$70 Zombie Film Wows Cannes

[Kirk Langstrom]

The fact that a Zombie movie wowed ANYONE, let alone those snobs at Cannes, sounds like a feat in itself. t:

Looks good. I'll definitely check it out.

 

[Heretic]

It's a standard thing that film actors and such will work for free to build experience, a resume, get a clip for their demo reel and exposure. That's how hundreds of student films are made every year. And they're willing to work for free because they assume that more likely than not, the films won't make any money. I'm sure the folks working over the nearly 2 years on this guy's Zombie flick weren't expecting anything to come from it. But- if it does turn out to go somewhere then of course they'll expect some money from it Not to get rich, but industry standard pay for the job they did. For example, an actor with a speaking role gets about $800.00 a day. And they should- no one has a right to make money off of someone else's talent and not compensate them for it.

If the movie got national distributon, and did less than normal for a zombie flick, it would still make quite the profit to spread around.

And you're right. Just from being a fan Ive offered to help several indie directors out on their films. Music is my thing, so obviously soundtrack stuff...but also networking them with others etc...and the films never seem to get made. I know one guy who was doing a small film that needed an 18 year old female action type character for the lead...so I called a friend of mine, who is an 18 year old actress and model, quite talented and beautiful, and is a championship level martial artist trained in stunts, and convinced her to do the film for free...I got him some decent, experienced make up people, a full soundtrack WITH distribution(!!!!) and it took the director MONTHS to call back and agree to have her star in it because he was busy with his 40 hour a week job and couldnt find time to make the film. Production still hasnt started and everyone involved has backed out.

The way I see it...people either do things or they dont. They is no excuse for not going after your dreams, an if you have an excuse, it is laziness.

 

[thejon93]

Blair Witch was made for roughly 500 times the budget of this film. Still low, but hardly comparable. The dinner my girlfriend and I ate last night could have financed a sequel to this film. Its amazing. I've seen A LOT of indie horror films...and the cheap ones, while far more costly than Colin, look even cheaper. There's one in particular called Kill Syndrome which is filmed almost entirely in a rental storage shed, lit by a strand of Christmas lights, a script made up as they filmed and has the worst fx Ive ever witnessed...and still cost more to make than Colin.

I know, I was just speaking figuratively. I've heard of a lot of horror films being made for budgets no less than $1M, and that's what I was comparing it to. Normally that happens must often with horror films because it doesn't take somebody a diploma in acting to make their roles. But again, I do congratulate the whole team behind this (especially the head honcho). Like you said, I've seen movies made for budgets far beyond this film's that look like absolute, uninspired garbage, but it's nice to see that it's far from the case with this film.