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Crappiest use of CGI in a horror film

post #1 of 33
2/21/03 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
So it was a pretty boring Thursday night, and I'm flipping through some channels and notice that the Steven King adaptation abortion The Lawnmower Man is playing. I'm in to guilty pleasures and nostalgia, so I watch. I understand the movie came out 1992, and it CGI was still sperm, but some of that shit was horrible. The worst had to be when the Joe (A.K.A. Lawnmower Man) used his powers to light the priest on fire. It was fucking worse then The Human Torch in Cormans Fantastic Four movie. Sometimes practical effects work best, especially in this case. Anyways, anybody else remember such atrocities in CGI?

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post #2 of 33
2/21/03 at 3:07pm
Octopus 2.
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post #3 of 33
2/21/03 at 3:22pm
Resident Evil comes to mind when you mention the word CGI. It's not that the CGI in the movie was done poorly it is just that it was over done. The whole bloody movie seemed to be CGI. I didn't know if I was watching a movie or a video game at times. It was like watching someone play DonkeyKong for 2 hours. The only part that didn't have CGI that was done well is when the flashed Jovanavich's bush!
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post #4 of 33
2/21/03 at 4:52pm
The Brendan Fraser "Mummy" movies. I'm more impressed watching Gene Kelly dance with Jerry the Mouse than I am with those cartoonish things. And it really burns me b/c in some spots where practical effects would have been both cheaper AND more convincing (I'm thinking of the Rock/Scorpion Creature close-ups in particular), they were eschewed in favor of cartoon characters.

I don't count things like Lawnmower Man or Tron, b/c they did the best they could with the available technology. It's when you have good tech and you still make it crap that it burns me.
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post #5 of 33
2/21/03 at 4:54pm
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS
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post #6 of 33
2/21/03 at 5:09pm
Sil at the end of Species. I seem to remember that was pretty shit, although I'm not masochistic enough to watch it again and find out.

Also, Christopher Lee's death scene in Russel Mulcahy's clusterfuck bandwagon-jumper Talos The Mummy. He gets cut in half, and you can the the edge of the CGI wobbling and jumping as he lies on the ground. Fucking awful.

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post #7 of 33
2/21/03 at 5:21pm
I didn't think Lawnmower Man was bad at all...but then again I haven't seen it since it was released. Probably didn't age too well, but it was good for its time.

Pretty much every stephen king adaption has had some very crappy CGI at one point or another...i'd say the Langoliers was the worst- those things weren't exactly fear inducing...
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post #8 of 33
2/21/03 at 5:23pm
Spawn
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post #9 of 33
2/21/03 at 5:25pm
Understandable, becuase it's low budget...but if you can't do something decently, don't fucking do it: Dagon.
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post #10 of 33
2/21/03 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Devil Unicorn (or was it Unicrom?):
Understandable, becuase it's low budget...but if you can't do something decently, don't fucking do it: Dagon.
STRONG disagreement. I will allow that the CG boat-on-the-rocks was pretty lame, but besides that, I thought it was spectacular. And most of the effects were practical and not CG, if I remember correctly. Just the aforementioned boat and the big guy himself, which I liked.

Takes all kinds to make a world, though. wink
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post #11 of 33
2/21/03 at 6:36pm
The mouth-tentacles in the dream sequence were pretty terrible. But yeah, at least the CG was used in moderation. If they would have shown Dagon for more than a few seconds, he probably would have given me some nitpicking fodder, but he was pretty good.
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post #12 of 33
2/21/03 at 6:36pm
Some of the GGI in Dagon made me wince a bit but that only cost 3 million to make. The biggest travesty I have witnessed is The Mummy. What is so wrong with wrapping an actor in bandages? I'll take Karloff or Christopher Lee any day. The CGI in The Mummy movies looks so plastic. Everything has the same texture. I was sitting there saying, "You know, I don't think that's real."
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post #13 of 33
2/21/03 at 6:37pm
I thought DAGON batted a .500 in the CG deparment.

CG paul/flashlight/hole in ocean floor: love
CG mermaid fangs: love
CG storm approaching: worked for me
CG boat on rocks: eh, not so much
CG tentacles from Uxia's mouth: eh, not so much
CG Dagon hisself: eh, not so much
CG Uxia walking on tentacles: eh, not so much
CG final shot of Paul and Uxia swimming: love

I suppose it would be extremely condescending as a hairy American ape cowboy to say, "Not bad for a Spanish CG house." I loved this movie. And with every new Stuart Gordon movie I see (CASTLE FREAK and SPACE TRUCKERS this week), I love DAGON a little bit more. I'm watching FORTRESS this weekend, heh.
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post #14 of 33
2/21/03 at 6:43pm
I'd have to agree with the Langoliers! Lawnmower Man might not look too hot upon reinspection, but the first time I saw those little shits flying around the tarmack, I just about popped a crap right there they were so bad!
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post #15 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:05pm
Horror: Blade 2, From Dusk till Dawn

Non-horror: Spiderman
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post #16 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:13pm
A better question would be: When has CGI been used WELL in a horror movie? Since 99% of horror is usually fairly low-budget, practically any CGI shots or characters usually tend to come out looking like shit. (And even big budget horror flicks like "The Mummy Returns" and "Resident Evil" have been plauged with crap CGI.)

