8 Most Horrifying Practical Film Effects (And How They Were Achieved)

2. The Chest Defibrillation - The Thing

The Movie: It could be anyone... even your best friend. That's the most frightening thing about The Thing (ha!) and the reason John Carpenter's horror masterpiece is still terrifying today. Just don't watch it while eating.

The Effect: What happens when you use a pair of defibrillators on a shape-shifting monster? You lose both your arms, that's what. How They Did It: The Thing's special effects were overseen by American artist Robin Bottin (who went on to do the effects films such as Fight Club, Se7en and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas). Bottin took multiple moulds of Charles Hallahan (the actor who played Vance Norris) over ten days in order to create a model that looked identical to the actor. Bottin went so far as to make sure the pattern of hair on the model's chest matched that of Hallahan himself. On top of that, a double-amputee was hired to act as a stuntman for Richard Dysart (the actor who played Dr. Copper) in order to make the gory arm-chomping look as authentic as possible. So much effort went into the creation and fine tuning of these effects that Bottin was actually admitted to hospital due to exhaustion near the end of shooting. Now that's dedication to the craft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjIXwkX1e48