Remy – The Return Of Practical Effects
This one is all Evil Dead. I have sworn off CGI for years. I think that it gives a very Roger Rabbit feel to horror films – like some animated monster crept in from toon town and started killing off the humans. I also know that most of the effects they use CG for used to be practical effects. I remember the feeling of sunken hope I got way back when I saw Land of the Dead, and realized they were no longer using squibs – I NEVER got over that. I know CG is actually a lot cheaper to produce now, but please, look at John Carpenter’s version of The Thing versus the most recent remake (No, that was not a sequel or prequel. It was an exact remake). Which one was better? You don’t have to say it, we both know.
But the Evil Dead remake brought all that back. Fede Alvarez showed us with blinding accuracy that if you do effects right, practical is still the way to go. The end result was some of the goriest, yet freakishly realistic effects we have seen in horror in a long, long time.
So, essentially, I am praying that many horror hounds like myself saw that movie and realized “Holy shit, practical effects have come further than ever, and are extremely disturbing and awesome.” Fuck CGI! Evil Dead accomplished many things. It was brave and ballsy and was one of the few horror remakes that actually worked, but if it sets the tone for horror to start using old school effects again, then it honestly just re-revolutionized the horror industry.
That, my friends, is the single thing I am most thankful for.