Badmovies.org Forum

Older effects based pictures are often the subject of mockery today.  Sometimes deservedly - I don't think The Giant Claw looked good in 1957, and it certainly looks bad now.  Sometimes not - the original King Kong for example.  But some old films had effects work so well done for the time that I feel they'd still be generally appreciated by audiences today.

What do I mean by "old"?  Well, It's hard to think of an exact year, but a general milestone is Star Wars.  While it basically used old techniques (the ships in space were all stop motion based, just EXTREMELY GOOD stop motion) for many it heralds the modern special effects era - there are TONS of films in the 80s that stand up great today.  I tend to agree with this..  So, I'll call "old" as pre-Star Wars, so basically 1976 or earlier.  I think the earlier, the more interesting it is.

I can think of three off the top of my head:

The Exorcist - the makeup effects and other effects work in this are just top notch.  It's hard to think of much of anything that could be improved. 

2001: A Space Odyssey - this pre-figures Star Wars by almost a decade, and its spaceship effects are almost as good and considerably more realistic.  Really good stuff.

And the films that inspired me to create this thread, The Creature From the Black Lagoon and its two sequels.  The Gillman suit is just REALLY good.  It's the best full body creature suit that I'm aware of until like the late 70s or early 80s..  In fact, I'd say it is in the same ballpark as any creature suits made in the modern era.  As a bonus, it was designed primarily by a woman (Disney animator Millicent Patrick, who also created the Metaluna mutant from This Island Earth), a real rarity today and especially back then. 

What other old films have effects work that would still hold up to a modern audience?

I'm not sure how far back we're allowed to go, but I'll throw in An American Werewolf in London.

the transformation in The Wolfman.
Godzilla, you can't go wrong with the old B/W versions.

I aways thought the original War of the Worlds had really cool ships !

(http://wkbwradio.com/shoot2.jpg)

Forbidden Planet has extremely good effects for when it was released.

I just love this old movie!  If you watch the dvd on a big screen tv, you can see the wires that suspend the ships!  :teddyr:

Yes, War of the Worlds still looks great.

The original gillman suit from the 50s can stand toe-to-toe with any that came after.

Yeah, I've read that when properly projected on film, they're actually not visible.  I honestly found it pretty distracting, which is too bad as the effects work otherwise is stunning.  I think they should either do some post work on the film to get rid of the wires, or deliberately distort the resolution as it would be when projected to hide the wires.

Another one, I think both the makeup work on the Universal and Hammer Frankenstein films hold up quite well.  And while sadly we only see it for a brief period, Karloff as the mummy looks GREAT.

(http://www.specialx.net/specialxdotnet/deathsdoor_images/ddimage1.jpg)

If you pay attention to where the top of the Ship's pole, you can vaguely see the wires.

The original T-Rex vs King Kong scene is still pretty effective, its stop motion, but the energy of the scene helps carry it.

War Of The Gargantuas from 1966, the sequel to Frankenstein Conquers The World.  

This holds up very well into today for many reasons:

The designs of the creatures were right on spot with their personalities...Sanda, the benevolent, sad-eyed brown Gargantua, and Gaira, the vicious and brutal geeen Gargantua.

Their somewhat realistic emotional displays came from the actors' ability to engage in natural eye and face movement due to the amount of freedom the masks allowed.  

This clip also showcases their somewhat humaized (sorry, humanized) behavior, seen in the many facial expression of Sanda as he looks down upon his brother's actions; observe.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNR_D3PluQs

KING KONG is definitely the first one I thought of.  The uncanny, slightly unreal effect of stop-motion animation really adds to his mythic aura.  The problem with CGI is it assumes "more realistic" always equals "better," which is absolutely not the case. 

2001 is another great example.

I guess I'll throw in Lon Chaney's makeup.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zAoyoHwC5IQ/Se8lK1kBkLI/AAAAAAAADEw/HvWZcgvVDn0/s400/The+Phantom+of+the+Opera+(1925)+1.jpg)

Never been equaled IMO.  Great monster makeup can't be beaten.

