Is it just me or are special effects in movies nowhere near as cool or impressive as they used to be? Todays movies rely mostly on CGI effects and if you ask me the biggest majority of them look absolutely terrible. I have never been a fan of CGI and miss the good old days when special effect geniuses like Tom Savini, Rick Baker, Stan Winston, and Rob Bottin created realistic and mind-blowing effects by simply using liquid latex, fake blood, and a few other essential elements. In my opinion the effects used in films back in the day that utilized puppetry, stop-motion, animatronics and even good old fashioned stage makeup looked much, much better than any CGI used in modern films. So, join me now as I take a look at 10 classic special effects that put modern Hollywood to shame...
10. King Kong (1933)
This movie was way ahead of its time, thanks primarily to the fact that the title monster looked so realistic considering the time period. King Kong came to life on the big screen thanks to stop-motion photography and he did a great job of captivating moviegoers (as well as no doubt scaring the Hell out of them at the same time) during the films initial theatrical release. Some viewers today may think that the effects-especially Kong himself-may look cheesy and fake, but if you ask me they look much better than the ones featured in Peter Jacksons 2005 remake (which I found to be very disappointing on many levels if you want to know the truth). The scene that really stands out for me (in addition to the climax atop the Empire State Building) is the fight between Kong and the T-Rex which is nothing short of amazing. If you havent seen this film do yourself a favor and do so as soon as you can.