The Magic of Practical Effects in Film

[SophiaaaM]

Lately, I've been rewatching classic movies from the '70s and '80s, and it's striking how powerful practical effects still feel today. Miniatures, animatronics, real sets — they give films a tangible weight that's sometimes missing in modern CGI-heavy productions.
Movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, and The Thing show how creativity and craftsmanship can make a world feel alive, even decades later. Sure, CGI opens amazing possibilities, but there's something timeless about the artistry of practical effects.
Anyone else feel like practical effects are making a quiet comeback lately? Would love to hear which films you think used them best!

[Doomhunter]

Originally Posted by SophiaaaM

Lately, I've been rewatching classic movies from the '70s and '80s, and it's striking how powerful practical effects still feel today. Miniatures, animatronics, real sets — they give films a tangible weight that's sometimes missing in modern CGI-heavy productions.
Movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, and The Thing show how creativity and craftsmanship can make a world feel alive, even decades later. Sure, CGI opens amazing possibilities, but there's something timeless about the artistry of practical effects.
Anyone else feel like practical effects are making a quiet comeback lately? Would love to hear which films you think used them best!

Definitely agree with you, practical effects are great! I will have to look thru my collection for some ideas. Stop motion films like Junk Head also fall in the category for me as well

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by SophiaaaM

Would love to hear which films you think used them best!

For some reason, CGI bugs the crap out of me in some films, while other films, such as The Matrix and Titanic (1997) , I love it. I do miss practical effects terribly. Other films that used them to great effect besides the ones you mentioned are...

King Kong (1933)
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Wizard of Oz
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
All the Ray Harryhausen films
Westworld (1973)
Godzilla (1954)
Alien
The Return of the Living Dead
An American Werewolf in London
War of the Gargantuas
All the Universal monster films
Evil Dead 2
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Blob (1958)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
The Towering Inferno
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
The Fly (1958)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Jaws
Doctor Cyclops
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Mary Poppins
A Night to Remember (1958) with some effects lifted from Titanic (1943)
Tremors
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Re-Animator
Them! (1954)
Predator
Robocop

I am sure I am missing some.

[Fluid]

The Thing is a perfect example of timeless and inspired practical effects.

[DThompson]

Originally Posted by Fluid

The Thing is a perfect example of timeless and inspired practical effects.

100%. Just re-watched it for the millionth time the other day. Still looks absolutely incredible.

[Jay H.]

As with CGI, sometimes practical effects are great and sometimes they aren't. I can't say I prefer one over the other.

[jess1581]

I don't prefer any fx method. They all have their purpose. The problem has always been human error i.e. how people use these techniques. Imo, the most amazing fx I've seen incorporated every method in the book in one shot or whole scene. Cgi should be used as an addition or enhancement, but not for everything on screen.

[BluLobsta]

If you can, watch the documentary series Light and Magic on Disney+. It's about how George Lucas created the special effects for A New Hope. I've watched the first episode which is how he assembled the special effects team. Really amazing stuff. These guys were basically unknowns, a loosely bound group who knew each other from comic book conventions, etc. and experimented with special effects when they were children building clay models and animating them frame by frame with 8mm cameras. They basically had a passion for model building and animating them. George Lucas had heard of John Dykstra and they talked about the project and then Dykstra started contacting these people by word of mouth or by flyers on college dorms and they all came together and the rest is history. Incredibly interesting if you are a fan.

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

If you can, watch the documentary series Light and Magic on Disney+. It's about how George Lucas created the special effects for A New Hope. I've watched the first episode which is how he assembled the special effects team. Really amazing stuff. These guys were basically unknowns, a loosely bound group who knew each other from comic book conventions, etc. and experimented with special effects when they were children building clay models and animating them frame by frame with 8mm cameras. They basically had a passion for model building and animating them. George Lucas had heard of John Dykstra and they talked about the project and then Dykstra started contacting these people by word of mouth or by flyers on college dorms and they all came together and the rest is history. Incredibly interesting if you are a fan.

I LOVE this docu-series. Just finished watching the second season the other day. It’s really fascinating.

