10 Amazing Practical Movie Effects Shots Everybody Assumed Were CGI
5. Baby Jack Black - The House With A Clock In Its Walls
Eli Roth's fantasy-comedy film The House with a Clock in Its Walls is filled to the brim with lavish visual effects that draw total attention to themselves, but surely the most memorable single effect in the entire movie was completely practical.
Late in the film, the titular clock turns Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black) into a baby - or rather, Jack Black's adult head is attached to a tiny baby's body.
Audiences would be in their right mind to assume the creepy effect was created digitally, but in actual fact baby Jack was an animatronic creation.
Between the startlingly lifelike recreation of Black's face and especially the shockingly convincing range of facial motion, this is an absolutely masterful feat of practical effects.
Knowing that the cast were able to react to and interact with a physical prop only makes the scene that much more offputting.