I read an article on the Empire website about the new ‘Clash of the Titans’ movie. It was mentioned that it was a film that justified a re-make because even at the time the original movie’s special effects were ropey. Though I agree that it’s a movie perfectly suited to a souped-up CGI version and could definitely be improved upon…..still I can’t help feeling the need to defend a movie I absolutely loved at a kid. And to also look back on the other top 12 (pre-CGI) Special Effects movies that captured my imagination growing up.
12. Original Plant to the Apes: Face it, people in monkey suits never gets old. For the time the prosthetic make-up was truly amazing, and the re-make holds little charm in comparison
11 . Nightmare on Elm Street: A melted face, arms that stretched ridiculously long and a body dragged up the wall….I didn’t sleep for three months.
10. The Land that Time Forgot: Submarines, Nazis, Dinosaurs, Cavemen and Volcanoes …could they possibly have covered their bases more?! Action, Action, Action!
9. Clash of the Titans: So here is it, in at number nine. With flying horses, Medusa, Claymation creatures, mechanical owls, it still holds a lot of charm.
8. Jason and the Argonauts: Everything in this movie rocks, but nothing more so than the fight with the skeleton army….would it look so creepy in CGI? Or would something be lost in the translation?
7. King Kong: I grew up on the original 1933 and 1976 version…. At the time I wasn’t exactly overly critical of the re-make with Jeff Bridges (After all it has a giant ape in it, what’s not to love?) so I’m mentioning both!
6. The Dark Krystal/ The Labyrinth: Amazing sets, puppets and effects that still hold up. Will we be able to say as much for a lot of CGI movies out there now in 25 years?
5. Flash Gordon. There are wierd freaks who liked Flash Gordon more than Star Wars….I’m not one of them! But still I secretly loved the cheese and the effects! It’s out now!
4. Alien/ Aliens : Designs of H.R.Giger come to life. For me, it’s more ghastly seeing the alien ‘puppet’ come out of John Hurt’s chest because it is a real thing and not virtual.
3. Superman: As the tag line went ‘You’ll believe a man can fly!’…..wheither you believe he’ll fly in red underwear is another matter!
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark/ Last Crusade: The Last scene in Raiders when the Ark is opened is truly amazing. Though the climax in The last Crusade isn’t as good, who doesn’t like seeing a face visibly age before their eyes till it rots of the skull?!
1. Star Wars Movies: Come on!….when did (what amounts to) a coloured strip light ever look so cool! It’s funny that George Lucas created Star Wars only when he found out he couldn’t obtain the licence to Flash Gordon. Look which one stood the test of time!
Obviously people have other opinions, so lets hear them!
8 comments so far
This was my own guilty pleasure as a kid:
Battle beyond the stars!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f5nh3g8piE
Directed by Irelands very own Jimmy Murikami!
13 October 2009
8:15 am
Is that Jim Boy from the Waltons I see in the clip. Hilarious!!!!! Have to say if we are talking tv series mine was definately Buck Rogers!
13 October 2009
8:33 am
Nice list. The ones that resonate best for me are Planet of the Apes (great story, classic lines) and Aliens and Star Wars. But specifically on the special effects level Aliens stands out above all the others by far the most successful special effects in a movie. The sense of reality that just oozes from ever effect just helps to build the tension and horror.
A lot of the CGI effects these days looks terrible. CGI works best when it doesn’t call attention itself. Suspense of disbelief is maintained and it becomes just is part of the world you are viewing. The best example in recent memory is Fight Club. Here is a film with numerous CGI effects but none of them call attention to themselves as effects. The opposite being the Transformer, GI Joe and last three Star Wars films which aside from being very being incredibly bad on an acting, plot level simply have no humanity. How can you care about what is happening in an action sequence if just looks fake? Poorly used CGI is fast moving and quickly sucks the drama out of action scene.
CGI effects have their limits. They are not the answer to all special effects problems. If I had one request, please never CGI a car chase or a full human actor ever again. It just looks bad.
26 October 2009
4:07 am
no Bladerunner, or 2001: A Space Odyssey… blasphemous!
4 November 2009
9:33 pm
I know. Love the car chase in ‘French Connection’. Mostly because alot of people say is was real and unplanned. Way better than the idea of a CGI one.
I was very conflicted about Blade Runner and 2001….and spent many a sleepless night about putting them on the list or not
5 November 2009
9:55 am
Great calls… Believe it or not, the only one I’d add would be “The Incredible Mr. Limpet” [for different reasons], but it’d be 13th…
15 February 2010
4:51 am
Awesome compilation of movies. You forgot to add one that should definitley be on this list — and that movie is “THE EXORCIST”.
There was no CGI involved in that film at all, and still till this day is considered one of the scariest films of ALL time!
25 January 2011
2:37 am
Big thumbs up for Jason and the Argonauts. Never seen a skeleton done better. And they did such a good job matching the movements so when a skeleton hits or gets hit there is a recoil giving the definite impression of weight. Hard to hit them all with just a 10 list, but Dragonslayer with Mcnicol was another great, still think its the best dragon they have put on screen.
14 February 2011
9:17 pm