Rev, you just shamed us all here in your expose of our forgetting the Man Of A Thousand Faces.  May you personally revoke all of our memberships to the Monster Lovers Club Of America!  How dare we...and you are right, great makeup never goes out of style! This is especially true in Chaney's case because the man literally got into his makeup.

CGI point well taken too: "realism" dosen't always equal better. From movie to some of the games we have today, some measure of care must be taken to assure that we don't wind up putting realism over entertainment, altho I admit that's an age-old battle that's been tackled many times before CGI hit the movie trail.  Great post!  :cheers:

   The make-up/creature FX for "The Fly" (1986) are still incredible and grotesque even when viewed with modern eyes. Of course, the same thing can be said for John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982).
 
     (http://www.tentonhammer.com/system/files/images/Brundlefly_Stage_6.jpg) (http://www.best-horror-movies.com/image-files/the-thing-dog-monster.jpg)

    "The Howling" should be mentioned as well since the werewolve puppets PLUS Eddie's transformation are still friggin' cool to watch.
 
   (http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/a-m/howling-ld/howling-ld_shot9l.jpg)
    
    Freddy Krueger's make-up in the Elm Street franchise (From parts 1-3) is still pretty creepy even to this very day. The make-up done for the remake was okay, but it will never replace the classic Freddy look.  

    (http://reallyscaryhalloweenmask.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/freddy.png)

Poltergeist ! Great effects.  :smile:

(http://www.atomicpopcorn.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/poltergeist_xl_01-film-b.jpg)

CGI is getting better, but I'm not sure it's "more realistic".
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG also still looks good.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS4yswi5IBk  

These cheapo effects are great:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pElSu_ECJGM&feature=related  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkTz0EvfEiY
(It's so good...) POSITIVELY NO REFUNDS!!  

KYUKETSUKI GOKEMIDORO (Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell-1968)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMPkFx8RQWo 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9t6NHlPJHA

Certain names come to mind --- Ray Harryhausen, Willis O'Brien, Jack Pierce, Eiji Tsuburaya, Rick Baker, George Pal, Stan Winston, Jim Henson...sure there's others.

if anyone here has seen "Alice in wonderland" from 1933, i think they will agree that the effects work is not only stunning but incredibly remarkable for that time period.

 :cheers:  Inspired by this comment, I subjected introduced my 12 y.o. son to The Creature From the Black Lagoon yesterday.  I told him it was essential to his appreciation of movies that he see the Gillman suit in action.  What particularly amused me was the two or three points where he turned to me and said, "That was CGI, right?"  Um, no honey.  Which lead to a discussion of what techniques were available at the time.  When I mentioned matte paintings he went blank.  So now we are slated to watch Forbidden Planet at the earliest opportunity.   :teddyr:

OH: and he decided that the Gillman was up there with the Alien suit.   :smile:

I've always held the opinion that the carpet monster FX in THE CREEPING TERROR still works today. :wink:

I think that the effects in The Invisible Man (1933) are still pretty cool.

Skip to the 5 minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdhXOM159gM

The Gill-Man up there with the Alien suit? How cool, lol  :cheers: 

The boy has a good eye for appreciation.  And I think that we should also mention The Creature's cousin to the south, The Monster From Piedras Blancas. He was pretty cool-looking too!

Kinda obvious, but Dawn Of The Dead ('78) is still tops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbPwV-lqXg

Terminator 2
20k Under The Sea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1svSXx2T0c

Quality FX Work goes way back....

(http://www.nogome.com/nogome/archives/metropolis.jpg)

Metropolis (1927)

(http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/oldcontent/cbeardon/dcollage/collage2/images/film/Melies.jpg)

The Work of Georges Méliès

Actually many of the silent era films create remarkably memorable monsters and nightmare imagery quite unlike any other period of film.

(http://dcairns.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/golem4.jpg)

(http://www.sepiachord.com/images/Nosferatu.jpg)

Great examples Jase, here's another:

(http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i63/haxan_wp_800x600_121720071238.jpg)

1922

My first thoughts too were the original King Kong and Lon Chaney.


