I recently rewatched Army of Darkness for the first time in forever and I was so charmed by all the practical effects. The eyeball in the shoulder still gets me lol. Practical effects aside, the whole movie was a lot of campy silly fun. It’s just a gem of a movie.
What’s your favorite movie that uses lots of practical effects?
Do you have a favorite practical effect of all time?
Any movies like Army of Darkness you’d recommend?
What’s your favorite movie that uses lots of practical effects?
The Thing has to be up there if the criteria is just an overall great movie heavy on practical effects.
Do you have a favorite practical effect of all time?
The “digital” wireframe view of the city from Snake’s glider in ‘Escape From New York’.
It was accomplished with miniature buildings which is rad.
Thats super interesting about the wire frame intro to Escape From New York. I’ve seen that movie a ton of times but I always thought that part was early digital.
The Thing is a great one that I haven’t seen in too long. I’ll add it to my list.
That is super cool about the digital wireframe!
Aliens.
Still holds up in 4K nearly 40 years on. The drop ship, the mother alien, the armoured carrier, all incredible looking.
Sigourney Weaver battling the queen alien in that loader is one example that often pops into my head when this sort of question comes up.
Good answer!!
Probably watched that movie 100 times. Last year I put it on for my wife, sat and really watched for the first time in ages. My god, came out when I was a child, still a perfect movie.
Yes!!! Me too!!! I recorded it onto a VHS tape off the TV as a kid and I’m probably at a similar watch count to you. It’s my favourite movie of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(2006_film)
Singh stressed the importance of on-location filming and lack of special effects, as he found that modern techniques would not age well in comparison.
When shooting scenes of the blue city in Jodhpur, Tarsem provided locals with blue paint to refresh the paint on their houses. This alternative to post-production effects resulted in the vibrant blue of the city in the film.
This entire film is practically a love letter to early film practical special effects. Is it the best story? No, the story is flat in many respects. Yet the film to this day is visually stunning, and stands as one of my favorite films due to it’s visually captivating presence. The film surely does have small amounts of modern special effects, but by and large Singh worked very hard at producing mostly practical effects.
Interesting ty! I’ll check it out!
It’s one of my favorite movies, and I find the story beautiful. Incredible acting from a child, as well as Lee Pace.
For me, the peak of practical effects is Scanners.
https://www.slashfilm.com/1603402/scanners-head-explosion-why-shotgun-vfx/
That does look pretty amazing lol
Hellraiser
That Mad Max with Tom Hardy had great rrsl stunts.
Cool I’ve been meaning to watch the Mad Maxes. What is an rrsl stunt?
Be Kind, Rewind
Kind of a joke answer because if you don’t know it, the entire premise is some guys remaking classic movies based on their memory and just a bunch of whatever junk they can find. It’s adorable, clever, inventive, and bewilderingly creative. It’s by the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, several White Stripes videos, the Daft Punk video for Around the World, and so much other brilliant stuff.
Mad God and John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Came here to post The Thing. Glad someone beat me to it.
Mad God the 2021 movie?
I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I think Tremors (1990) is very much in the same genre as Army of Darkness, and I’m pretty sure the whole movie is pure practical effects.
Literally anything that Stan Winston had a hand in.
Watch the original Gone in 60 Seconds, from 1974. The car stunts are absolutely insane, to the extent that they probably shouldn’t have been allowed to make the movie the way they did, but it happened and I’m glad that cameras were rolling. The Nic Cage remake was trying to make a movie safer, slicker, and more coherently, but there’s no replacement for a bunch of insane stunt drivers risking their lives and the lives of everyone around them.
Velocipastor. Here a Screenshot from the intro:
Idle Hands if you like Army of Darkness and gross out practical effects.
Ty I’ll check it out
Practical effects in Carpenter’s remake of The Thing are hard to beat
John Carpenter’s The Thing is the peak. It does not go higher.
The Terrifier films are unbeatable for practical gore.
David Cronenberg’s The Fly is also a must-watch if you like practical creatures.
