Almost, if not everything, Stan Winston ever had a hand in making. Looking at the new Predator movie out just now, and its all CGI. But back in 87, Stan was creating something that looked so fucking real it was actually scary. Think back even further to 79, and what Carlo Rambaldi, among others, were doing with the “Alien”. Carlo focused on the head of the creature, and fucking hell, it holds up like fucking gangbusters. Carlo would go on to help bring ET to life as well.

Having less to worth with, made for some VERY smart people to create timeless works of art. Not only using clay, rubber and glue, but light and shadow as well. CGI has made modern Hollywood lazy, IMO. When was the last time a monster actually lived up to the hype once you saw it? I remember back in 2001, watching Jeepers Creepers and thinking it was the best horror movie in years. Then I got to the mid point and they revealed the monster and it… dropped off a fucking cliff.

Thinking back to Alien, and Carlo engineered the Alien’s head with over 900 moving parts, using a system of cables and hinges to create the lifelike jaw and inner mouth movements. This level of engineering gave the creature a physical presence that actors could react to in real time, rather than a fucking tennis ball and some guy shouting “Now imagine its a big Alien. Its mean looking, its got teeth and eyes, and you’re scared of it.”.

Only thing I can really think of that matches this level of detail, was the rings trilogy. And you can see the difference when you watch the hobbit. It just doesnt hit as hard because its CGI. And no matter how good CGI is, you can always tell and pulls you out of it a little.