What These Horror Movies Really Look Like Before Special Effects Are Added

Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man fell well short of recouping its $95 million production budget at the domestic box office and it took a hammering in the media, with only 27 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics reviewing it positively. The general consensus was that the film didn't live up to previous offerings from the Dutch director, though even the harshest critics of Hollow Man admitted that the special effects were impressive, something Verhoeven was particularly proud of.

"We really tried to link the special effect shots with the actors as much as possible," he told DVD Talk. "That's why we were constantly sliding, panning and moving the camera, so the audience would feel that the actor was in the special effect shot or that the special effect shot was tied to the actor. We wanted coherence between the special effects and the actors so people would accept the effects as part of the actor's scene rather than as a special effect."

Jerome Chen, Senior VFX Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, talked about the "relentless effort" put in by Verhoeven alongside visual effects gurus Scott Stokdyk and Scott E. Anderson during an interview with FX Guide. "That film was all done with Rotomation off the performance of Kevin Bacon," he explained. "No motion capture, just hard thousands of hours of labor."

Guillermo del Toro became well-known for his imaginative use of practical effects after his Spanish language fantasy epic Pan's Labyrinth took home three Oscars in 2007; a decade later, his The Shape of the Water also generated strong awards buzz, leading the 2018 Golden Globes nominees with nods in seven categories. This marks a return to form for del Toro, whose 2015 gothic romance Crimson Peak tanked hard at the box office. Crimson Peak relied on what VFX supervisor Chris MacLean called "practical hybrids" for the most part, mixing green screen with creature builds.

One example of VFX house Mr. X blending practical and digital techniques can be seen towards the end of the movie when Edith (Mia Wasikowska) has a farewell moment with Thomas (Tom Hiddleston) and her fingers go right through his face. "They shot that practically and we had to take over her hand completely in CG," MacLean told FX Guide. "Then on the B side sync up to the plate again, which was a very strange way to do a shot, but nonetheless it was one of the most rewarding ones. We did a volume sim of the fingers going through, which then connected with the ectoplasm that she pulls out of his face and swirled around her fingers."

A prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic of the same name, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s The Thing follows the plight of a doomed group of scientists who discover a living alien buried deep in a block of Antarctic ice. Visual effects had come a long way in the years between the two movies, and Heijningen was eager to take advantage of the new technology. According to the film's VFX supervisor Jesper Kjolsrud, the director was particularly concerned about how the transformation of French geologist Juliette (Kim Bubbs) would turn out.

"Matthijs constantly asked what we would see, how much of her human-ness remained, how much alien is pushing through the skin?" Kjolsrud told Art of VFX.  "Since tentacles are a big part of the alien look, this gave us the idea of 'ball of snakes trying to push through the skin', which is what you see in the first shot. Then, as the teeth of the alien mouth rip the skin, we see the inside tentacles push through while Juliette's head is forced towards her back." The Image Engine man revealed that animating this scene was a huge challenge, but, like most things in the world of VFX, it was achieved through trial and error.

Jaume Collet-Serra's survival horror thriller The Shallows seemed to come out of nowhere in 2016, going Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes as critics praised star Blake Lively for delivering a "powerful performance" as stranded surfer Nancy Adams. The predator stalking her throughout was created by the brilliantly named Important Looking Pirates, a Swedish VFX house that specialize in sharks. Visual effects supervisor Scott E. Anderson revealed that the company had the expertise to make subtle changes to the great white's design based on the environment.

"The underwater look of the shark had a particular aesthetic that was really driven by Jaume and his scene by scene mood of the film," Anderson told FSR. "We started with very realistic looks and actions, culled from a large amount of shark reference footage, that drove both the look development and character development at ILP." The VFX team were able to add a shine to the shark's skin that made it more visible beneath the surface, though in reality you would barely see it coming. "Most animals, sharks included, are designed to blend into the environment," Anderson added. "Our job is to use visibility selectively to meet the needs of the film and direct the audience and eye when we want or need to."

A number of top VFX houses worked on Ridley Scott's long-awaited return to the Alien franchise, including MPC, Fuel VFX, Luma Pictures and Weta Digital. The New Zealand-based company were tasked with rendering the film's new race of giant humanoid extraterrestrials, which involved digitally enhancing the on-set performance of a costumed actor. "The engineer had unique challenges," Weta's VFX supervisor Martin Hill said. "Usually we would strive to make a digi character as anatomically accurate as possible in terms of its musculature, articulation, and the thickness and pliability of the fat under the skin ... We had to make some compromises to match an actor in silicone prosthetics."

