Sunday, September 8, 2013

Are practical FX making a comeback?

I certainly hope so. Don't get me wrong. I think CGI can be an excellent tool and accomplish amazing things when it's not overused or abused, which is quite rare, but I grew up on Aliens, John Carpenter's The Thing, Predator, The Terminator, etc. so for me, nothing comes close to practical FX. I watched Movie Magic all the time as a kid. I loved it to death, and the fact these people could make real, moving monsters was just unbelievably incredible to me. Try to think of a CG werewolf that compares at all to An American Werewolf in London. I can't think of any computer-generated monsters that can stand up to Rob Bottin's phenomenal work on The Thing. I know some types of movies like superhero films probably couldn't be done without CGI, but even in that category, part of the reason why The Dark Knight was so exceptional is Nolan kept the computer effects to a minimum. Look at how little the shark appears in Jaws or how Ridley Scott creatively kept the titular creature hidden so much in Alien. One of the problems with CGI is people don't think there are any limits to it yet time and money are always obstacles so if you don't have the room in your budget to correct a computer effect or enough time to make it as photo-realistic as possible (or you have 500 shots to do when you can only manage 200), you're going to end up with sub-par results. There's just something so much more engrossing and exciting about real stunts and real creatures that physically exist in our world. Actors can give better performances, and filmmakers are forced to deal with real-world limitations, which so often end up improving the final product.

The Harbinger Down Kickstarter was insanely fascinating to me since Alec Gillis actually explained why studios opt for CGI when practical is usually cheaper (and better), and the reasoning blew my mind. They only care about the tax incentives from farming computer effects out to labor in other countries. You can see how the business side of filmmaking has completely overrun Hollywood. Everything has to be a franchise now with a brand name, endless sequels, merchandising tie-ins, and of course, the latest crappy computer effects to wow kids who've never seen practical FX. It's really a shame, but projects like Harbinger Down give me hope. I thought the days of practical-FX creature features were behind us so I'm extremely pleased to see someone pick up the torch. Fire City is another one I'm greatly anticipating, and as long as we've got some filmmakers like Adam Green who insist on using practical (so glad he used real wolves in Frozen and decided not to rely on shitty CG blood in the Hatchet films), there's still a chance the pendulum could swing back in the opposite direction. Ok, that'll never happen, but I can dream, and I'm going to do what little I can to help. I know tons of people like me want to see more practical FX, and thankfully, as already noted, some talented people in the industry like Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. are pushing for this as well. Plus, you'd think with the popularity of shows like Face Off, more studio executives would get the hint, but obviously, they're blinded by box office numbers. If more and more practical-FX movies come out and do well though, who knows. I just want to see real monsters again. I know they're only one piece in a much larger puzzle. You need a great story and fantastic characters too, but for horror films especially, the FX matter. If Aliens or John Carpenter's The Thing were redone with crappy CGI (wait... The Thing was... yeah, I'm trying to forget the awful prequel), they would definitely lose something. So much of their incredible magic would be gone, and we can't let that happen. At least, not without a fight. If we want to see more practical FX, we've got to support those films. Of course, they need to be quality movies too, but heck, I'd still rather see a flawed practical-FX monster flick than some stupid CG SyFy piece of shit.

So are practical FX making a comeback? Probably not, but dammit, I hope so. I really, really hope so.

P.S. Can someone tell them to stop using CG blood? It sucks.
P.S.S. Why isn't Movie Magic out on DVD?

8 comments:

  1. The magic is gone. It's gone in that the younger generation has grown up on movies wherein any place, thing, action, or activity they can imagine in their mind's eye can be created on screen - so much so that they take it for granted and don't give a moment's thought to what they see on the screen.

    When I saw movies like The Thing when I was a kid, I thought, "How the fuck did they do that?" Bottin's FX were like a perfectly implemented magic trick, and it was magic because you didn't immediately know how it was achieved. Now, it's automatically assumed it was achieved with a computer program. Hence, the magic is gone.

    . . . but it's not, as evidenced by the examples you cite, as well as a wealth of others. I just saw Bad Milo a few days ago and was tickled shitless by all the practical FX. I saw some pretty nifty practical gags in Cottage Country last night, too.

    Practical FX may not be making a comeback, but they haven't vanished altogether, either.

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    1. Yep, you're right, and it's sad so much of that magic has been lost by computer effects. They do take it for granted, and it's an awful shame. But like you said, I think there are quite a few filmmakers who will keep fighting for practical. Frankenstein's Army is a great example of that too.

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  2. There is a new generation of filmmakers who are probably around our age (mid 30's) who grew up on the practical stuff who really want to see a return to traditional ways of accomplishing effects. You made a good call on the likes of Adam Green, who really pushed the real-time gore to the limits with Hatchet. Alexandra Aja (like him or not) has also done great things, I remember seeing Haute Tension in the cinema and being super impressed with the old school gore.

    I guess when it comes to monster films, it isn't as easy. The money that got spent on the FX on The Thing is actually really high when looked at with todays prices, but, the artistry was incredible and it still holds up today. Sadly we just don't see that many big budget monster films these days; I'm kinda struggling to even think of a few, apart from The Thing prequel.

    CG has become one of the worst crutches in Horror in general; look at many of the big budget remakes of ghost films and classic 80's horror from the last ten years. It was refreshing to see James Wan do The Conjuring with very little obvious CG work (I didn't notice any). Gives me hope that horror filmmakers still care about tension and atmosphere.

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    1. Yeah, I wish we could get more big budget monster films with practical FX, but I think you're right. It is expensive and achieving the same level of artistry as Bottin did on The Thing is damn near impossible. I also liked the old school gore in Haute Tension. I just wasn't a fan of the twist ending. But I know what you mean about CGI in big budget remakes like The Grudge vs. Ju-on or Nightmare on Elm Street... I can't believe they redid the Freddy in the wall effect with CGI. It looked awful compared to the original practical effect. It's so stupid they did that.

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  3. Nightmare on Elm Street was the exact one I was thinking of, actually!

    I remember reading about the first Silent Hill film when it was in production; they had promised that all the creatures were going to be practical. Sadly they did so much 'enhancement' to them in post that they may as well have been CGI in the first place; they looked completely unreal.

    I guess if horror moves back more towards monsters instead of home invasion/serial killer stuff, we might get more old school effects. Hey, who knows. Look how popular vampires have become in the last decade; maybe we will get a return of the alien/monster genre.

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    1. I thought Pyramid Head was great in Silent Hill, but some of the creatures did have pretty obvious CG enhancements, and the third act of that movie really ruined it for me. It had so much untapped potential.

      I would love a return to the alien/monster genre. I got so desperate for old school creature features I was going back and rewatching all the Roger Corman Aliens ripoffs, but actually, some of those aren't too bad like Forbidden World. The Terror Within really isn't very good, but at least, it has practical FX.

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    2. Am a big fan of many Corman flicks, but those such as Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror are a blast. FW has some fantastic nudity, too.

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    3. Yes, it does. Yeah, I like Galaxy of Terror too.

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