Best 80s Practical Special Effects/SFX Movies
The pinnacle of 80s practical SFX, before digital fx destroyed the craft
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- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsJoBeth WilliamsCraig T. NelsonHeather O'RourkeThe Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don't seem to be over.Pretty terrible movie, but impressive practical fx. Near-seamless compositing
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsBob HoskinsChristopher LloydJoanna CassidyWhen a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
- DirectorRandal KleiserStarsJoey CramerPaul ReubensCliff De YoungIn 1978, a boy travels eight years into the future and has an adventure with an intelligent, wisecracking alien ship.Stop-motion and compositing, with that chrome shape-shifting saucer
- DirectorMatthew RobbinsStarsHume CronynJessica TandyFrank McRaeAliens help a feisty old New York couple in their battle against the ruthless land developer who's out to evict them.compositing and model-building
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.A weird example,because there's no real animatronics, puppets, little of the horror and creature effects typically associated with "special effects movies". But the miniatures, matte paintings and compositing is so beautifully-done and omnipresent, you could argue it's one of the best FX movies of all-time.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKaren AllenPaul FreemanIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsDennis QuaidLouis Gossett Jr.Brion JamesDuring a long space war, the lives of two wounded enemies become dependent on their ability to forgive and to trust.Gossett's make-up/prosthetics were nuts, plus some beautiful matte-painting and miniatures.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsCatriona MacCollDavid WarbeckCinzia MonrealeA young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural "accidents", she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.face-melting
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsJeff BridgesKaren AllenCharles Martin SmithAn alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.rapid-growing baby
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsDavid NaughtonJenny AgutterJoe BelcherTwo American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.transformation sequences
- DirectorJoe DanteChuck JonesStarsZach GalliganPhoebe CatesHowie MandelThe Gremlins are back, and this time, they've taken control of a New York City media mogul's high-tech skyscraper.Like the Poltergiest sequels; full of super-impressive, ambitious, innovative practical effects... but kind of a dogshit movie...
- DirectorRobert MandelStarsBryan BrownBrian DennehyDiane VenoraA movie special effects man is hired to fake a real-life mob killing for a witness protection plan, but finds his own life in danger.It couldn't NOT go on the list, could it?
- DirectorTibor TakácsStarsStephen DorffChrista DentonLouis TrippKids left home alone accidentally unleash a horde of malevolent demons from a mysterious hole in their suburban backyard.stop-motion
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsAlly SheedySteve GuttenbergFisher StevensNumber 5 of a group of experimental robots in a lab is electrocuted, suddenly becomes intelligent, and escapes.A movie based almost entirely around raw, bare animatronics- Not hidden under a latex skin, trying to look like an animal or creature, but just an undisguised animatronic prop.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonMichael BiehnA human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.Just everything; Model-making, prosthetics, stop-motion
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKeith GordonJohn StockwellAlexandra PaulA nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.I still can't figure out how they shot that scene where the Plymouth repairs its own dents [Best-guess is starting with an undamaged (model) car, made of some easily-bent material like aluminium, and rigged with hidden wires that make it dent and implode, when pulled. Then play it backwards. But theres several aspects of the shot, that wouldn't work for that method)
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTo save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.Miniatures and matte-painting
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.not technically "80's", but every rewatch I'm more impressed. The whole movie only has two shots using blue-screen, or ANY post-FX (both shots looking out the window of the ship, into space; One at the start of the movie, the other, right at the end). ALL other effects in the entire movie are 100% in-camera, finshed the second the camera stops rolling.
It's the 100% opposite philosophy of modern SFX movies, like Ready Player One, or the MCU movies, or even Peter Jackson's 20+yo LOTR/Hobbit series, where you shoot onto a greenscreen, with basicly no concern about the FX at all, and then handwave it away to 3,000 nameless Koreans, telling THEM to figure out all the special effects (that are essentially a genre of cartoons- Stuff that never existed in ANY form, IRL) - DirectorJim HensonStarsDavid BowieJennifer ConnellyToby FroudSixteen-year-old Sarah must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother when he is taken by the Goblin King.just everything
- DirectorJim HensonFrank OzStarsJim HensonKathryn MullenFrank OzOn another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanVirginia MadsenFrancesca AnnisA Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsSean AstinJosh BrolinJeff CohenA group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.
- DirectorRichard MarquandStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
- DirectorClive BarkerStarsAndrew RobinsonClare HigginsAshley LaurenceA woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law and lover. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body and escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their underworld.