I'm with you on Machinist and Sunshine, but MDB? The movie that got all kinds of Oscars? Sure, Sunshine got screenplay, but most types don't remember the screenplay wins...

before it got nominated it had only made about $40 million over a month and a half.

true, but it won the freakin Oscar for Best Picture. And it wasn't even the best movie of the year. I'd say that rules it out as far as being overlooked goes.

BUT...The original Night Of The Living Dead, the original Psycho and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre were ALL filmed on a shoestring budget...It caused the films to be 'gritty' almost like a home movie, or documentary...The low quality actually caused them to feel more 'real' which made them MUCH scarier and better movies...

Besides the fact that so many new horror films just try to swipe what's proven scary without any substance that made it effective (which is another discussion), the huge difference in the grainy quality is simple: films were shot on actual film back then. Everything now is shot in digital. There is a difference in the area size-wise covered on a tape and on actual film that makes it look so completely different. Your old family backyard movies shot on 8mm don't look the same as 'Star Wars' at the theater when you first saw it on 65mm. That version of 'Star Wars' would look vastly different than 'Revenge of Sith' since it was shot digitally. Light tones don't look as warm as they do on film either. Everything is crisp (and rather boring). An un-spammed film I've been working on shot the trailer on old 8mm just to have the grainy feel of yesteryear. 'Dead Life' is a recent zombie film that was shot entirely on 8mm and had the old 70's look to it. Anyhooo, hope that wasn't too boring to listen to :D
CK