Designing the look of the engineers was a job that fell to concept artist Neville Page, probably best known for his creature work on the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot trilogy as well as the new Star Trek: Discovery TV series. Page told Wired that when Scott first approached him, the director envisioned the engineers as a mixture between some well-known statues and one legendary musician. "When Ridley first asked me to be involved with the engineer, he was very specific about what he wanted it to look like in terms of metaphors," Page said. "I was looking at references of the Statue of Liberty, the Michelangelo sculptures—specifically David—and, oddly, Elvis Presley."

To promote their work on the 2015 Christmas horror movie Krampus, Weta released a mock interview with the film's "Chief Gingerbread Handler," who claimed that working with the mischievous little gingerbread men on set was a bit of a nightmare. In reality, they were one of the smaller challenges Weta faced on the project, which was approached in a largely practical fashion for the sake of nostalgia. "This is a classic '80s monster movie," Weta Workshop co-founder Richard Taylor said. "This is fantastic stuff, this is what we live for, this is what gets us up in the morning." Leading man Adam Scott compared Krampus to cult favorites The Dark Crystal and Gremlins in the same featurette, though the creatures on display here were a lot scarier.  

From the animatronic Cherub that attacks Toni Collette in the attic to the terrifying Jack in the box operated from the inside by three puppeteers, Krampus' minions were as ingenious as they were unnerving—none more so than the Anti-Claus himself. The titular demon was portrayed by Luke Hawker, who wore a custom made costume complete with hoof-stilts and prosthetic finger extensions. There were no eyeholes in his mask; instead, a tiny camera was hidden inside an open wound so Hawker could see where he was going using a screen inches from his face.   

Even if you consider yourself a true gorehound, chances are you've never heard of Deadly Honeymoon. This low-budget TV movie from 2010 probably would have flown under the radar altogether had it not been based on true events that took place five years earlier—a story that grabbed news headlines and became the subject of a Dateline report. In 2005, newlywed George Smith and his bride Jennifer set sail on their dream honeymoon cruise, though only one of them would survive. The groom simply vanished one night, and the mystery of his disappearance has never been solved.

Lifetime decided to adapt the story into a television feature, changing the names and creating their own explanation. They cast Summer Glau (Arrow) in the role of wife-turned-widow Lindsey, which was a dream come true according to the actress. "I've wanted to do a Lifetime movie since I was a little girl," she told My San Antonio. "It's a really good way for girls to get challenging dramatic roles." Her faith in the network was rewarded when they hired an experienced VFX crew to turn the set into the open ocean. Tyler Foell (Hellboy, The Walking Dead) came on board as visual effects producer with Kent Johnson (Stargate, Con-Air) supervising.

Steven Spielberg laid the blueprint for the summer blockbuster with 1975's Jaws, and in doing so he turned the shark into the slasher of the seas. Critics argue that sharks have been unfairly demonized by Hollywood in the decades since, especially the great white, which in reality rarely attacks humans. Great whites have been overused as a plot device at this point, but The Meg was on hand to up the ante considerably in 2018.

Led by British action star Jason Statham, this ocean-set survival horror revolves around the discovery of a Megalodon, the largest known predator in history. This prehistoric nightmare is thought to have weighed as much as 60 tons and could apparently reach lengths of up to 70 feet. A shark this size is almost unimaginable, but imaging it was exactly what Scanline was hired to do. Speaking to Art of VFX, visual effects supervisor Mohsen Mousavi revealed that the company had been involved with The Meg for ten years.

"It's been a long haul, but it's great to see it get made," Mousavi said. "In addition to creating almost 500 shots — including big action moments with the shark — as the main vendor, we were also tasked to lead the development of the Megalodon itself." Scanline went out of its way to design a shark that didn't resemble a great white, taking inspiration from other members of the family. "The overall palette of the Meg was based on different shark species and in particular the nurse shark."

Tim Burton had already collaborated with MPC on Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prior to Dark Shadows, so he trusted the vendor to do his longtime passion project justice. "Tim is [a] very VFX savvy director," MPC's Arundi Asregadoo told Art of VFX. "He is very aware of what is capable within visual effects." Asregadoo revealed that numerous elaborate sets were constructed to keep the use of green screen to a minimum, but some sequences simply couldn't be achieved without it. One such sequence involved Eva Green's Angelique Bouchard (a vengeful witch with a creepy smile and a porcelain exterior) reaching into her hollow chest and removing her own heart.

