welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 10
worst cgi effects in horror movies
for this list we'll be looking at the
most egregious laughable and simply
unnecessary uses of computer generated
effects in horror movies we'll also be
including tv miniseries that are
essentially whole films edited for
television warning some spoilers ahead
which horror movies special effects
ruined the suspense for you let us know
in the comments below number 10
transformations van helsing
[Applause]
this 2004 gothic horror thriller
starring hugh jackman tried to update
classic universal characters like
dracula and frankenstein's monster for
the 21st century
the results were mixed at best that's
not to say van helsing doesn't have his
fans while the character designs
themselves look convincing in motion
it's a whole different story
this cannot be
[Applause]
the climax shows monster hunter abraham
van helsing and count dracula
transforming into their animal forms and
battling to the death as the creatures
fight their interactions with the
environment are largely unconvincing and
the emotional beats of the story are
muddled by distracting transformation
effects
some things are better left forgotten
number nine the corn god children of the
corn cgi is a constantly evolving
technology and while there's certainly a
difference between bad cgi and old cgi
children of the corn is an example of
both the lord did come to me
and he was a shape
it was he who walks behind the rose this
stephen king adaptation tells the eerie
story of a cult of murderous children
who make human sacrifices to appease he
who walks behind the rose a bloodthirsty
deity said to live among the cornstalks
things get a little wacky when that
deity finally makes an appearance in the
last act sort of
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the only thing scary about this demon is
how unimaginative it is represented by
grainy coloured lights and a sentient
red cloud the movie's final boss is done
in by a molotov cocktail and unfortunate
special effects
[Music]
is he dead
i think so number eight the sculptures
the haunting i'm gonna stop you now
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based on a classic in the genre this
reviled remake veered away from the
psychological horror that made the
original movie and the novel it's based
on so memorable what the original gets
done with camera tricks and the power of
suggestion the remake can't even get
done with 36 years of development since
special effects while the haunted house
itself is impeccably designed once the
walls start flexing and the crying
sculptures made an appearance it was
over
yonder band directed this movie after
practically revolutionizing the modern
cgi blockbuster with 1996's twister but
the only thing the haunting
revolutionizes is making crying ghost
children not scary at all
number seven baby doll one missed call
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that's not my ringtone considered one of
the worst jay horror remakes of the
2000s clunky storytelling and wooden
acting wasn't the only thing keeping
this one from becoming a classic one
missed call also features many many
bizarre and downright incompetent cgi
effects
this one is by far the most memorable
for all the wrong reasons the makers of
this cash-in attempt seriously
overestimated the creep factor of a cg
baby holding a cell phone unsupervised
screen time the horror
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although our glimpse of the baby lasts
mere seconds the lingering shot of its
snarling and glowing eyes just adds to
the ridiculousness of it all
number six freddie caterpillar freddy vs
jason the nightmare on elm street
franchise has a long history of creative
practical effects including those where
freddy takes the form of a worm-like
creature
so why the heck does this design from 16
years later look so much worse yep you
guessed it cgi
[Music]
[Applause]
narratively we might be able to buy the
explanation that the shoddy rendering is
the work of stoner bill freberg's
psychedelics
maybe but any suspension of disbelief is
further erased when the little guy
decides to toke up alongside him
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[Applause]
sure it's supposed to be a humorous bit
but it ultimately backfires as the scene
turns serious when the caterpillar
violently shoves itself down freeberg's
throat
yeah we're laying off the hooker after
this one
number five mask mix-up halloween h2o 20
years later what would the hopelessly
homicidal michael myers be without his
iconic mask apparently this 1998 sequel
required the use of multiple masks which
as you'd expect doesn't do wonders for
the continuity department
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rather than reshoot the whole movie
which would have been tremendously
expensive certain shots were redone with
a new mask what couldn't be fixed with
reshoots had to be digitally altered the
result is an eyesore of late 90s cgi
hi for a movie that had little to no
other computer generated effects it's a
moment that catches the eye in the worst
way
number four possessed deer the ring two
rachel
[Applause]
this unfortunate scene from the
lackluster sequel finds original star
naomi watts and child actor david
dorfman besieged by a horde of possessed
deer on a country road this wouldn't be
so bad but the cgi deer are so uncanny
so glossy that the only appropriate
reaction to them is confusion
[Music]
it's hard to take them seriously as a
threat even as they come crashing
through the car windows antler first
coupled with some truly awful smashing
glass effects and naturally confounded
performances from watson dorfman the
only thing these deer scare away is any
pretense of realism
number three the langeliers the
langolias
yet another stephen king adaptation this
1995 mini-series about a commercial
airplane that somehow punches through a
time wormhole and ends up stuck in the
past if these seem like the perfect
circumstances for pure existential
horror just wait until the title
monsters appear
the langoliers described as creatures
who feast on time itself give new
meaning to the phrase scenery chewing
the only problem is that they look more
like flying meatballs with teeth than
temporal monsters
although it's a mini-series the
langeliers has to be on this list for
the sheer audacity of trying to make us
believe these balls of cgi badness are
supposed to be scary good lord look at
that
what is it number two wall freddy a
nightmare on elm street cgi laden horror
remakes have a habit of relying on
digital technology to scare audiences
but usually these attempts just make us
remember how special the originals
really were case and point the 2010
remake of a nightmare on elm street no
it's not real
it's real
i'm real in trying to recreate the
iconic scare of freddy krueger appearing
in the wall over nancy's bed the
filmmakers opted for an overstated cgi
effect that left little to the
imagination and looked hopelessly fake
the original effect was done with low
lighting and a spandex wall proving that
sometimes you just can't beat practical
effects
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number one computer generated things the
thing while it was a box office
disappointment in its first run john
carpenter's 1982 gory sci-fi horror opus
became a cult classic this was due in
large part to the graphic creature
effects created by movie makeup legend
rob bertine
[Music]
when a prequel slash remake was released
in 2011 fans were disappointed that
almost all the monsters became computer
generated in post-production it's a
shame because the movie otherwise isn't
that bad but without the practical
effects of the 80s version intact the
cell replicating extraterrestrials feel
way less real and way less scary as a
result this is a case of unconvincing
cgi taking away from a good horror movie
[Applause]
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