​CGI VS PRACTICAL EFFECTS: WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR HORROR MOVIES?

 In the modern world of cinema, we can have a variety of movies that use a computer-generated imagery (CSI) special effects; yet, we consider the old-school cinematic universe to be so much better in terms of the effort of the actors. So, which one do we prefer more? Let’s analyse a few examples and facts to determine the ideal answer to our dilemma.

The CGI approach in modern horror cinema
The reason people lose interest in purchasing an expensive ticket to the cinema and watch a CGI-based horror movie is very simple. Why would we pay £10-15 to see actors not even trying to deliver their best performance by being hidden behind a CGI program? One of the examples is the unsuccessful Steppenwolf character in the highly anticipated Justice League movie. The antagonist just didn’t spread fear into the audience due to its poorly-adapted CGI effects. Surely, we could argue that Thanos in Infinity War masterpiece was embraced by everyone, but that was mostly to his sinister ideas that are sadly supported by many politicians today. Therefore, Steppenwolf did not only fail to portray a villain that would have a reasonable idea to kill and destroy, but he also had a poor CGI effect that visualised him. On the other hand, Thanos was a lot different, despite a great plot, the CGI effects were outstanding.

Reasons to choose a classic horror approach

Yet, why do people choose the former approach to horror movies? Let’s analyse Kubrick’s The Shining. There is a lot to put when you are adopting a Stephen King’s novel, but Kubrick did just what the audience wanted. The adaptation is considered to be one of the best-ever book-based movies in the last and current century. The reason is simple, the times of 1970-80 had little to do with computer-generated special effects, so the directors had to improvise with their own savvy and effects. For what we see in The Shining, is not the brilliance of objects placement and right camera angles, but also the professionalism of Jack Nicholson. The is the start of the movie, but even if he had all the special effects assistance, he would still do an amazing performance as he did in The Shining. 

The adaptations of certain classics to CGI-inflicted effects certainly do a great job. But do we really want to see a computerised picture of what we already know that is only a digital program performing the act? Well, in order to answer that we might need some assistance from some of the movie critics. Some of them say opposites of each other. For example, blogger IanSpur criticizes that we know as the modern CGI horror movies. The blogger states that “we must not forget what the greats of the past horror movies are.” He adds that despite the great effort of the modern approach to special effects, we distance ourselves from how classic masterpieces were made.

Surely, the modern CGI special effects require a big effort, as the programs are not fully-automated for the programmer to click few digits. The CGI effects require a great amount of programming experience and expensive technologies that not everyone can afford. Hollywood is investing a great amount in making all the directors use and develop the movie technologies that we see today in movies and if you don’t have the budget for the top-of-the line effects, your CGI will end up looking cheap and easy to spot.

The brilliance of the Saw franchise is one of the examples worth mentioning. All the gore and blood is accompanied by the sharp intellectual philosophy of how you start to truly appreciate your life only when you are on the edge of losing it. The first Saw movie did not involve a great amount of CGI special effects, but it truly re-establishes the horror approach in the modern times of cinematography.
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Overall, the dilemma of whether people prefer the classic or modern approach to horror movies can never get old. We see classics like The Shining or Psycho with their brilliance of how cinema was made before, but we also enjoy movies like the Paranormal Activity and The Ring which have an average amount of CGI but still deliver the spook we do not expect. So the preference will incline to one way or another as far as the directors keep delivering works of art.

Ellen Royce
I'm a Colchester based Web Writer and a movie fanatic. I write here and there about new and developing things like film and tech industries. I've traveled around the world and became very interested in how different cultures and people change with the modern time. And I might spend double a movie's runtime just sitting and thinking about all the small thing and implications that were in it.