On the subject of horror movies, I mentioned this briefly on the show, but I want to tease the idea out a little bit: Horror movies are the cockroaches of cinema. They will survive everything, even streaming and the internet.
That’s because they’re bottom-feeding, low-cost, high-ROI enterprises that appeal to both a deep niche audience (horror fans) as well as to the broad general quadrant (teens and young adults looking for thrills). And as a consequence, they can be marketed cheaply.
Horror movies don’t need stars. The effects they rely on tend to be inexpensive. And when they hit, they can bring the kind of returns that simply don’t exist anywhere else in the industry. Have a look at this list of the biggest returns ever on horror and it’ll make your eyes pop out. Paranormal Activity made $200 million on a $15,000 budget.