Others I thought of:


Topper (1937) - Though certainly the in-camera filming they did makes the ghost effects, what makes it believable is the incredible abilities of Roland Young as Topper.

Nobody has mentioned The Wizard of Oz?

X: the Unknown (1956) - I always thought some of the effects were fairly gruesome and well done for its time.

Star Trek TOS - No matter how corny the sets may be, the transporter effects are always cool.

Giannetto De Rossi - Not a movie, a make-up artist. His work can be summed up by such scenes as the breast ripping scene in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974), any of many scenes from Zombie (1979) including the throat ripping scenes and splinter in the eye scene, and any of the cannibalism scenes as well the impalement from Cannibal Apocalypse (1980).

Of course, what would any mention of make-up effects and special effects be without mention of Ton Savini, who not only created some of horrordom's most celebrated make-up effects, but perhaps became an unofficial spokesperson for Rice Crispies.  :teddyr:


My two picks, which have never changed over several years, of two movies which will never be equaled in terms of special effects are John Carpenter's The Thing and Blade Runner.


A late mention, and perhaps an odd place one would think to find special effects, but my mention is The Beverly Hillbillies TV Show. During the first season (1962) Max Baer played a second character, Jethro's sister Jethrine. Max Baer played the role, but the voice for Jethrine was provided by Linda Henning, and seamlessly dubbed.

I don't know how far back dubbing someone's voice for someone else's goes, but in Goldfinger, the voice we are used to hearing as Auric Goldfinger was actually dubbed as the actor has a heavy German accent.

Didn't he also do the makeup FX for City of The Living Dead?  :buggedout: :buggedout:

Every time I see Carpenter's The Thing I am amazed that it's as old as I am.  You consider the effects in that movie, and there are a few places where they're not great (Wilford putting his fingers into the POTUS' face in that scene just never looks right to me - what is supposed to be happening there?  And the cut to and from Palmer right when he starts his freakout is pretty rough too - he goes from normal to "face ready to pop" in one really quick camera flicker), but on the whole the creature scenes are absolutely incredible.  If they were to remake that movie today it would look TERRIBLE.  It would probably be done in really crappy CGI, but even if it were done with top-notch CGI, you can still tell it's CGI.  I have yet to see a CGI scene that doesn't look at least a little bit like CGI to me.

And if you wanted to do a live effect without CGI, I doubt there are even any special effects guys left in the business that have any experience with real live effects like the ones in that movie.

CGI has made directors think they can put whatever they want into their movies but they don't realize that if you can't fake it in the real world, it's going to look weird to the viewer because they'll know instinctively that what they're seeing is a BS camera trick.  Movies like The Thing actually make me queasy with how realistic they are - that's the mark of success.


Isn't that the same voice guy that did like ALL of the non-Bond voices in the 60s and 70s?  Tanaka from You Only Live Twice, Largo from Thunderball, Dr No, etc.

Ghostbusters, that film holds up immensely special effects wise. 

You don't know much about Hollywood do ya kid?  :drink:

What ChocolateChipCharlie wrote was essentially taking something to its extreme to make a point; the point was made. I guess the rest of us didn't feel the need for footnotes.

I get what you're saying.  Watch Hellboy 2, it'll make you happy.  The one market scene in that is entirely practical, if memory serves, and it's fantastically well-done. 

Also, on the Thing...  I guess not many know this, but a prequel is being made now.

http://io9.com/5654684/first-inside-look-at-the-thing-prequel-shows-why-it-may-be-awesome-after-all (http://io9.com/5654684/first-inside-look-at-the-thing-prequel-shows-why-it-may-be-awesome-after-all)


I might mention I specifically was trying to think of significantly older films (pre-Star Wars) because, to me, it's obvious that stuff like The Thing (or Aliens, or Little Shop of Horrors, or Who Framed Roger Rabbit to name some more not mentioned) still looks great.  There's just so many films from that era with great effects, and I think few would argue with most of them or even think of them as really antiquated.   

