31 Days Of Halloween: Practical vs. CGI Effects

Hello, Bloggers, for today's post, I decided not to do a review today, but to do a Topic Of The Day instead. For today's topic, I will discuss the use of practical effects in scary and sci-fi films vs. CGI effects, and why I prefer practical effects.*Note, this post is not meant to paint a negative portrait on F/X artists who primarily use CGI or those who prefer CGI effects. Here we go:

Nowadays, whenever a horror film comes out, there tends to be CGI effects rather than practical effects. But while I'm not 100% against CGI effects, I tend to prefer practical effects because they are much more realistic, so I would say the extra charge is worth it. The big con with practical effects is that they are more expensive, but they have a slightly better effect. As I said in my review for Mama, I thought the movie was good, but one of my biggest problems was that you could tell that "Mama" was fake because it was CG and I personally thought it would've looked better if they had an actual actress donned in makeup play "Mama". If they had done that, it would've not only made the being of "Mama" scarier, but it would've given the film a more old-school feel as back then, practical effects were used more. Take for example, The Exorcist, which has that famous possessed Regan face that many of us are familiar with and is still imprinted in our minds. It is scary because it looks like someone who is actually being possessed. Plus, the alien from Alien, the shark from Jaws, as well as the werewolf from An American Werewolf In London, all still hold up to this day because all those monsters look real. But, like I said, I don't mind CGI effects, just as long as they have to be used. In the new Evil Dead remake, the director Fede Alvarez said he mostly used practical effects but only used CGI if he had to, and I thought the film came out excellent.

So, that is why I personally prefer the use of makeup, puppetry, and animatronics over CGI. If you prefer CGI effects, than that is your opinion and I won't hold that against you because everyone has different taste. If you feel that way, then feel free to write in the comments section on why you love CGI. But if you love practical effects like I do, you can also write your thoughts. Thanks for reading!