10 Best Movies with Practical Effects, Ranked

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Visual Effects

But before CGI and other post-production effects became dominant, practical effects gave films their visual flare. While bad practical effects can be just as laughable as bad CGI, the best ones are visually appealing in a way that even Hollywood's best CGI struggles to replicate. These effects make many older films a different kind of visual spectacle that is worth looking back on, even as modern CGI brings alien landscapes and underwater continents to life.

10 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981)

Directed by John Landis

David Naughton as David Kessler in the painful werewolf transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London.

John Landis was one of the most critically and commercially successful directors of the 1980s, directing iconic releases like The Blues Brothers, Three Amigos, and Coming to America. But one of his lesser-known greats is 1981's An American Werewolf in London.

An American Werewolf in London is a horror comedy focusing on David (David Naughton), a young man who has been cursed to become a werewolf. The film features some great makeup work, especially on the progressively decaying Jack (Griffin Dunne), but its best effects work shows itself in the scene where David first takes his beastly form. The transformation is absolutely horrific, as viewers watch David's body twist and grow into its new shape, all as Naughton gives an extremely strong performance as he screams for help while writhing in pain. This scene's effects alone make the film worth a watch, but the rest is a genuinely great horror comedy that is overlooked by many.

9 'Evil Dead II' (1987)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Bruce Campbell as evil Ash Williams pointing to a person offscreen in 'Evil Dead 2' (1987)

Since their inception, horror films have been trying to find new ways to outdo each other in the gross-out department. For a time, new films would one-up each other by experimenting with new practical effects to create grisly images that would stick with audiences long after they left the theater. Upon its original release, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead was a perfect example of this, shocking audiences with its violence and gore.

Then, its sequel, Evil Dead II, built on all the effects used in the first one, making them bigger and better. The sequel features more visceral dismemberments and ghastlier imagery than its predecessor, all while covering its lead, Bruce Campbell, with shocking amounts of fake blood. Some of the stop-motion effects have gained a dated look over time, but much of the film's costuming and makeup work, especially during Ash's iconic fight with Henrietta (Ted Raimi), still looks just as good as it did in 1987, making Evil Dead II a worthwhile watch for any fan of practical effects.

8 'Jaws' (1975)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

The shark emerges from the sea to attack Brody (Roy Scheider) on a boat in 'Jaws'.

Jaws could have been a complete disaster. The film's troubled production has been well documented, with director Steven Spielberg and his crew encountering a number of issues with the film's central practical effect, its animatronic shark. Yet, despite the many issues that the filmmakers faced, Jaws ended up being a huge critical and financial success.

This was largely due to the genius of Spielberg's filmmaking. The director realized the limitations of the animatronic, and decided to primarily shoot around those limitations, utilizing the power of suggestion to build tension until the animatronic is finally shown in brief glimpses, building even more terror for the audience. Resisting the obvious choice to constantly show the shark makes it so that when it does actually appear, it's effective, despite its sometimes cheesy appearance. It's a perfect example of how even corny practical effects can be effective if filmed properly.

7 '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Since its release in 1968, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey has been cited as one of Hollywood's most influential films. Its plot, revolving around a rogue AI who kills off the crew in charge of its spacecraft, has resonated with audiences for over fifty years, continuing to grow even more relevant as time goes by. But, while its plot is an interesting point of discussion, perhaps its greatest contribution to film history is its use of practical effects.

A Space Odyssey was a huge practical effects spectacle, with its scenes depicting space travel being leagues ahead of anything that audiences had seen on the big screen at the time. Granted, because of the groundbreaking nature of the effects, the pacing is often slow, as the film was originally created with the intent of giving audiences in 1968 time to digest and appreciate the mind-blowing effects at work. While those effects may not be quite as amazing now as they were then, it is still a hugely important film because of the influence it had on films like Star Wars years later.

6 'Hellraiser' (1987)

Directed by Clive Barker

Close up of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) in 'Hellraiser' with pins sticking out from all over his head.

Hellraiser, which served as Clive Barker's directorial debut, features some of the best practical effects in any horror movie. Not only are the effects department's creations terrifyingly convincing, but Barker and his crew were so confident in their effects that they are prominently featured throughout the entire film.

Hellraiser's best effect is the makeup work done on Frank (Sean Chapman), a dead man who has been brought back to life as a living, decayed corpse. Each time Frank consumes a corpse, supplied by his old lover, Julia (Clare Higgins), he regains more of his old form, requiring the film's makeup department to repeatedly transform him as he reforms his body, layer by layer. The Cenobites are also horrifying designs, with Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and Chatterer (Nicholas Vince) being notable standouts. Hellraiser is certainly not a horror film for those sensitive to gory imagery, but it is a fantastic watch for anyone who can stomach it.

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5 'The Thing' (1982)

Directed by John Carpenter

A head coming out of an elongated neck in 'The Thing' (1982).

