Practical effect moments that are practically perfect
1. The Thing from The Thing namely the haunting spider head moment. It comes at a truly shocking time and the legs skill make my skin crawl just thinking about it. It even had a nod to this scene in the new IT movie series with Stanley’s head in the creepy house the kids entered.
2. Alien-Full sized Xenomorphs are amazing with it’s dripping ooze (Note: Our little lizard cohost is named Ripley after Alien btw) but nothing can quite match the chest burster scene. It’s such an amazingly different jump scare. Even the actors didn’t know it was going to happen like that since the script only said that the monster entered. It didn’t say it would enter through the chest so the actor’s reactions are their genuine reactions. Try getting that with CGI.
3. The Fly-one of my favorite transformation scenes. Jeff Goldblum really emphasizes the pain and terror going through a change like that would have.
4. American Werewolf in London-Speaking of transformations this one can not be missed. The way they cut away and angled it gave all the appearance of it actually moving. It’s downright artful the way they did it leaving your mind to fill in the rest.
5. Jaws-Even though you barely see Bruce in the film since the sharks had so many issues, it was almost more effective that way. Couple that silhouette of Bruce with that amazing score to create a sense of dread that still holds up today.
6. Hedorah- As much as we love our big lizard baby Godzilla and respect all the work that went into all of the costume effects of Godzilla. Fact is that Hedorah is the slimy evolution of that work. The costume was even heavier and slimier so the work would have been that much harder. Also shoutout to Ebirah the lobster.
7. Shape of Water-the amphibian man is such a beautifully designed creature that years later we are still stunned by how Doug Jones managed such an amazing performance under such grueling work as being in that latex foam costume underwater. Between the cold and low visibility of a 45 day shoot. That is enough torture to be a saw trap.
8. Pale Man- Yet another of Del Toro’s creations is the pale man. How does that man sleep at night? While the amphibian was beautiful with deep blues and greens, this is the exact opposite. Emaciated, pale man with hanging skin and haunting eyes on his hands.
9. Pinhead- While we love the original pinhead and the performance given we’re going to take a moment to recognize the 2022 version. A more feminine approach with the pearl heads on the pins gives a new perspective on the cenobites. Not every reimagined character design goes well but this was easily my favorite part of the 2022 hellraiser. I love how well it looks (especially in motion). It really added to each scene.
10. Terrifier 2- Of course I had to talk about terrifier! I was tempted to put the cutting in half scene from the first movie but this just ups the ante by Damien Leone not knowing when to say when in the best possible way. More blood, more gruesome, and more messed up. When the inspiration starts at the ripper murders and ends with puppetry you know you’re onto something.
