... the budget. It was obviously a pretty slim one but this movie looked amazing. The atmosphere and death scenes where fantastic imo. The only bad thing I could find was the script. It seemed like the story had no direction.
So anyway, if anyone knows anything about the budget or the kind of crew and equipment they had available please let me know. I tried the special features but didn't get all I was looking for.
I would say more than "Blair Witch," but less than "Reservoir Dogs." But one thing you have to remember is that the director owns his own special effects company in Hollywood. In the commentary, he mentions that had he been forced to pay for all those services, they alone would have exceeded his total budget. So it's hard to pin down an exact number.
According to the behind-the-scenes featurette, the film was shot on a shoestring, such as using vehicles owned by the crew or families of the cast, using an abandoned mental hospital for the locations, etc. The result is a film that looks considerably more expensive that it was.
Specifically, with regard to the cars:
-Tucker's truck belongs to Bobby Sue Luther's father
-Stephen's Corolla was a rental that was also used to run errands by the crew
-ChromeSkull's Chrysler was Rob Hall's personal vehicle during the shoot
-Thomas' VW Jetta belonged to the production designer
-The police cars were real Anne Arundel County (MD) police cars, except for:
-Sheriff Bate's car was a rental used by the producers (and there was only enough money to dress the police department logo on one side!)
-The creepy old guy's hearse was rented from a local hotrodder
-The firetruck was a leftover from the mental hospital where they shot most of the film, and didn't run.