The 1980s saw the release of three standout horror remakes that are also three of the very best practical effects showcases in the genre’s entire history. First was John Carpenter’s The Thing in 1982, followed by David Cronenberg’s The Fly in 1986. Then came Dream Warriors director Chuck Russell’s The Blob, released in 1988.
With another remake of The Blob headed our way soon from director Simon West, we caught up with Russell himself to talk about both the upcoming film and the quickly fading art of practical effects. As we’ve recently told you, Russell will be appearing at Bloody Disgusting and Wizard World’s Horror Fest in Philadelphia this coming weekend, where he’ll be doing a live commentary track for Dream Warriors with star Heather Langenkamp on Saturday night. Afterwards, Russell’s remake of The Blob will be screened!
But I digress.
Having directed two ’80s horror films that are loaded with incredible practical effects, we wanted to get Russell’s take on how horror movie effects have changed over the years.
“I’m in a funny space about visual FX today vs. the eighties,” he admitted to us. “I helped perfect CGI with The Mask… But I always used CGI in careful conjunction with physical FX and the on camera actors performance. Bottom line, full CGI characters can be fascinating, but are rarely scary. Physical FX can be hit or miss, as I discovered on The Blob… But the best moments of physical FX on both the Blob and Elm Street 3 are mind blowing… even for me after all these years. CGI effects surprisingly don’t age as well. The team effort it takes to design and execute full scale physical effects is so challenging, that I think it’s easier for some directors to roll that challenge into post production CGI.”
“My approach now is to use the best of both worlds,” Russell added. “It’s great to have a choice and use your imagination to give the audiences a new experience.”
We also talked with Russell specifically about West’s remake of The Blob, asking him if he had any advice for West on the effects front.
“I’ve heard there may be another remake of the Blob,” he told us. “There was plenty I wanted to do back then that would be far easier now… But I would recommend enhancing physical FX with CGI. Full CGI will disappoint – see the final Blob creature in the charming Goosebumps movie.”
Here’s hoping West has the same mindset!