I can think of 40-50 horror movies with terrible CGI, but only one or two movies that use CGI well are coming to mind.
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post #17 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:15pm
I posted earlier about the CGI being over done in Resident Evil and after reading some of the other posts another movie which the CGI fucked it up came to mind. The Mangler, I think anyway wasn't that bad of a movie at all. You had Robert Englund, Ted Levine(Silence of the Lambs), and it was Directed by horror god Tobe Hooper. It had a great storyline to it but what the fuck was then ending. That fucking CGI machine with spinning gears and sharp teeth fucking sucked. I was like, "holy shit you almost pulled off a great flick and you throw this pile o' shit at the end". Oh, and by the way it was again another Stephen King adaption ahahaha!
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post #18 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:40pm
If you want shitty Stephen King CGI, the "hand of god" at the end of The Stand mini-series ranks pretty high up.
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post #19 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:45pm
Or the stupid fucking spider at the end of IT! What a dung pile!
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post #20 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Slater Molests Aquaman:
A better question would be: When has CGI been used WELL in a horror movie? Since 99% of horror is usually fairly low-budget, practically any CGI shots or characters usually tend to come out looking like shit. (And even big budget horror flicks like "The Mummy Returns" and "Resident Evil" have been plauged with crap CGI.)

I can think of 40-50 horror movies with terrible CGI, but only one or two movies that use CGI well are coming to mind.
I still love the CG stuff in The Relic. but that was a combination of animatronics and CGI, I think. still, the shot in which the beast rips the head of the SWAT team guy works a treat for me.

and I know that this is probably just me, but despite the movie being total ass, I can remember the scene of the werewolf jumping out of the fountain and shaking water from his fur in American Werewolf in Paris being pretty cool... but the other effect shots sucked, as I recall...
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post #21 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:59pm
Can't harp Lawnmower Man for having used CGI poorly. At the time CGI was a newborn baby, and at the time it was great. Maybe the best use at the time.
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post #22 of 33
2/21/03 at 7:59pm
In my opinion, the high mark for horror CGI remains the original Jurassic Park, which is kinda sad, since it was also one of the first.

The CGI Relic monster was moderately well done, mainly just because the shadows hid so many of the details. In the film's few well-lit shots, it wasn't very good.

I'll echo the "Dagon" love. On a three million dollar budget, the CGI was pretty damn good.

The tentacle-monster and Mr. Melty Face from "Deep Rising" were fun, if not particularly "good"...

Having trouble thinking of others...
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post #23 of 33
2/21/03 at 9:07pm
:Or the stupid fucking spider at the end of IT! What a dung pile!

Hmm, I always assumed that was paper mache, not CGI.
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post #24 of 33
2/21/03 at 9:35pm
Anaconda was pretty fucking bad.
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post #25 of 33
2/21/03 at 10:51pm
Clearly none of you have seen PINATA: SURVIVAL ISLAND. Not only is the CGI bad, they keep reusing the same exact shots over and over.
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post #26 of 33
2/21/03 at 11:46pm
I just rewatched Deep Rising and thought the CGI was pretty good. The problem with Anaconda was that the CGI snake didn't match up well with the animotronic snake. I think the best use of CGI/Robotics was Jurassic park III . Sometimes it was really hard to tell the difference.
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post #27 of 33
2/22/03 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
I notice a lot of defense for Lawnmower Man here. I agree that it was concived during the infantile stages of CGI, but thats when you should know your limits. All the VR stuff looked kinda cool, and the CG Joe was kinda nifty, but you don't have to CGI everything. The priest of fire sequence was horrid, and it didn't warrent CGI treatment. They should of stuck with practical effects for that one.
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post #28 of 33
2/22/03 at 6:43am
The dreadful beast in BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF was awful, compounded by the fact that the entire film was so maticulous with its sets and costumes .... It actually killed the film for me ...

I must second ( third ? ) the fact that DAGON was spoiled by CGI ... It sucked, plain and simple, and there is no reason to sick it in, esp if it's not within the budget ...
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post #29 of 33
2/22/03 at 7:21am
the blood in blade the alien in alien 3
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post #30 of 33
2/22/03 at 8:19am
the alien in Alien 3 was actually done with Go Motion, I think.... and I still love it. don't care that it stuck out like a sore thumb sometimes, it still ruled.
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post #31 of 33
2/23/03 at 12:12am
I'll have to second the opinion of THE LANGOLIERS. Pac-men with teeth.
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post #32 of 33
2/23/03 at 12:39am
Now that I think about it, that Korean/American giant monster movie REPTILIAN/YONGGARY has some really atrocious CGI. Everything looks one dimensional and has a white tint to it as if they ran out of money and couldn't finish the effects. It all looks really unpolished.
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post #33 of 33
2/23/03 at 1:06am
Pinata: Survival Island aka Demon Island

Giant pinata attacks college students on desolate island having party so those ropes pulling it do kind of serve as both a plot function and why the special effects are so cheap.

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00007ELD9.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt="" />

On a side note, does Jaime's head look a little, I dunno, inflated or pasted-on?

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