Media Production: Special Effects in Horror Films
For over a hundred years, horror films have been on the innovative front when it comes to special effects. From flying bats to splatter-gore to animatronics, horror has everything you could think of in terms of special effects. The driving force of horror's innovation is the core of horror itself: to frighten people. While dramas and action films may have used some special effects in their infancy, horror films have always been heavily laden with it.
Then
The very first horror movie was The Haunted Castle in 1896 made be George Méliès. The film itself is very short--only three minutes long--but it is rife with special effects. Most common in the film was camera tricks to make characters and objects transform and teleport in an instant. However, what made the film more striking was the costumes and makeup, which allows the silent film to tell its tale.
Most of the special effects in the early days were costume and makeup based. An early master of makeup was Lon Chaney. Chaney was an iconic character actor in the 1920s era of Hollywood that is most famous for his depictions of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. Famously, Lon Chaney did all of his own makeup, which would take several hours to do, although he did have a lifecast of his own head made for him to practice on.
As the years came by, people just weren't as scared of things as they used to be. Enter gore and body horror effects. Horror films have almost always had low budgets, which required special effects gurus to get extremely creative with their effects and how they made them. Special effect crews routinely used latex, foam, wire, rubber, strawberry jam, creamed corn, and other common, cheap items to max effect. Put together, these creations took the world by storm, frightening people all along the way.
Tom Savini, Chris Walas, and Robin Bottin were some of the biggest names in special effects during the 1970's and 1980's. Between them are the effects from The Fly, Scanners, The Thing, The Fog, Creepshow, Dawn of the Dead and more. They paved the way for modern practical special effects with their complete artistry and mastery of prosthetics, makeup, and gore. The Thing, whose special effects were done by Robin Bottin stands as arguably the greatest special effects movie of all time.
Now
With the rise of computers and digital technology, today's special effects are mostly digital. Digital effects began to appear in movies as early as the 1990's as an enhancement to practical effects. They were brief moments meant to trick the eye before it could notice that it was digital. During that time, it was much easier to spot computer-generated effects, due to the limits of the programs and processers at the time. That didn't stop those effects being used; however, some effects were done much better than others.
With digital effects, when its done right, it is seamless and doesn't distract from the movie. But when digital effects are done wrong, it can really kill the vibe of a movie. Granted, when we now watch older digital effects with a 2018 eye, it can really be easy to spot bad CGI. That being said, there are still movies that are being made today that, for various reasons, have subpar digital effects. Because the outstanding few that do it poorly, digital effects have gotten a bad reputation in Hollywood, particularly when it comes to horror movies.
I believe that one of the main reasons why digital effects are so shunned in the horror community has to do with the budget. For many decades, horror movies were low-budget affairs that did what they could with very little. But with the rise of popularity of horror and the rise of computer-generated effects, studios raised their budgets, but not enough to create groundbreaking CGI, causing audiences to break their suspension of disbelief and pull them out of the movie.
Now, computer-generated effects are getting more and more lifelike by the year. We often don't see the bad digital effects because it is seamlessly integrated into the film. These effects are largely unnoticed and people like it that way.
Later
The future of horror special effects lies in the combining digital effects and practical effects to create more grounded and terrifying films. Andy Muschietti, the director of IT (2017) used the balance between practical and digital effects perfectly. In the movie IT, what could be done practically was done practically and what couldn't be done practically was done digitally. One scene stands out to me as the perfect representation of this: the projector scene. In the scene, Pennywise the Clown jumps out of a projector screen, larger than life. This was done by use of a camera trick and mirrors. Some of the details on his face were enhanced digitally, but the main effect was done practically.
Of the battle between CGI and practical effects, Muschietti said this:
Then
The very first horror movie was The Haunted Castle in 1896 made be George Méliès. The film itself is very short--only three minutes long--but it is rife with special effects. Most common in the film was camera tricks to make characters and objects transform and teleport in an instant. However, what made the film more striking was the costumes and makeup, which allows the silent film to tell its tale.