I don’t hate CGI effects, but I think it works best when practical effects and CG are used together. That’s one of the things I love about Disney’s Star Wars movies.

It’s totally understandable, of course, why Lucas went a bit overboard on the CGI. I respect the challenges that he had to deal with when making the original trilogy and wanting to make it easier… but I still think he took it a liiittlee too far lol

[spider-neil]

Robocop is a masterclass in practical effects.

[lesco]

2001: A Space Odyssey
The winner and still champeen

[starmike]

Originally Posted by lesco

2001: A Space Odyssey
The winner and still champeen

Mmmmm, really?

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I LOVE this docu-series. Just finished watching the second season the other day. It’s really fascinating.

I don’t hate CGI effects, but I think it works best when practical effects and CG are used together. That’s one of the things I love about Disney’s Star Wars movies.

It’s totally understandable, of course, why Lucas went a bit overboard on the CGI. I respect the challenges that he had to deal with when making the original trilogy and wanting to make it easier… but I still think he took it a liiittlee too far lol

Absolutely. I can’t wait to finish it!

[lesco]

Originally Posted by starmike

Mmmmm, really?

Star Wars' major breakthrough in practical effects was the motion-controlled camera and the models in both films are terrific, but unlike Lucas, Kubrick didn't go back and give his effects a do-over. And that's not even mentioning the other innovative physical effects such as Trumbull's slit-scan process, the ape makeup, or that cool graphite-coated monolith that looks like an optical insert but is a real object.

[johnlennon696]

I certainly long for more practical effects but also more practical blended with CG. Like T2 had that perfect balance.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

Robocop is a masterclass in practical effects.

Agreed. I believe "RoboCop" was the first movie to use exploding blood squibs.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by SophiaaaM

Lately, I've been rewatching classic movies from the '70s and '80s, and it's striking how powerful practical effects still feel today. Miniatures, animatronics, real sets — they give films a tangible weight that's sometimes missing in modern CGI-heavy productions.
Movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, and The Thing show how creativity and craftsmanship can make a world feel alive, even decades later. Sure, CGI opens amazing possibilities, but there's something timeless about the artistry of practical effects.
Anyone else feel like practical effects are making a quiet comeback lately? Would love to hear which films you think used them best!

Here's my list of films with the best practical effects:

Gorgo (1961)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Alien (1979)
Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
Backdraft (1991)
Honey, I Blew Up The Kid (1992)

Practical effects should be used more frequently. In "Jurassic World" only one practical dinosaur was built, and that was a dinosaur that was lying on the ground dying. Maybe they couldn't build fast-moving carnivorous dinosaurs running on two legs, but at the very least they should have been able to build slow-moving herbivorous dinosaurs walking on four legs.

I also believe that the 2025 live-action version of "Lilo and Stitch" could have used practical effects. If Disney built a robotic version of Stitch, or better yet, used genetic engineering to create a real, living biological Stitch, I would have a lot more respect for Disney.

[Doomhunter]

Agreed, more human / alien hybrid experimentation needed.

[DKLou]

Originally Posted by jess1581

I don't prefer any fx method. They all have their purpose. The problem has always been human error i.e. how people use these techniques. Imo, the most amazing fx I've seen incorporated every method in the book in one shot or whole scene. Cgi should be used as an addition or enhancement, but not for everything on screen.

I agree. For example, like it or hate it the first Transformers film had terrific effects as the CG was mainly for the foreground objects. Real backgrounds and locations, CG robots. Gollum in LOTR also was done this way and both films make almost perfect/seamless use of CG.

Hate to go here since I do enjoy the films but the Star Wars prequels, especially the first two are quite dated and "off" looking due to the entire screen being filled with CG stuff. It just doesn’t work in that capacity. Many modern super hero films also have this problem. They just look so fake. Shang Chi looked terrible during the finale battle scene. There are several more examples bunt you get the idea.

I still think good matte paintings work great for wider background shots. Star Wars and LOTR made use of these.

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

Agreed. I believe "RoboCop" was the first movie to use exploding blood squibs.

No.