36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Take the night off, CGI. The practical effects got this one
36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

We’d give you a condescending “back in my day” rant about special effects before CGI, but awesome old-school practical effects are still being pulled off today. It doesn’t have to be a CGI versus practical debate. It’s whatever happens to be best for the shot — and the budget. 

We just wanted to give the real-deal effects their due today since you could easily mistake these for CGI.

Harry Potter

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Captain America: Civil War

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Mission: Impossible — Fallout

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Avengers: Endgame

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

The Amazing Spider-Man

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

The House with a Clock in Its Walls

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Mary Poppins Returns

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

It

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Midsommar

Midsommar included a skull-smashing scene that took a few takes. POW! So the team created a self- imploding mechanical skull. The crew needed a solution that would last longer than just one hammering, so they built a head that would implode, then un-smash itself with pneumatic cylinders. And to get the sound right, the foley dude smashed a severed pig's head. CRACKED.COM

2001: A Space Odyssey

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Interstellar

Remember the wormhole scene in Interstellar? That was a physical set. The Tesseract, an artificial construct that depicts time as a physical dimension, was an actual three-story set made out of hi-res laser prints, wall projections, and some good old fashioned perspective tricks. Filmmakers swung Matthew McConaughey through the set on a wire. CRACKED.COM

Edge of Tomorrow

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Independence Day

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Jurassic Park

The raptors in Jurassic Park weren't CGI. Those were men in costumes. John Rosengrant was the main raptor suit performer. To make his movements convincing, he had to squat inside of the suit like a downhill skiier. It took work with a personal trainer to condition his body to hold the pose for long periods of time. CRACKED.COM

Spider-Man

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Iron Man 3

In Iron Man 3, several people get sucked out of Air Force One. The scene was shot in midair with skydivers. The travelers freefalling in midair are actually the Red Bull Skydiving Team. The film crew rigged up special costumes that would hide parachutes underneath their clothing for the scene, which took eight days and 600 jumps to perfect. CRACKED.COM

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings trilogy mixed hobbits, dwarves, and humans. With forced perspective. Making normal-sized actors look vastly different in size wasn't just a matter of swapping out children for the long shots. Filmmakers built special rigs that separated the actors so that small characters would look tiny compared to human-sized ones. CRACKED.COM

Skyfall

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

28 Days Later

In 28 Days Later, Murphy wanders through a totally empty London. That wasn't a set. It was actually London. The filmmakers got the scene by shooting in the early morning when the streets were less busy, and politely asking commuters either to wait or take alternate routes while they were filming. CRACKED.COM

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Evan Almighty

In Evan Almighty, God asks Evan to build an ark. So the crew built a full-sized ark. The wooden monstrosity was constructed to be 250 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 50 feet high, in the middle of a Virginia housing development. And for the animal sequences they used 200 live animals. CRACKED.COM

Alien: Resurrection

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Escape From New York

Escape From New York showed a wireframe view of the city. NOSE VIEW 00 And it was done with tape and a black light. The filmmakers wanted to create a high-tech computer readout but didn't have the budget. So they grabbed the model they'd been using for high angle shots and striped it with green tape. It glowed under black light. CRACKED.COM

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory has nut-sorting squirrels. Those are real, live, trained squirrels. It took months to train the squirrels to sort nuts, and the nuts had to be made of metal so they wouldn't get chewed up. The squirrels were also trained to attack Veruca's stunt double. Her Veruca mask protected her face from pointy little claws. CRACKED.COM

Thor: The Dark World

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Cabin in the Woods

Cabin In The Woods featured some truly frightening monsters. And they weren't CGI. Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard decided they wanted a sequence where pretty much every type of horror movie creature ever would make a cameo. So they had the special effects people make real versions of all of them. Even if it meant a nine-year-old spending hours in the makeup chair. CRACKED.COM

The Force Awakens

You'd think Dejarik would be CG by The Force Awakens. It's not. It's still stop-action animation. The original props had deteriorated, though, so special effects workers used scenes from the original trilogy and a 3D printer to painstakingly sculpt new Dejaric pieces. Then they hired original animator Phil Tippett. CRACKED.COM

2012

The characters got thrown around in 2012. And so did the actors. Not only did filmmakers create a sinking ship scene by rotating the whole set, they flooded sets with water and created an 8,000 square foot earthquake rig. They'd build entire sets, including houses, cars, airplanes, etc., on the 500,000 pound rig, then use its hydraulics to shake them to the ground. CRACKED.COM

Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino wanted to recreate the past for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. So his team rebuilt it, using miniatures. Tarantino's not a fan of CGI, so he had visual effects legend John Dykstra re-create a drive-in that was there in 1969, but isn't there now. All for a blink-and-you'll- miss-it scene where Brad Pitt crosses through the drive-in to get to his trailer. CRACKED.COM

Evil Dead

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

First Man

The crew of First Man created an outdoor lunar surface set in a quarry. ONG Complete with fake sunlight that gave them sunburn. Light bulbs that can re-create the look of the sun on the moon don't exist, so filmmakers had to commission a new type that was twice as bright as the brightest one made for film shots. The first time they used it, it blew up after an hour. CRACKED.COM

Goldfinger

GRACKED.COM GOLDFINGER Lots of things in this James Bond movie are dated and unintentionally funny but they nailed the laser beam. It's a timelessly cool and realistic effect and I genuinely fear for Bond's junk every time I watch it.

Hereditary

CRACKED.COM HEREDITARY The scene where Peter wakes up in his dark room is a work of genius. *Brightness is turned up for your viewing pleasure* In the background, his possessed mother is quietly watching him from the upper left corner of the room. No sound effect, no ominous music, just pure terror once you realize what's happening.

The Blob

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

The Flintstones

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

Terminator

36 Completely Real Special Effects That Told CGI to Hold Their Beer

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