Random procrastination top ten film related post time... just listened to a podcast on The Filmgroup, a short lived production company established by Roger Corman in the late 50s to distribute some films he helped finance and occasionally directed. No blockbusters among them .- indeed, Corman thought it wasn't even worth copyrighting the films (you had to pay a fee then) - and the company wound up in the early 60s. But they included some incredible films. So, a top ten! All these films easily available on you tube etc - all of them are great examples of how to make interesting low budget films and believe should be studied accordingly...
1) The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) - directed by Corman and more importantly written by the legendary Charles Griffith, a crazy black comedy shot in two days apparently (it did take a little longer) whose structure is so sound it formed the basis for a popular musical - still holds up
2) The Intruder (1962) - remarkable look at a rabble rouser in the south well played by William Shatner - some quite shocking scenes (eg a little old southern lady casually using the "N" word) - well written by Charles Beaumont
3) The Terror (1963) - a film impossible to dislike, being a combination of having a few days of filming Boris Karloff walking around a castle, Jack Nicholson as an officer in Napoleon's army, Sandra Knight as a mysterious person, Dick Miller as Basil Exposition, additional footage being directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, Nicholson... actually quite creepy in spots
4) Night Tide (1961) - Curtis Harrington's first full length feature as director (I think)...an eerie, atmospheric boy and his siren story... early performance from Dennis Hopper
5) Dementia 13 (1962) Francis Ford Coppola's first full length feature as director... (he'd made some softcore movies before) an enjoyable psycho thriller written in three days and shot in about a week... atmospheric, well acted... Irish locations help
6) Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) insane Charles Griffith themed spoof comedy with a hilariously terrible monster, way out lines, and a lead performance by Robert Towne no less!
7) Last Woman on Earth (1960) - the first feature writing credit for Robert Towne, who also appears as an actor - not quite the quality of The Last Detail but interesting
8) Queen of Blood (1966) - excellent creepy sci fi "killer alien on the loose in a space ship" movie years before Alien, from Curtis Harrington... uses footage from Soviet sci fi films which Corman got cheaply as did...
9) Battle Beyond the Sun (1963)/Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)/Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) - I've always thought film schools should do a compulsory excercise where students had to cobble a feature with just a few days shooting new footage and using footage from old Soviet sci fi films - that's what Corman did with these movies... they were directed respectively by Francis Ford Coppola, Curtis Harrington and Peter Bogdanovich (his first feature!!!) so obviously it's really really good training
10) The Wasp Woman (1959) - creaky film with a great concept (woman tries to reverse aging process becomes a killer wasp) and central Susan Cabot performance.
Anyone interested in making low budget sci fi/comedy/thrillers could learn a lot from any of these films.
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