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Cheap Scares!: Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets
This is a step-by-step guide to creating and selling a horror movie, from rough outline to film distribution, with an emphasis on storytelling and marketing. Chapters cover screenwriting, freelancing as a writer, collaborating, budgeting and pitching projects to industry decision-makers. Interviews with J.B. Bookwalter, Roy Frumkes, Larry Fessenden, Scooter McRae, Brett Piper and others all convey today's realities. Production stills, sample screenplay pages, and sample budgets are included. Fully indexed.
292 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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13 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Lamberson
24 books117 followersGregory Lamberson is an author and filmmaker who specializes in horror entertainment. He is a two-time winner of the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror and a three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist. A motion picture based on his award-winning novel JOHNNY GRUESOME will be completed and released in 2017,. Fangoria magazine called him "the hardest working man in horror."
Lamberson is the author of the six-novel occult detective series The Jake Helman Files (PERSONAL DEMONS, DESPERATE SOULS, COSMIC FORCES, TORTURED SPIRITS, STORM DEMON and HUMAN MONSTERS), the werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle (THE FRENZY WAY, THE FRENZY WAR and THE FRENZY WOLVES). In addition to GRUESOME, his stand alone works include BLACK CREEK, THE JULIAN YEAR, the zombie novella CARNAGE ROAD, and the instructional filmmaking book CHEAP SCARES: LOW BUDGET HORROR FILMMAKERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS.
In 2016, Lamberson directed a feature length movie version of JOHNNY GRUESOME, currently in post-production. He previously directed the cult films SLIME CITY, SLIME CITY MASSACRE and KILLER RACK. He is currently hard at work developing his literary properties as films and TV series.
Lamberson is the author of the six-novel occult detective series The Jake Helman Files (PERSONAL DEMONS, DESPERATE SOULS, COSMIC FORCES, TORTURED SPIRITS, STORM DEMON and HUMAN MONSTERS), the werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle (THE FRENZY WAY, THE FRENZY WAR and THE FRENZY WOLVES). In addition to GRUESOME, his stand alone works include BLACK CREEK, THE JULIAN YEAR, the zombie novella CARNAGE ROAD, and the instructional filmmaking book CHEAP SCARES: LOW BUDGET HORROR FILMMAKERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS.
In 2016, Lamberson directed a feature length movie version of JOHNNY GRUESOME, currently in post-production. He previously directed the cult films SLIME CITY, SLIME CITY MASSACRE and KILLER RACK. He is currently hard at work developing his literary properties as films and TV series.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 10, 2019
Fast read
A very good read for micro horror film lovers. The interviews were interesting and personal experience was freely shared. Much work went into the book, which left me wondering how so many spelling errors occurred. Spell check and proof reading would have worked to his advantage. Regardless, I'd probably buy another book from Lamberson since he keeps the book moving along at a fast pace.
A very good read for micro horror film lovers. The interviews were interesting and personal experience was freely shared. Much work went into the book, which left me wondering how so many spelling errors occurred. Spell check and proof reading would have worked to his advantage. Regardless, I'd probably buy another book from Lamberson since he keeps the book moving along at a fast pace.
August 13, 2015
I always wanted to make a film. Being a film obsessed youth I would daydream about it all the time. I went to film school, graduated and went to work for small companies doing video production work. As of yet I still haven’t made a feature. I still want to, not to make money, but to rid myself of this creative urge. Author Gregory Lamberson has made films, and written novels. He’s climbed that mountain and Cheap Scares is his manual on how to do the deed.
Cheap Scares: Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets is a how-to guide on low budget film making. It covers pretty much every aspect of the film making process, from script writing to pre-production, production to post production, to distribution. It’s all here. He has also grabbed folks from varying areas of the process from screenwriters, directors, post production, distribution and even a lawyer. The book is filled with first hand advice and stories from people that have actually done it. It is not a deep guide however. Each area is touched on well, but let’s face it: you can buy dozens of books dedicated to script writing alone, two dozen more on directing and so on. The book isn’t really a step by step guide as much as it is a great overview with nuggets of advice from people who have been successful. The book feels like being a fly on the wall in a room of professionals talking. He reveals real numbers on how much each of his films costs and how much he made. He talks about issues that arose and what he did to fix them and so on.
Cheap Scares is not an exhaustively researched massive tome on making a movie. It’s a book written by a guy that’s done it that wants to offer you sound advice on how to make decisions in your film making efforts. He’s not going to tell you what camera to use or how to use it. He’s not going to tell you what to write about or how to write it. He’s going to give you advice on the theory behind it and how to try to turn a buck. The book lets you pick his brain along with other film makers including Brett Piper, J.R. Bookwater, Larry Fessenden, Roy Frumkes and others. Buy the book because you like the film makers and want to hear what they have to say. Don’t by the book if you need the author to dish out the nuts and bolts on the subject.
Cheap Scares: Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets is a how-to guide on low budget film making. It covers pretty much every aspect of the film making process, from script writing to pre-production, production to post production, to distribution. It’s all here. He has also grabbed folks from varying areas of the process from screenwriters, directors, post production, distribution and even a lawyer. The book is filled with first hand advice and stories from people that have actually done it. It is not a deep guide however. Each area is touched on well, but let’s face it: you can buy dozens of books dedicated to script writing alone, two dozen more on directing and so on. The book isn’t really a step by step guide as much as it is a great overview with nuggets of advice from people who have been successful. The book feels like being a fly on the wall in a room of professionals talking. He reveals real numbers on how much each of his films costs and how much he made. He talks about issues that arose and what he did to fix them and so on.
Cheap Scares is not an exhaustively researched massive tome on making a movie. It’s a book written by a guy that’s done it that wants to offer you sound advice on how to make decisions in your film making efforts. He’s not going to tell you what camera to use or how to use it. He’s not going to tell you what to write about or how to write it. He’s going to give you advice on the theory behind it and how to try to turn a buck. The book lets you pick his brain along with other film makers including Brett Piper, J.R. Bookwater, Larry Fessenden, Roy Frumkes and others. Buy the book because you like the film makers and want to hear what they have to say. Don’t by the book if you need the author to dish out the nuts and bolts on the subject.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews