Eight Times Our Minds Were Blown by Cinematic Special Effects… That Look Kinda Silly Today

Filmmakers constantly find ways to show us things we never thought were possible. The thing is, new VFX make the old advancements look so silly.

Humanity is an innovative species. We create, invent and improve, and probably will forever. Movies are a fantastic example of this.

I’m a huge film geek, and while watching some older movies—the classics—over the past couple of years, I’ve begun to think about the fact these were once considered cutting edge.

Of course, for their time, I can see how many were considered ground-breaking. But it’s crazy to look back and realise just how much things have changed.

Advancements in technology are great. The downside, however, is that as audiences get used to new effects, previous technology often loses a lot of value. Here are eight examples of formerly mind-blowing movies that were eventually superseded by something else.

Planet of the Apes

The POTA franchise is my go-to example for this situation. The make-up in the original 1968 film holds nothing to the CGI and performance-capture technology used in the modern Andy Serkis trilogy. These new films really made me believe I was watching real apes on screen. Then again, in forty years, viewers may look back on them and laugh.

The Exorcist

I recently watched a bunch of old Universal monster films and... whoa! Not scary, whatsoever. In fact, the only horror films released in the 20th century that have remotely scared me so far are Psycho and The Shining. The Exorcist, to my modern eyes, was essentially a comedy. However, I have heard people talk about many of these films, such as The Exorcist, as being the scariest horror movies ever made. Sure... but still today?

Jaws

Jaws is one of my favourite movies of all time, but the thrills come from not seeing Bruce (the fake shark). He hardly looked awful, but Bruce certainly does not compare with the newer CG sharks from recent movies such as The Shallows or 47 Metres Down. Let’s not even think about Bruce’s descendant in Jaws: The Revenge (see gif above).

Blade

If you look at the history of superhero films, you can see a clear technological leap over the years. I love 1998’s Blade, but the CGI in that film is horrendous. Fact is, the movie was trying to do things that simply weren’t meant to be done just yet.

Spider-Man

Even Raimi’s original Spider-Man from 2002 uses effects that are now outdated, regardless of how else the movie holds up (and it does). Compare that with the recent Spider-Man: Homecoming, and one can really see an improvement in digital enhancements.

Superman

The tagline for the 1978 movie is, “You’ll believe a man can fly.” Nope! Man of Steel, on the other hand really did make me believe that not only was Superman flying, but that all his other powers were real too. That said, Justice League could barely make me believe Henry Cavill didn’t have a moustache, so there’s still room for improvement.

Star Wars

As ground-breaking as the special effects were in the original Star Wars, it is certainly much more aesthetically pleasing to see space battles unfold and alien races run about in the newer films, such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The Marvel Cinematic Universe films are also making great use of ‘de-aging’ technology as of late. Gone are the days of heavily making-up an actor to give them a very odd young look. Okay, there’s probably still some make-up involved, but aging Kurt Russell (in GOTG V2) or Michael Douglas (in Ant-Man) down 20 years is pretty convincing by this point. Still, the surprising sight of a teenage Robert Downey Jr. in a new film may still inspire a giggle…

I’m sure that, one day, my children will laugh and scoff at many of the visual effects that I, right now, consider ground-breaking. They may not find movies like The Conjuring or Insidious frightening, just like horror films of the generations before me often cause me to bust a gut. And then, the exact same thing will happen with their children, and with theirs. There is no end to human innovation and I for one am very excited to see what barriers filmmakers will break through next.

Graham Mitchell Elphick is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. See more student contributions here.

Photo: Fox