What 10 Great Movies Look Like Without Visual Effects

7. District 9

Neil Blomkamp's Oscar-nominated District 9 just might boast the best visual effects of any movie made for a mere $30 million - though it certainly helps keep costs low when Peter Jackson's your producer.

Despite its low-fi mockumentary style and largely unknown cast (at the time), the film employs extensive visual effects in almost every scene, utilising motion capture with stand-in performers for the alien "prawns", which was then translated into a digital likeness by Image Engine.

The absurdly realistic texture design of the creatures is especially impressive considering how much of the film takes place in broad daylight, which didn't allow Image Engine much opportunity to mask the limitations of their work through darkness.

And yet, watching District 9 a decade later, the prawns remain ludicrously convincing creations, as is vital for the audience to eventually empathise with them.

Had it not been up against Avatar for the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 2010, it surely would've taken the gong home.