working with; what should be in the script and what to keep out; the joys and sorrows of funding your magnum opus on a shoestring; the essential pre-production phase; the often nail-biting production phase, and getting a grip on the whole enterprise from team members, props, catering, permits, insurance, actors, to eventually realizing your inner directing goals through the camera and editing.
Even if the goal is to make a quick buck-or-two sale to a streamer, at least make it watchable. I can’t believe how many movies I channel surf to, start, and within five minutes toss the remote at the screen. Whether due to clumsy direction, an awkward script or a poor actor in the wrong role, the movies were duds.
This book will help keep you from making duds. While not exhaustive—no one book could be—Caldwell provides a complete and essential foundation to be aware of and to build on, especially because of that low budget. More importantly, it is a fun read with important explanations and definitions that will elevate you up a notch from being a pure newbie to a more knowledgeable novice. …
Splatter Flicks:
How to Make Low-Budget Horror Films
Book ReviewRead More »