10 High Budget Horror Movies With Terrible CGI
3. The Thing
John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror bonanza, The Thing, has been lauded as one of the most significant and well made horror films ever produced. This was likely a key factor in studio executives giving the 2011 picture an enviable war chest, but regrettably, both the budget and the soulless manner in which the producers gut the remains of Carpenter's iconic original, makes the CGI on display within the prequel/remake even more unforgivable.
Simply put, the digital efforts within 2011's The Thing are atrocious. It speaks volumes to the quality of the work on offer when fans lament the demise of 1980s-era practical effects in relation to a movie released in the 21st century. The animation is absolutely woeful; there is not one instance across a nearly two-hour stretch of film where a CGI monstrosity looks even vaguely realistic or convincing. One scene in which the creature absorbs an unfortunate victim literally has to been seen with one's own eyes for one to believe that such a sequence featured in a film that cost nearly $40 million.
The Thing even lacks the redemptive qualities often found in horror movies with terrible CGI, combining a measly, hole-riddled plot with the fact that the movie is too proud to embrace the more ridiculous tropes of its premise. Much like Samuel Bayer's transgressions in A Nightmare on Elm Street, the butchering of such a staple of the genre is a cardinal sin amongst die hard fans.
Embellishing a tired remake with sub-par CGI? Just the icing on a particularly abysmal cake.