"The look and design of the heart was an on going process," Asregadoo said. "Tim wanted something magical. We went through a series of different concepts at MPC, from a heart made of feathers, to metal and even the possibility of it being a bug. The reference we went with in the end was actually closer to a real heart, but with the luminescence of a jellyfish."

Dark Shadows (based on the campy soap opera of the same name) cost $150 million to make, but only managed a domestic return of $80 million, relying on overseas markets to lessen the blow. IndieWire called the horror-comedy "another lazy, incoherent disappointment from Tim Burton," and most reviews shared that sentiment. Some critics did single out the visuals as a plus point, but Dark Shadows simply failed to find its rhythm.

Very loosely based on the popular manhwa (the Korean equivalent of a comic) of the same name, Priest takes place in an alternate reality in which mankind has been at war with vampires for centuries. Paul Bettany stars as a vampire hunter out to rescue his kidnapped niece in this bizarre mashup of horror, sci-fi and western themes. "Even with hives of cool-looking vampires, cowboys on motorcycles and ninja priests, there are some stories that are just too dumb to live," io9 said when they revisited Priest in 2018.

Most critics were quick to point out the many things wrong with this movie (it only managed a sorry 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but the visuals earned some praise. VFX supervisor Jeff Campbell revealed that one of the most difficult shots involved layering a CGI face on Brad Dourif. The Lord of the Rings actor transforms into a slave after he's bitten by Black Hat (Karl Urban), and Campbell's job was to make it look convincing.

"I do like to fit in some challenging shots while I'm supervising and this was one of them," he told Art of VFX. "We had a head scan of Brad that I match moved and used to receive animated texture projections. The projected textures involved veins creeping around his face and eyes that were animated by paint reveals and bump mapped for depth. His pasty skin and dark sallow eyes were added using animated garbage masks over the duration of the shot."

One of the Hollywood pictures that Outpost got a job on thanks to 47 Meters Down was Life, the Sony sci-fi horror that some still believe is a secret prequel to Venom. Despite the draw of an A-list cast, Life was a big letdown at the domestic box office, making just $30 million against a production budget almost double that figure. Writing for The New Yorker, critic Richard Brody suggested that director Daniel Espinosa wasn't right for the job.

"Espinosa shrinks from the unmitigated bodily horror that, say, David Cronenberg might have brought to the project," Brody said. Part of the problem, he argued, was that Calvin (the Martian alien that wreaks havoc on the crew of the International Space Station) peaked too early. The design of the creature was also a sticking point for many critics — Jordan Calhoun found the "Pokemon-like evolution" stages Calvin went through to be "hilarious" rather than menacing. As it turns out, the studio and the director were actually at odds over the design.

"It was a hugely fluid and evolving process as Daniel had some specific ideas about what he wanted and the studio also had ideas about what they wanted, which didn't always match up," Double Negative VFX supervisor Huw Evans told Art of VFX. According to Evans, concept art had Calvin as "ethereal and amorphous" throughout, but Sony execs (worried that the climax wouldn't be scary enough) pushed for the creature to evolve into something more "solid and animal based" by the end of the movie.

It isn't a movie, but FX's hit show American Horror Story has displayed some of the best visual effects in the genre in recent years, particularly in season 4. Freak Show is based around a small traveling circus searching for new and exciting acts to help it compete with the advent of television, and the job of bringing the so-called freaks to life fell to FuseFX. The Los Angeles-based VFX vendor had been working on American Horror Story from the first season, though Freak Show presented some unique challenges, including giving Sarah Paulson a second head.

"Most of [the] time, both of her sides are shot on green screen," VFX supervisor Jason Piccioni told Post magazine. "We've got a couple of rigs of prosthesis that she can wear for doing a wide shot with a prosthetic head, or where we are in an 'over' and we want to see the two heads." Piccioni revealed that he had a guy from his team on set every single day to make sure everything was as it should be from a VFX perspective. "He and Sarah are quite close," he said. "That's all very carefully choreographed, and he sits with the director and DP and walks Sarah through it all. It's a well-oiled machine by now."

Paulson had portrayed a medium, a reporter targeted by a serial killer, and a witch blinded by acid on American Horror Story by this point, but she called the dual role of conjoined twins Bette and Dot her "craziest" part yet.