Transformations - CGI vs 80s effects

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Speak for yourself, fella. I prefer CGI.

I agree with the OP. It's also more effective to actually see something rather than CG effects which are essentially like a cartoon. It is too clean, too perfect, and too fake. Not that every '80s effect looked realistic, but at least it had depth to it.

-Di

No one in their right mind would pick CGI over well done practical effects in my opinion. They just blow people away and just look so much better. The fact that even today's CGI is obvious when you see just shows how stupid the argument is to me.

If you look at the practical effects of Interview with the vampire compared to CGI Fright Night(2011) you can see a great example of the gap between well done and just stupid computer effects. Even look at old Fright Night compared to the remake. And I'm stricly effects not story or whatever else. Try to watch them side by side and tell me that Fright Night(2011) has the same creepy effect on you that the original had.

To me it's just a simple answer. Practical all the way. At the most use CGI to enhance the practical stuff. But nothing is impossible when some imagination is used.

Could you imagine a CGI Marshmallow man instead of a guy in a suit. The miatures done in that film are amazing and practically seemless with the actual city shots.

Also The Howling sucks ass compared to American Werewolf. That bubling and the fact that they had to hide the effcts just blows it for me. I would have like a darker room for AWIL but the effcts are seemless and it was done in a bright room to f'ck with people's minds. You can see every second of it and it's still the best werewolf transformation of film history. You just can't dispute those effects.

I hate CGI, it takes away the effort these days plus it just looks fake in my eyes, I'd take the old school way over CGI. Just look at 1982's The Thing to see why the old way is so much better.

im usually the one to jump on the "old effects were better" train, but as far as werewolf transformation scenes go, CGI takes the cake. this may be because the actual effect scenes in most movies are so utterly bad.

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If you want horror - tune in the news channel.

I think CG effects should only be used when there's no practical way of doing it. Especially in horror as it sucks me right out of the movie. The werewolves in The Howling, American Werewolf and even Trick r Treat are really creepy looking. You can't get that look with CG effects, you end up with Cursed.

IMHO, it should ideally be a mix of both. For close ups, I prefer the physical effects. For long shots where you can see most or the entire body I prefer CGI, because it's more believable when the subject is moving.

Actually, now that I think about it, it should be like that for all the scenes in modern movies where werewolves appear. CGI is best suited for long action shots like where the werewolf is running, climbing or doing other physical things. Close ups and interactions with live actors should be animatronic costumes.