Practical effects, or why Gremlins rock.

Gremlins. Source of countless nightmares, part of the reason the PG-13 rating exists, and the launchpad for countless imitators (Critters, anyone?).

I saw this movie and it's hilarious sequel countless years ago, and have owned the DVDs for some time. As a child of the late eighties, Gremlins was my first encounter with the field of serious horror, and was soon overtaken by the slasher movies from the same time.

The first rated R horror movie I ever saw in theaters was Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. With little language or suggestiveness, this film was rated R purely for the gore and scary content. My 13 year old mind was mesmerized by the head chopping and gouts of blood spurting everywhere. Eager to see more, I started seeking out other horror films, but was soon disappointed. What was missing? Practical effects.

The advance of CGI on modern cinema has been both a boon and a curse. The effects can be astonishing, like in Lord of the Rings, or complete and utter crap, like...well, almost anything else. The shark that eats Samuel L. Jackson (spoiler, oops) in Deep Blue Sea is terrible looking (Not that that movie was any great shakes). The problem is, with CGI being cheaper and usually easier, the field of practical effects has gone downhill considerably.

Take my first example, Gremlins . If that film were done today, most of the Gremlins would be CGI characters, with a few puppetry effects thrown in. The problem with that is, the problems involved with the puppets actually effected the film's plot. Because of the puppeteer's frustration with Gizmo, we got the Gremlins torturing him. That's a classic bit that otherwise would never exist.

Another reason that practical effects rock is simply because they're real. No matter how great CGI is, nothing can beat seeing something real fly though the air, explode, get chopped up, and being able to suspend your disbelief. You knew they did it somehow, but you have no idea how, thus whatever happens in the movie to account for it seems so much realer. Now, you know its CGI and much of the mystique is gone. Take Ghostbusters. In the library scene, we get cards flying out of drawers and books whizzing across shelves, all done with practical effects. It looks amazing, and you have no idea how they did it. You believe that ghosts are moving the props, because there's simply no other explanation. The same scene done with CGI instead of real props wouldn't have been nearly as cool. You'd know it was an effect, and the impact would be lost.

There's always going to be a place for the special effects wizard in movies, as there is for good CGI. A balance of the two is what's really needed to achieve the right amount of amazing spectacle and realism.