There are quite a lot of movies that are made directly for DVD rather than attempting a theatrical release.
Most of them feature a monster and lots of cleavage and are as crap as they sound.
There are also many movies with very limited budgets that still attempt to tell a story.
I wanted to dedicate this thread to recommending good low-budget/direct to DVD movies that are worth-while and not just embarrassing to watch.
I'll start off with Monsters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/?ref_=sr_5
A movie about a journey through a contaminated zone inhabited by alien creatures. While it may sound like a typical monster movie it's more than that and as much a metaphor about US immigration as it is a "travel" film.
The second one is Pathfinder: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446013/?ref_=sr_1
It's a movie about a band of Vikings landing in North America and encountering Indians. What I like about the film is the style, setting and focused story-telling. It's clear about what it wants to be and is exactly that.