Big budgets don't always mean big blockbuster hits. For horror, it can be quite the opposite, with a lessened reliance on visual effects and banking on man's most primal fears. This simplicity is seen in some of horror's biggest franchises, with a found footage film like Paranormal Activity by Blumhouse Productions raking in $200 million. In the era of Marvel, $200 million may not sound like much. But the movie is known to have been shot with a meager $15,000 budget - it cost about the same price as The Official Batman Equipment Set does in mint condition.
Blumhouse has utilized micro-budget models to mold iconic horror franchises like The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and Insidious. And yet, the Blumhouse formula is still not an easy--if not random--one to crack, leaving room for some trivia that horror fans may not know about.
10 Blumhouse's First Movie: A Romance Flick
Blumhouse Productions has seen well-earned success in the horror industry and, while most horror fans may know that the company indulges in its share of other genres like comedy, it's known to even fewer that Blumhouse Productions' origins were far from spine-chilling. The first film under Blumhouse's production belt was a romance entry in 2006 called Griffin & Phoenix.
The film released in 2006 and starred Dermot Mulroney (Henry Griffin) and Amanda Peet (Sarah Phoenix) in a remake of the 1976 film with the same name, and had a budget of $500,000.
9 There Was A Blumhouse Of Horrors in LA
If you're a fan in America, you may have been very well acquainted with the Blumhouse of Horrors in Los Angeles. Younger and foreign fans can only now dream of having conquered the Halloween haunted house, which was apparently in a building that was previously a haunted theatre, at the time opened to the public for the first time since a tragic accident forced it to close.
Yelp reviews suggest that the haunted house was littered with intricate creepy detailing that left plenty to look at and be scared by. Seasoned haunted house visitors have lauded it for its intimate group divisions, realistic props, theatric set, and tastefully talented scare actors. Fans can keep a lookout for the company's other seasonal haunted houses, like The Horrors of Blumhouse at Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios Hollywood.
8 They Made A Movie With The Rock
Blumhouse Pictures produced the fantasy-comedy movie Tooth Fairy in 2010. And Dwayne Johnson was far from the dainty character imagery that comes to mind - his character was called "Tooth Fairy" for knocking the teeth out of opposing hockey player's mouths. Until...he grows wings and actually becomes a tooth fairy.
There's not much to love more than seeing The Rock in one of his classic character types: hot bufflord who's tough but also a big softy when you need him to be. The movie is silly, nutty, and doesn't take itself too seriously.
7 Paranormal Activity's Additional Budget
If the very real scares of a horror film isn’t enough, finding out the inflated budget of most movies should scare the socks off anyone. Interestingly, Paranormal Activity found it’s niche as a supposedly “low-budget” horror film, promising substance and genuine creepiness in lieu of expensive graphics. Nevertheless, the film’s $15,000 budget wasn’t all there was to it.
Prior to release, Paramount brought in master-director Steven Spielberg to spruce it up… only for them to realize, the movie was pretty great the way it was, and just needed a more resonant ending.
6 Blumhouse Stood Tall Amidst COVID-19 Terror
It’s no secret that COVID-19 threw the entire film and entertainment industries into gory shambles. But as masters of horror, Blumhouse blazed a bloody trail through the test of a global pandemic, clinching two of three new releases that played in April 2020, when just 14 cinemas remained open in America.
The Hunt and The Invisible Man, played alongside Pixar's Onward, inadvertently being some of the last films many would be experiencing on the big screens for quite a while. The two films continue Blumhouse's winning streak, following the monumental success of genre-reinventing movies like Jordan Peele's Get Out and Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman.
5 Blum Learnt The Ropes At Miramax
Miramax's reputation in the public eye is quite low due to its association with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and it seems like Blum's time under the now-infamous personality at the company may have inspired his direction towards staying below the high-budget experience.
Blum has reflected on his own past involvement stating “I question […] why I remained as long as I did. Clearly it was because I was ambitious, because I wanted to be at the No. 1 place—that was very important to me. It makes me question my compass at the time.”
4 Blumhouse is Going Big with Amazon
In these seemingly film-barren times, it’s all we can do to hold out hope that one of the many streaming services will come to our rescue. Thankfully, the powerful union of Blumhouse and Amazon Studios just may grant us that wish.
With four films slated for this October alone, Amazon’s Prime Video Service will play host to a new slate of Blumhouse projects bringing the post-pandemic theatrical experience to the audience in the safety of their own home. And it doesn’t end in October—Blumhouse is expected to release another 4 films on Prime, bringing the total to at least eight films to round out 2020.
3 The Studio's First Female Directed Movie Is Black Christmas
As if the entertainment industry wasn’t already plagued with a lack of female talents, genre films have found themselves to be an oasis of exclusion. Often unwelcoming, intentionally or otherwise, of female leads, the entry of female directors and writers in horror, sci-fi, and fantasy flicks has been disturbingly recent.
And while Blumhouse has been as slow on the uptake as many bigger studios, the production house has finally put out its first female-helmed movie with 2019’s Black Christmas, a remake of the 1974 film, directed by Sophia Takal with a script by herself and April Wolfe.
2 Blumhouse Has TV Shows Too
If horror films have proven anything it’s that the smaller something is, the scarier it tends to be. After all, small boy ghosts are creepier than mad axemen and don’t even get us started on little girl spirits.
In that vein, Blumhouse is now targeting the smaller screen: television. Beginning in 2012, Blumhouse has seen some success on television, with content varying in both genre and language. The studio has even brought some of its big-screen weight with television remakes of films like The Purge, and even anthologies like Into the Dark.
1 They're Making A Bram Stoker Dracula Movie
Blumhouse has hardly shied away from challenging the horror genre that they themselves so love—after all, despite its diverse portfolio, their passion clearly lies in horror. And there are not many great horror masterpieces that challenge the idea of horror the way Dracula has.
Hot off the success of what would have been another one of Universal’s Dark Universe effort, The Invisible Man, Blumhouse has its sights on Barm Stokers’ own prince of darkness, with Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation director Karyn Kusama set to helm the project.
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