But stuff like the Golem from the Golem films, or the amazing suit and set work on Metropolis (good ones Jase)?  That's something that might surprise a modern audience at its quality. 

I'm still impressed by the mushroom clouds from The Day After. They used a lot of stock footage from nuclear tests and other movies for the destruction, but The Day After is unique among older movies about nuclear attack in that stock footage was not used for the explosions themselves. The mushroom clouds were created by injecting oil-based paint downward into a tank of water and shooting it with an inverted camera. Then they flipped the image right-side-up, inverted the colour to negative and slowed it down. Beautiful, and so simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2H1E02iMHg&feature=youtube_gdata

Yep, that a neat old-school effects trick. I remember being really surprised 'back in the day' when I read in Cinefantastique the impressive rolling clouds surrounding the mothership in CEO3K were created in the same way.

Somehow a made-for-TV movie had better effects than Dreamscape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anWe8qkBPAs

You bring up a good technique, AndyC.  It's not original, as Toho Studios did the same thing for their mushroom clouds and explosions. One such shot can be seen at the beginning of Frankenstein Conquers The World with the A-Bomb blast on Hiroshima.

On my War Of The Gargantuas DVD they have a featurette called "Bringing Godzilla Down To Size" where the surviving FX men of Toho's golden day showed how they did it-same way too-the oil and water technique.  Very effective despite it's low cost.

I'll have to check that out. It's been a long time since I saw Frankenstein Conquers the World, and the featurette on War of the Gargantuas might make it worth replacing my old VHS copy. That and the possibility of "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat" in the Dolby 5.1 it deserves. :teddyr:

First I should tell ya'- for the featurette, you have to get the Rodan\War Of The Gargantuas double disc set, and to my error, I believe the featurette is on the Rodan disc. 

You might even be able to get the featurette on Youtube if someone put it up.  But in any case, the surviving Toho FX men and actors getting together for this is worth more than gold on the open market. These men were true pioneers of the FX field.

Maybe it's the BERNARD HERRMANN score, but I love MYSTERIOUS ISLAND:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC-VgDPME9E

Alot of people talk about the forced perspective effects in Lord of the Rings, the way they made the actors playing the hobbits (and the dwarves) look small compared to the other characters, but if you go back you find a lot of the same tricks used in the film Darby O'Gill and the Little People.  A lot of the scenes where you see Darby interacting with the leprechauns still hold up pretty well today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a_yhkH5jjw&NR=1

A very subtle and effective use of forced perspectives was used in the airport scene in CASABLANCA:

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/MidgetsofCasablanca4.jpg)

The workers and passengers in the background?

Midgets!

True story!

Off topic but I think you'll enjoy this: William Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony in the first run-through of a cue in the recording of Herrmann music that's going on right now in Moscow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7dLPfwyzeA

Tom Savini at one of his best optical illusions. If I remember right, Savini had made some sort of gadget that came off the top of the actor's head to make it look like his head was cut off by the blades, and two guys behind the crates pumped blood out of a pair of hoses that were connected to back of the actor's neck.

Another one of his most horrid illusions was in Maniac when he blew the head off of his own look-alike dummy with a 12 gauge shotgun.  There's more to his credit, but these are just two of the great things he accomplished in his heyday.  To say he's a legend is an understatement.

He's also a really great guy. I've met Tom several times at the cons' and he loves to talk about is trade.  Meeting him was a real honor.

That's a good one.  If you look at the documentary stuff on LOTR, they reference the techniques in that film a lot.  Apparently, to this day there's a few shots that modern effects guys aren't really sure how they did.  It's truly a great technical accomplishment for that time or any time.

Another one is Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  Minus the ultra-60s/70s "flying" sequences, all the tricks with animated clothes, shoes, suits of armor, etc are done very well.  To my knowledge, it also has the most convincing cartoon/live action interactions until Who Framed Roger Rabbit.