Monsters in the Movies and their Creators - Favourite

That's right, yeah. I don't know what the Nomes were like in the books but I love the idea of them being creatures that were of the rock itself rather than just being underground dwellers.

I tend to forget Nicol Williamson was in that film just because Merlin in Excalibur is such a massive, unforgettable performance. He was great as Macbeth as well.

He played merlin? I have the movie but I haven't seen it yet. When I saw the cover I thought it was Geoffry Rush who played Merlin. Huh...shows what I know.

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Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?

I'm kind of in love with the transformation in American Werewolf in London so I would say Rick Baker creating that is incredible feat for cinema.

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It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.

I have not seen Return to Oz, but I have to admit those rock monsters look awesome! Maybe I should rent it or something.

And yes, definitely the transformation scene from American Werewolf in London. This scene will haunt me forever, and so will the Brundlefly from The Fly.

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In my own land, I’m in a far domain
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Welcomed gladly, and spurned by everyone

Yeah, he's amazing. He's unlike anything you'll have seen before or since I would say.

I liked Geoffrey Rush as Walsingham .

They are. And the Wheelers, and Tik-Tok .

Xenomorph, work of H.R. Giger (design), Bolaji Badejo (actor)

As much as I'd love to say Carpenter's The Thing... this wasn't/isn't just masterful, this is probably the finest piece of choreography and animatronics ever put to screen.

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Important to mention the actor in this case. I don't think we've seen subsequent actors using physical movement to portray the alienness of the creatures until Prometheus. The bit I liked best was the scene that was partially edited out, where he walks forward on his hands and feet like a spider, with the tail raised up between his legs – reminiscent of the Exorcist scene on the stairs.

Another great makeup is Stan Winston's 'Predator' with the late great Kevin Peter Hall portraying the Predator, Hall also went on to do a great Bigfoot in 'Harry and the Henderson's' another Rick Baker gem. But Winston's predator was not visible till the third act, with an unknown Jean Claude Van Damme, in an early role jumping around in a bright orange suit which resembles nothing like Winston's creation, amazing to think, though Van Damme didn't last too long and wasnt happy that he couldnt round house kick Arnie as the Predator and quit.

Kudos aswell to James Cameron on suggesting to Winston that his Predator would look cool with mandibles when it took it's helmet off.

I was thinking when I saw a bit of Predator 2 about the controversy over the Predator having 'dreadlocks' and a quick bit of research tells me that Stan Winston called them "quills" suggesting he had in mind something other than hair. It's quite funny that the sequel would have quite a few dreadlocked characters for the Predator to slaughter .

Actually in Predator, Van Damme was fired, he didn't quit.


He was disappointed that his face wasn't going to be seen on screen, pissed and moaned from the instant he arrived on set about how hot the suit was, and that he wasn't being lavished with attention, acted like a diva to everyone around him... and then threw a hissy fit and intentionally caused another stuntman to get injured.


And all this... before he was even famous.

Thats an interesting critique, obviously the filmmakers never intended to offend anybody, but it can be seen how the 'look' of the Predator could be attributed to something racial.

Ah, yeah... the story behind the look of the Predator, stems back to when Van Damme was in the red suit.


They had an alien design that was late in completion... and when it showed on set, they all realised it was awful and that they were in serious trouble.
McTiernan spoke to Stan Winston about making a new alien for them and he accepted the short production time.


Winston got on a plane, and headed straight to the set... and on the plane, sitting next to Stan, was none other than James Cameron.
Winston was doodling on some paper the idea of a Rastafarian warrior... and Cameron leant over and said "I've always wanted to see something with mandibles".


The original idea of Winston's Predator, was a Rastafarian style alien with dreadlocks. It was only after Cameron said about mandibles that the design was tweaked so the hair became more like thick quills or tresses than actual dreadlocks.


The original alien design, ended up being used in DNA (1997).

Or tribal, yeah. I feel like they were different enough from dreadlocks to not immediately have that come to mind – they are like tendrils rather than hair, so I never saw that big a problem.

Wonder which decade was the best for Sfx be it with make up, animatronic etc, personally when I weigh up all my fave films with which the effects have had a profound effect on me, I would say the 80's, such a wealth of fantastic material out back then.

The Eighties does seem like a golden age for that kind of special effects work.

Definitely the 80s.
The 80s was the pinnacle of animatronics and practical effects, and they still hold up today... The Thing, Little Shop, Aliens, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Aliens, Tremors...
... it was late 80s and early 90s that computers took over... and CGI is cack.


The best CGI though is from that period of the late 80s when they laced it into the practical effects... The Abyss, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Independence Day... but since they went all CG with stuff like Emmerich's 2012, The Thing remake prequel remake in 2010, Star Wars Episode 2... sfx movies have gone soooo bad.

Here's an even trickier one, whats been the best year for sfx, one where multiple films were released with fantastic fx like 1982 with the cuddly 'ET' and the not so cuddly 'The Thing'

1987.
RoboCop, Predator, Hellraiser, Batteries Not Included, Elm Street 3, Harry And The Hendersons, The Lost Boys...

1985 was also a vintage year with Day of the Dead, Frightnight, Re-Animator, Brazil, Enemy Mine