Horror Movies Without Special Effects
Horror movies are not everyone’s cup of tea. These spine-chilling movies involve a lot of hard work to do. Earlier, horror movies used to take the practical approach. However, now almost every movie uses special effects to enhance the scenes. Green screens are commonplace on horror sets. But if you remove these effects and green screens, there will be nothing! The advancement in technology has leveled up the game. Interestingly, we have a few images from 10 horror movies that show the before and after scenes without special effects. Take a look. Don’t forget to watch out for this space for more movies (not horror) without special effects in the coming week!
1. 2000- “Hollow Man“
The 2002 film is directed by Paul Verhoeven. The movie, as you all know, is about “Sebastian Caine” played by Kevin Bacon who develops a serum that allows the user to become completely invisible. He experiments with the serum on himself. However, he is unable to return from his invisible state. Sadly, the critics and the audience were not satisfied with the film. However, everyone did admit that the special effects were impressive. The VFX Supervisor says, “No motion capture, just hard thousands of hours of labor.”
2. 2002- “The Ring“
“The Ring” by Gore Verbinski tops the chart of horror movies with its plot, characters, and of course specials effects and green screen use. The movie stars Naomi Watts as “Rachel” and most importantly Daveigh Chase as “Samara“. The movie’s spine-chilling scene is when Samara, the terrifying, black-haired child crawls out of a well and straight through the TV! However, in reality, this iconic scene was achieved using a green screen. The look of the ghost was created by special effects makeup artist Rick Baker. Moreover, several wigs were created for the movie. All of them were made of human hair.
3. 2015- “Crimson Peak“
We agree that the 2015 film by Guillermo del Toro flopped and couldn’t make a mark at the box office. But, the BTS will surely change your perception of this film.VFX supervisor Chris MacLean reveals that the movie relied upon “practical hybrids“- mixing green screen with creature builds. For instance, in a scene, Edith (Mia Wasikowska) has a farewell moment with Thomas (Tom Hiddleston). However, her fingers go right through his face. MacLean tells, “They shot that practically and we had to take over her hand completely in CG.”
4. 2016- “The Conjuring 2“
I bet this film by James Wan is watched by almost everyone! The series looks so authentic. However, did you know most of the everyday items that you see in the films were digitally created? VFX artist Didier Konings says, “I created the sheet, birds, necklace, rope, and specter.” He was to take care of the little details such as removing security cameras and altering buildings to make the movie look as if it was shot in the ’70s.
5. 2011- “The Thing“
The movie is about a doomed group of scientists who discover a living alien. This sci-fi horror movie by John Carpenter is set in Antarctica. The majority of the characters that we see in the film are achieved through VFX and green screen efforts. For instance, the transformation of French geologist Juliette (Kim Bubbs). It was a huge challenge. However, it was possible after trials and errors.
6. 2014- “Godzilla“
Gareth Edwards was a visual effects artist but now he is a successful director. In 2010, he was offered the job of rebooting “Godzilla” and we must say he did wonders for the film. Supervisor Guillaume Rocheron says, “Godzilla is amongst the most complex CG creatures, we have ever created.” To conclude, the movie gave us constant goosebumps, exactly what the aim of the director was!
7. 2016- “The Shallows“
Though this movie came out of nowhere in 2016, it was a survival horror thriller that gained a lot of recognition. In the film, Blake Lively plays “Nancy Adams“, the stranded surfer, delivering a powerful performance. The predator or you can say the villain Shark was brilliantly created through the Swedish VFX team that specialized in sharks. Also, they added a shine to the shark so that it could be visible beneath the surface. In conclusion, everything that you see in the film is beautiful artwork by the VFX team.
8. 2012- “Resident Evil: Retribution“
The VFX team confirmed that they worked really hard for this movie, particularly on those big set pieces that dominated the movie. For instance, the chamber scene where Alice and her daughter stumble across a conveyor belt carrying thousands of Umbrella Corporation clones. Harrell, the VFX Supervisor says, “The underground manufacturing room where hundreds of clones are floating in this enormous environment of which we shot very, very little practical,” According to Eric Robinson, the digital effects supervisor, “We had to sell the idea that this was a deep freeze for clones, but at the same time it had to be in motion.” They used dry cleaners as a reference point.
9. 2010- “The Wolfman“
The film “The Wolfman” by Joe Johnston is a horror thriller. However, it failed to smash the box office and impress the critics. VFX supervisor Steve Begg reveals that the real plan was to have del Toro, the lead, wear makeup, but that was soon abandoned by taking a full CGI approach. There was not much time to create the character. Therefore, animators were under real pressure and time crunch to create Wolfman’s face from the scratch! Moreover, Begg says, “Skin lighting and shading were pushed to the next level for this project.”
10. 2011- “The Priest“
The mystery horror movie by Jofin T. Chacko takes place in an alternate reality in which mankind has been at war with vampires for centuries. No matter how the movie performed at the box office and what ratings it got, the VFX were praised a lot. VFX supervisor Jeff Campbell reveals that the most difficult scene to shoot was layering a CGI face on Brad Dourif. He transforms into a slave after being bitten by “Black Hat” played by Karl Urban. Campbell’s job was to make it look convincing. It truly was convincing and praise-worthy!
