Penny Pinchers: The Kings of No-Budget Horror (2017)
*** (out of 4)
This here is an entertaining look at filmmakers who work outside the Hollywood system and in fact they pretty much work for themselves making the type of movies they want. Of course, all of it is done without much money and that's where the "penny pinchers" title comes from. Filmmakers Donald Farmer, Dustin Ferguson, Lloyd Kaufman, Tim Ritter, Todd Sheets, Todd Jason Cook and various others are interviewed about the life of a low-budget filmmaker.
CANNIBAL HOOKERS, SAVAGE VENGEANCE, BURGLAR FROM HELL, THE TOXIC AVENGERS, DEATH METAL ZOMBIES, CAMP BLOOD, THE AMITYVILLE LEGACY and various other films are presented in this documentary, which actually does a very good job at keeping the viewer informed of how these types of movies are made. If you're a fan of the directors involved here then you'll certainly be interested in their stories as they talk about how they got interested in making movies, what its like trying to get funding for a film, the type of equipment used and there's even some great discussions about getting the movie released.
If you're interested in low-budget filmmaking then it would be a smart move checking this picture out because you get to hear from real filmmakers who are doing the work. I thought each of the men interviewed were interesting in their own way and getting to hear some of their horror stories was a lot of fun. As several of them point out, these movies aren't making them rich but they are allowing them to live out a dream of being a filmmaker.
I thought there were some great stories throughout the picture and there's no doubt that there's some great information here for those who might want to make their own movie.
