When it comes to the creative arts, limitations can often lead to greater creativity. This is especially true of a film’s budget, where artists have to make do with limited props, sets, or a potential lack of special effects. Here are five stellar films that had relatively limited budgets.
Resolution (2012)
Resolution, directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead with a script written by Benson, follows two friends staying in a remote cabin. Chris is a drug addict living alone in the cabin, when his friend Michael shows up for help to get clean and sober. After putting Chris in handcuffs, mysterious things begin to occur. The film had a budget of $20,000. It premiered on April 20th, 2012, at the Tribeca Film Festival, before receiving a limited theatrical run starting January 25th, 2013, thanks to Tribeca Film.
The film stars Peter Cilella as Michael Danube, a graphic designer who goes to help his friend get sober, as well as Vinny Durran as Chris Daniels, Michael’s friend who is addicted to drugs. The film also features cameos from Benson and Moorhead as brothers Justin and Aaron, who would later become the main protagonists of their 2017 film The Endless, a pseudo sequel to Resolution.
Resolution can be watched for free on Tubi, PLEX, or the Roku Channel. It can also be rented from Amazon Prime Video or Fandango at Home.
Primer (2004)
Primer, written, directed, produced, edited, scored, and starring Shane Carruth, is an independent science fiction film focused on the accidental discovery of time travel. It was Carruth’s feature film debut, which he would follow up on in 2013 with another independent science fiction film known as Upstream Color. Shane Carruth plays Aaron, an engineer who works on tech projects in his garage, and David Sullivan plays Abe, Aaron’s friend and fellow engineer who helps on his projects. During the development of one such project, they created a machine that can form an A-to-B causal time loop, allowing them to loop back to the moment the machine was created. The film follows their initial development of the machine and how they seek to initially make money off of it. The film had a budget of $7,000 and won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic after premiering at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
Primer can be rented from YouTube, Apple TV, or Amazon Prime Video.
Time Lapse (2014)
Time Lapse, directed by Bradley D. King, is an indie sci-fi thriller focused on a group of friends discovering a machine that takes pictures from 24 hours in the future. At first, they use the photos to their benefit, taking bets to make money. However, as the days go by, things start to take a dark turn. The film stars Matt O’Leary as Finn, an apartment manager and painter, Danielle Panabaker as Callie, Finn’s girlfriend, George Finn as Jasper, Finn’s lazy roommate who enjoys betting, Amin Joseph as Big Joe, the apartment security, and Jason Spisak as Ivan, Jasper’s bookie. John Rhys-Davies plays Mr. Bezzerides, Jasper and Finn’s neighbor who owns the machine taking the mysterious photos. The film had an estimated budget of $6,000. It premiered on April 18th, 2014 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Time Lapse can be watched for free on Tubi, the Roku Channel, or Pluto TV. It can also be rented off YouTube, Fandango at Home, or Apple TV.
Mad God (2021)
Mad God, written, produced, and directed by Phil Tippett, is a stop-motion animated film focused on an assassin who is traveling through the underworld, only equipped with a map and a briefcase. Along his journey, he encounters ferocious monsters and elaborate torture machines. The film had a budget of $124,000. It premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival on August 5th, 2021, eventually releasing on Shudder on June 16th, 2022. The film was a passion project for Tippett for decades, having originally started work on the film all the way back during his time working on RoboCop 2 in 1990, which he did the visual effects for.
One major factor that makes Mad God so unique is its story, or perhaps more accurately its lack of a story. The film features no dialogue or cast, outside of sound effects from various creatures and the surrounding setting. As a result, the connection to the characters, with the main focus being the Assassin, can be difficult at times. This connection becomes even more difficult when factoring in the experimental nature of the film, as it combines the likes of stop-motion animation and live action elements.
Mad God can be watched on AMC+ or the Roku Channel. It can also be rented off Fandango at Home or Apple TV.
Iron Lung (2026)
Iron Lung, written, directed, edited and starring Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, is an independent sci-fi horror film based on the 2022 indie video game of the same name. Mark Fischbach plays Simon, a convict tasked with exploring a moon covered in an ocean of blood in a submarine nicknamed “Iron Lung”. After an event known as the “Quiet Rapture” caused nearly every star, planet, and human to vanish out of thin air, the need occurred for a search of any life form remaining in the universe. The film had an estimated budget of just over $4 million according to Fischbach in an interview on the Lemonade Stand podcast. While the budget is by far the largest of the list, what makes Iron Lung stand out is the fact that it was self-funded by Fischbach, who announced he was making the film in April 2023 on his YouTube channel after having played the game in May 2022. Markiplier’s channel has over 38 million subscribers, managing to amass over 16 million views on his initial playthrough of the game and over 12 million views on the trailer announcing the film.
While Fischbach is the main actor on screen for the bulk of the film, a number of others show up throughout, largely via voiceover. Caroline Kaplan plays Ava, the commander who talks to Simon over radio, Troy Baker plays David, an additional member of the crew who helps Simon, and both Elle LaMont and Elsie Lovelock provide the voice of the Monster.
Iron Lung can currently be watched in theaters at the time of writing.
Leave a Comment