10 Horror Monster Movies With Amazing Special Effects

Following the success of Ghoules - taking home a $35 million box office haul from a $5 million budget - MGM was eager to churn out a sequel. In Ghoulies II, the mini-fiends find themselves at an amusement park, where they wreak havoc on the fairground visitors.

Though this follow-up isn't much better than its predecessor, the practical effects received a noticeable upgrade. Rather than looking like rubber puppets bought at a thrift store, the titular monsters now look like... actual monsters.

Not only that, the nasty cretins move more fluidly in the sequel. The ghoulies' movements in the first instalment were limited in order to hide the puppeteers, but for Ghoulies II, the crew relied more on stop-motion to depict the critters running, scurrying, and crawling around, which still looks great decades later.

What's more impressive is how these effects were achieved without Stan Winston, who worked on the original. Due to his work on Aliens, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park, Winston is considered a special effects legend. As such, it seemed like Ghoulies II would be doomed without him.

The fact Ghoulies II's visuals turned out better without Winston is a truly staggering feat.