Special effects had risen to a level of film-making perfection in the 80s, which was prior to the tragic introduction of CGI, which made every monster look like it was a close up of the original Lara Croft’s boobs. If you don’t believe me, just look up The Lawnmower man from 1992. It’s truly horrific, and not in a good way.
In today’s video, I want to celebrate a handful of those titles that demonstrated precisely what made horror a fantastic and incredible thing in the golden era of cinema.
Keep in mind, this is not a countdown, these movies are in no particular order, they are just a few movies from the 80’s that I remember having great practical effects and I think they deserve a shout out.. So without further adu… Here are 10 horror movies from the 80s with mind-blowing practical effects.
- The Beyond (1981)
Lucio Fulci is a god when it comes to gore. What makes his movies unique is that he never went for realism, and actually used the cheapness and exaggerated effects to create an aesthetic of his own. The Beyond isn’t his goriest film but showed the extent a filmmaker can go to, to make a human look like a melting popsicle. In fact, it makes the arc of the covenant in Raiders, look kinda tame!
There are tarantulas eating a man’s face, a stomach-churning dog attack, flaked skinned zombies, a juicy exploding head and of course, a Fulci signature eyeball gouge that will put you off meatballs for a week.
- An American Werewolf In London (1981)
It’s no surprise that Rick Baker won the very first makeup and hairstyle Oscar for the brilliant effects on An American Werewolf In London. Not many know that the infamous, and slightly hilarious transformation scene took place over a 10 hour day, where different stages of the transformation were applied to David Naughton and edited in a way similar to stop motion. To this day, I get the urge to rip my clothes off anytime I listen to ‘Blue Moon’…. It made prom a really interesting experience.
Interestingly, Baker chose to leave The Howling, which turned out to be the rival werewolf film of that year, which many argue has a transformation scene that rivals the one in An American Werewolf In London. What do you think? Leave your answer in the comments section below.
- The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing is an awe-inspired movie. It took its special effects creator and designer Rob Bottin a whole year to materialise the shape-shifting terror of the film, which proved more than worth the effort in the final cut.
The CG-dependent remake of the remake embarrassingly showed us that latex, prosthetics and lots of goop beat a 3D rendered monster who looks like it can be easily wiped away with a good antivirus program.
- The Dark Crystal (1982)
Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s first human and puppet-less feature The Dark Crystal is a high-fantasy movie, that had a set created to scale in Elstree Studios. Up until then, the duo was known for their work on Kermit The Frog and friends but took a complete 180 when designing the gnarled, prehistoric and birdlike looking denizens of the planet Thra.
Some of you may argue that The Dark Crystal isn’t a horror movie, but if the vicious Skeksis didn’t scare the absolute shit out of you as a kid, then maybe you need to be checked out… just saying.
- Day Of The Dead (1985)
Tom Savini earned his title as the “Godfather Of Gore”. He blew a head up in Maniac and put an arrow through Kevin Bacon’s heart in Friday The 13th – something I wish I could have done after sitting through Footloose.
But what is arguably his masterpiece, was the revoltingly satisfying dismemberment in Goerge Romero’s Day Of Dead, where we saw a torso pulled apart like it was a smuggled pie at fat camp. It goes to show that all you need is some pig intestines, rubber and some wax to have yourself a good time making cinematic history.
- Brazil (1985)
In Brazil, Terry Gilliam introduced us to an Art Deco city, with its fair share of horror and craziness around every street corner. It’s a world with orange clouds, low-poly skyscrapers, baby-faced monsters and neon samurai. Basically, if a film was on crack, then Brazil is far past rehabilitation.
We see Jonathon Pryce as an armoured angel soaring through the sky to chase down a floating ethereal maiden, before all the worlds in the film collapse, giving us a sequence of chaotic visuals before its sombre ending. At the time, the effects were state of the art, and most of them still hold up today.
- The Fly (1986)
What happens when you splice your DNA with that of a fly? Well, you’re in deep crap… and not just because that’s where flies like to hang out.
David Cronenberg’s remake of the 50’s sci-fi classic, showed us the horrific deterioration experienced by scientist Seth Brundle after doing just that.
Oscar-winning makeup artist Chris Walas did an impressive job of making Jeff Goldblum look completely repulsive as his body parts detached and his flesh mutated. What makes these special effects so great, is that they keep Goldblum looking recognisable, while giving him the appearance of a giant housefly.
- Dead Ringers (1988)
Though David Cronenberg is best known for dreaming up deformed imagery and bringing it to life as he did in The Fly, the unsettling psychological horror-thriller Dead Ringers introduces us to a pair of identical twin gynaecologists who are not monsters in the physical sense. This film makes you feel so uncomfortable, it may as well be you in the stirrups.
Jermy Irons flawlessly plays both twins, using groundbreaking motion-controlled camerawork and a genius matte system, making his duel performance spine-tinglingly realistic. Of course, now its common practice to use a green screen or CGI to render this kind of effect, but Dead Ringers was not only one of the originals to do it perfectly, but will still have you guessing if Jeremy Irons really has a secret twin somewhere.
- Society (1989)
We saw some fantastic practical horror effects at the end of the 80s, think about Hellraiser and Pumpkinhead as prime examples. They pushed the boundaries of gore and creature design to the absolute limits and inspired many other films and subgenres.
Brian Yuzna’s satirical horror-comedy Society, is one film that stands out as an example of the boundlessly repulsive imagination of some filmmakers. The effects were created by Japanese artist “Screaming Mad George”, who moved to the U.S in the 70s, to build a career that would eventually give him the reputation of the most unorthodox effects artist in the business.
For those who have seen it, one scene will inevitably spring to mind. Yep, its the merging of incestuous fleshy blobs that partake in a ritual known as “The Shunting”. Fingers sink into Jello-O like skin, faces melt, and body parts connect to other… parts… just watch it… or don’t… your call.
- Hellraiser (1987)
We can’t conclude a list of special effects, without the mention of Frank’s gnarly resurrection in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. It was Bob Keen who’s insanely ambitious design work paid off, giving birth to a cult classic that would be idolised and rightfully celebrated for many years to come.
A fun fact about the resurrection scene is that the beating heart thing was actually made out of a condom, glue, tubing and other spare bits. I only know one use for a condom… you know what I’m talking about…
…water balloons.. That’s all i use them for.
If the 80s taught us anything, it is to “Be kind and Rewind”, and appreciate the countless hours it took to create all the outrageous effects found in our favourite horror movie moments.
So that concludes my list of “Horror movies from the 80s with mind-blowing practical effects”. Let me know in the comment section if you agree with my choices, as well as giving the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
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And… I will see you in the next video!
