Horror Film Effects: Not So Special
Ah, an article about a subject close to my heart: the use of CGI in horror movies. My opinion?
I FREAKIN’ HATE IT!!!!
Special effects are partly responsible for the disgusting downfall of horror movies today. Look what they do with remakes: replace the subtle suggestions with flashy, annoying crap. With technology, directors apparently feel there’s no longer a need to be creative.
To show, or to suggest: for horror movies, that is the question. New technologies have allowed filmmakers to conjure up all sorts of fantastical creatures and to rub our faces in all manner of blood and gore, but the most effective horror movies remain the ones that do their work by hints and murmurs.
Today, the difference between these two aesthetic approaches is evident in the campy special-effects sprees of, say, Stephen Sommers (whose Mummy and Van Helsing movies are too infatuated with digital spectacle to bother teasing out the audience’s fears), in contrast to the moody, evocative films of M. Night Shyamalan. But the tug of war between these two styles goes back much further–and Val Lewton, producer of several surprisingly mature horror movies in the 1940s, was an early master of the power of suggestion.
Word! What do you think? Are today’s ‘advances’ in horror movies really a step backwards? Do you miss the masterpieces of the ’70s and ’80s as much as I do?
Read more of this interesting article here.
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POSTED IN: Special Effects
10 opinions for Horror Film Effects: Not So Special
stonemonkey
Aug 24, 2006 at 7:41 pm
… I miss practical effects a lot, I don’t mind CGI when there is no other choice but the reliance on it has become a negative for the genre.
Mick Gordon
Sep 2, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Working in amongst a gory mess for several years of my life, all the gore of a horror movie doesnt do much for me. I dont watch horror as the blood etc seems to do a lot more for other people - invariably the story sucks. As mentioned, a lot of the craft of really building up some decent suspense is ruined by the silly stuff.
J. Clerkin-Whitcomb
Sep 5, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Thank you, thank you and thank you. The state of horror films today is deplorable! With few exceptions, CGI has all but ruined the genre.
I view The Mummy as more of a thrill ride than horror and therefore did not object to it so much.
However, remakes of classic horror films such as The Haunting, arguably the best ghost story ever put to film, prove the point that less is more.
To take the divine Lilly Taylor and stick her in the middle of that over-produced train wreck of a movie was just a crying shame. And don’t even get me started on the “comic” retelling of the Stepford Wives, whose laughable special effects added nothing to the “comedy”. I hope more and more of the viewing public turn their backs on these CGI extravaganzas and demand more cerebral thrills - it’s hard to find a genuinely scary movie anymore!
Marti
Sep 19, 2006 at 3:22 am
I like the suspense better than the blood and guts, and CGI blood is the worst!
But…
(Marti starts jumping up and down)
Halloween is coming! Halloween is coming!
LOL
Take care, sweetie!
Erik Schark
Nov 1, 2006 at 10:30 pm
I agree. We just shot a zombie-filled Halloween episode of our web series “Something To Be Desired” (www.stbd.tv) and didn’t use any CGI. Seeing a zombie ripping a buxom woman’s throat open using good old-fashioned latex is totally the way to go.
Mark Herpel
Mar 21, 2007 at 3:52 am
I totally agree…I really miss the black and white “Haunted House” movies like The Haunting and House on Haunted Hill. No special effects just great scary stuff and it appeared to be living in the house!! Lighting and camera angles did the trick for me. Recommended.
THE HAUNTING - Julie Harris - B&W - 1963
House on Haunted Hill - Vincent Price - (1959)
I think there were recent remakes of both of these but the pale in comparison to the originals.
Mark
Crocs
Nov 1, 2007 at 10:10 pm
CGI seems totally fake to me, although the younger people are the more they seem to like the CGI. CGI adds to much hokeyness to a movie and takes away any realism.
Mammoth Crocs
Nov 1, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Is hokeyness a word? I just hate to use cheesy.
ac nightwing
May 4, 2008 at 8:44 pm
this is completely off topic but there was a tv show that used to show you how they did the special effects in gore/horror films(not cgi effects, the old school stuff) but i can’t remember the name of the show i think it was on bravo late at night and had a fit brunette as the presenter/hostess, do any of you lot know the name. also some cgi is good but alot of the time the idiots go overboard with it and it just ruins the effect.
Alexandra
May 5, 2008 at 11:13 am
I know that Bravo’s Project Greenlight had some SFX segments when it aired, but of course you are referring to older stuff (as in the Ray Harryhausen movies using stop-motion, for example?).
Sounds like a very good show! I agree that CGI has really ruined the craft. I’ll look for that series you’re talking about and see what we can dig up.
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