Most of the special effects in the early days were costume and makeup based. An early master of makeup was Lon Chaney. Chaney was an iconic character actor in the 1920s era of Hollywood that is most famous for his depictions of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. Famously, Lon Chaney did all of his own makeup, which would take several hours to do, although he did have a lifecast of his own head made for him to practice on.
Lon Chaney as Erik in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
As the years came by, people just weren't as scared of things as they used to be. Enter gore and body horror effects. Horror films have almost always had low budgets, which required special effects gurus to get extremely creative with their effects and how they made them. Special effect crews routinely used latex, foam, wire, rubber, strawberry jam, creamed corn, and other common, cheap items to max effect. Put together, these creations took the world by storm, frightening people all along the way.
Tom Savini, Chris Walas, and Robin Bottin were some of the biggest names in special effects during the 1970's and 1980's. Between them are the effects from The Fly, Scanners, The Thing, The Fog, Creepshow, Dawn of the Dead and more. They paved the way for modern practical special effects with their complete artistry and mastery of prosthetics, makeup, and gore. The Thing, whose special effects were done by Robin Bottin stands as arguably the greatest special effects movie of all time.
Chest defibration scene from The Thing (1982)
Now
With the rise of computers and digital technology, today's special effects are mostly digital. Digital effects began to appear in movies as early as the 1990's as an enhancement to practical effects. They were brief moments meant to trick the eye before it could notice that it was digital. During that time, it was much easier to spot computer-generated effects, due to the limits of the programs and processers at the time. That didn't stop those effects being used; however, some effects were done much better than others.
With digital effects, when its done right, it is seamless and doesn't distract from the movie. But when digital effects are done wrong, it can really kill the vibe of a movie. Granted, when we now watch older digital effects with a 2018 eye, it can really be easy to spot bad CGI. That being said, there are still movies that are being made today that, for various reasons, have subpar digital effects. Because the outstanding few that do it poorly, digital effects have gotten a bad reputation in Hollywood, particularly when it comes to horror movies.
I believe that one of the main reasons why digital effects are so shunned in the horror community has to do with the budget. For many decades, horror movies were low-budget affairs that did what they could with very little. But with the rise of popularity of horror and the rise of computer-generated effects, studios raised their budgets, but not enough to create groundbreaking CGI, causing audiences to break their suspension of disbelief and pull them out of the movie.
Now, computer-generated effects are getting more and more lifelike by the year. We often don't see the bad digital effects because it is seamlessly integrated into the film. These effects are largely unnoticed and people like it that way.
"Let's get this party started" scene from Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Later
The future of horror special effects lies in the combining digital effects and practical effects to create more grounded and terrifying films. Andy Muschietti, the director of IT (2017) used the balance between practical and digital effects perfectly. In the movie IT, what could be done practically was done practically and what couldn't be done practically was done digitally. One scene stands out to me as the perfect representation of this: the projector scene. In the scene, Pennywise the Clown jumps out of a projector screen, larger than life. This was done by use of a camera trick and mirrors. Some of the details on his face were enhanced digitally, but the main effect was done practically.
Of the battle between CGI and practical effects, Muschietti said this:
" In the eternal discussion of practical versus CG… CG has a bad name, but I believe that it’s all about design and execution. CG doesn’t have to be bad just because it’s CG. People are so familiar now with visual effects, and they’re the greatest they’ve ever been. The quality of the effects, in general, are better than ever before. But still, people are… I don’t know, aware of CG, and they want to not like it, for some reason. But again: It depends on how sophisticated the design is. And how much money you have to execute those scenes. [laughs] I think it’s a good balance in our movie."Many people these days see special effects as either practical or digital, but as technology progresses, we will see more of a merging of the two techniques to frighten us all the better. Horror's effects will be so lifelike that we won't know where the movie ends...and reality begins.
The Projector scene in IT (2017)
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