Here is something for the many horror movies fans we luckilly have here.

Many famous directors started their careers with horror movies that are considered cult among horror movies fans. The 70s and 80s have been great times for independet horror features and most of them are still watched and remembered nowadays. But even nowadays some great and/or successful independent horror movies show up now and then.


HERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE I FOUND ON INDEPENDENT HORROR CINEMA:


http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/9707/offscre ... orror.html

Here are some of the most prominent examples:

60s:

Night of the Living Dead

70s:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Last House on the left
Halloween

80s:

Re-Animator
Evil Dead
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
Bad Taste

90s:

Brain Dead (a.k.a. Dead Alive)
The Prophecy
The Blair Witch Project

2000s:

Cabin Fever
Open Water
Shaun of the Dead
Saw



So if anyone wants to discuss these movies (most of which I have seen) or add some that he thinks are missing on that list, feel free to post that.

I will go into more detail later, but I wanted to say I did notice a sort of trend in big action director's starts in horror. Riami, Jackson...

I wonder why it is? Maybe low-budget horror has a fan base that is very appreciative of what can be accomplished without millions of dollars? Or maybe they actually have different discipline for style and pacing, etc. I didn't even know Jackson had done horror flicks until after I saw Fellowship of the Ring, so I was a bit surprised. But now then I noticed how he build up all the make-up for the characters, and has a good sense of timing a lighting. These things are very important in horror, especially for starting up directors.

I dont think Bollywood makes any horror films. I think it has to do with the taboo in India

These directors have shown their utter devotion to their projects which also reflects in their big projects. Also out of all movies, for some reason horror movies or at least supernaturally-themed movies are for some reason more likely to become cult films than movies of other genres. And even though Sam Raimi hasn't made anything really outstanding after Evil Dead (The Quick and the Dead and A Simple Plan are not really masterpieces, in my opinion) his name was still remembered among most movie-fans. I just think that to make a daring horror movie that both critics and audiences like is a big challenge and the studios who gave these directors the benemoth projects like Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings realized that.

Now that makeshift is back, maybe he can make a comment or two on here!

I think the reason you see a lot of genre filmmakers going on to make huge blockbusters later in their career is because first and foremost they are fans of film. They have watched and studied film for years and years of their life, so they know how to shoot a good film. This is why you see more creative energy in a little independent horror flick then in a big budget studio drama. It's because fans are making the film. They've seen the masters like Argento and Bava with all of their weird camera tricks and abstract lighting, and they want to make their films look that cool. It gives them a distinct advantage over other filmmakers where they already have the desire to make a unique picture because they want to be like their heros. Pretty much, I think the success of genre filmmakers can be traced back to the fact that they are fanboys.