John Carpenter is a legendary horror director, with a number of all-time classics like Halloween and The Prince of Darkness being attributed to him, but many horror fanatics would agree that The Thing is the director's best work. Released in 1982, The Thing featured some deeply unsettling imagery that made the film a cult classic despite its initially disappointing box office returns.

In The Thing, the titular creature is capable of shapeshifting into the living organisms that it has consumed, while also being able to morph into nightmarish forms in order to both attack and defend itself. One of the film's most memorable scenes sees the being take the form of Norris (Charles Hallahan), a man who mysteriously stops breathing after being pushed to the floor. While trying to defibrillate him, the group's doctor, Cooper (Richard Dysart), accidentally breaks through Norris' chest, revealing a mouth that devours his arms, after which the Thing reshapes itself into another one of its monstrous forms. This scene is one of the greatest moments in '80s horror, and is a perfect example of the grisly effects work on display throughout the film's entire runtime.

4 'Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope' (1977)

Directed by George Lucas

George Lucas' iconic space opera was at the forefront of a major change in the Hollywood landscape. While films in the past, like 2001: A Space Odyssey, proved to be massive showcases of new, groundbreaking special effects techniques, none of them had quite reached the levels of success that the original Star Wars did in 1977. That success solidified the growing importance of innovation in practical effects.

From the moment audiences in 1977 laid eyes on Princess Leia's (Carrie Fisher) ship, and then moments later, an Imperial Star Destroyer, they were captivated by Lucas' sci-fi epic. Characters like Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) were brought to life using detailed costumes, while ships like the TIE Fighters and Millennium Falcon were created using some of the best miniatures in the history of the genre. Perhaps the best showcase of the film's effects was its iconic Death Star trench run, which took inspiration from the dog fights present in World War II movies, while being set in an exciting new context for viewers. In the years since its original release, some poor CGI has been added to it, but A New Hope stands as a practical effects powerhouse to this day.

3 'Alien' (1979)

Directed by Ridley Scott

The chestburster comes out of John Hurt's chest while the rest of the crew tries to help in Alien (1979).

When Star Wars was released, it set the bar for how a sci-fi film should look, meaning that other films in the genre releasing around the time had to directly compete with it due to the newfound importance of effects work in blockbuster filmmaking. One of the first films to build upon the foundation that Lucas' film had laid down was Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien.

Despite being released just two years later, Alien features miniatures that are, shockingly, even more detailed than those present in Star Wars. The Nostromo looks fantastic, and while the scenes it is involved in aren't as complex as the aerial fights in A New Hope, it is still a marvel to look at. But the film's most well-remembered practical effect is its chestburster, and for good reason. For the time, the effect, achieved through simple puppetry, was absolutely horrifying, and the reactions of each of the cast members completely sold its believability, solidifying Alien as a terrifying horror movie that would be remembered for decades to come.

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2 'The Fly' (1986)

Directed by David Cronenberg

A partially transformed Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) in The Fly.

One of the most impressive makeup and prosthetic jobs in Hollywood's history is 1986's The Fly. Throughout the film, Jeff Goldblum's charismatic Seth Brundle slowly physically and mentally transforms into a human-fly hybrid, losing teeth, fingernails, and even an ear in front of audiences' eyes as his transformation gradually takes effect. The makeup and prostheses, in combination with some truly stomach-churning effects, like in a scene where Goldblum expels his new digestive fluids on a piece of food, craft an extremely emotionally effecting horror film.

Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of The Fly's effects is how perfectly they work in tandem with Goldblum's performance. They never obscure his eyes or expressions, allowing audiences to fully empathize with Seth, while still perfectly visualizing his fading humanity. His performance is just as important to the emotional impact of the film as the effects are, and had either been compromised in favor of completely focusing on the other, the film wouldn't work nearly as well as it does. As it stands, even today, The Fly is a remarkable feat with some of the grossest and most convincing practical effects of all time.

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1 'Jurassic Park' (1993)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Ellie, Tim, and Alan kneeling down and petting a sick triceratops in 'Jurassic Park'.

Jurassic Park was a huge hit when it was released in 1993, largely due to its impressive dinosaurs, which were massively innovative for their use of CGI at the time. But, while Spielberg was showcasing what the future of visual effects might hold, he also understood the limitations of technology, and as a result, the film also featured some of the most impressive practical effects of all time.

One of the best scenes in Spielberg's entire career is the moment where the T. Rex escapes its habitat. The scene expertly combines digital and practical effects, using each to convincingly bring the prehistoric beast to life. In shots that are further away from the Rex, often when its full body is visible, and it is partially obscured by darkness and rain, CGI is used to give the dinosaur more movement. But in closeup shots, an animatronic is used to give the Rex a more believable look, and to give the actors something tangible to react to. The effects in the film, both digital and practical, still hold up to this day, largely because of how smart Spielberg was in balancing the use of both.

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