Avoid Cheap Scares

The Downfall of CGI and Jump Scares in Modern-Day Horror Cinema

With the death of the modern-day horror flick came the resurgence of the practical effect

The downfall of the modern-day horror film is quite simple; it practically happened overnight. In the last decade, the horror genre suddenly changed when directors began to replace a good, old fashion scare with an instant-gratification jump scare. Likewise, the use of computer-generated imagery, more commonly known as CGI, allowed directors to go for “shook value”, rather than relying on a solid storyline. Although CGI played a major role in allowing horror flicks such as Final Destination to hit the big screen, today it is used to compensate for a lackluster film. Practical effects used in iconic films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser greatly contribute to what makes these films so special, and the use of jumps scares and CGI has taken that away from modern-day viewers. Don’t believe me? Let's dive into some of the most important practical effects ever done.

First, we journey all the way back to one of the most iconic horror films of the 1980s, A Nightmare on Elm Street. In the legendary death of Nancy’s (Heather Langenkamp) boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp), Glen gets sucked into his bed and blood defies gravity as it shoots up onto the ceiling (paired with an eerie mid-80s synth, of course). This unforgettable scare was filmed using a classic practical effect, a rotating room (accomplished by award winning mechanical special effects designer Jim Doyle). With the crew attached to airplane seats on the wall, and the furniture being tacked to the ceiling, “blood” was hurtled through a hole in the bed to create this blood-curdling scene. The liquid slips at unnatural angles -- much like the nature of a frustrating dream -- and could not have been replicated with the use of CGI.

Another decade-defining practical effect was done three years later in the 1987 horror spectacular, Hellraiser. Known to horror enthusiasts as the “birth of Frank” scene, this particular horror moment is crucial to the integrity of the film. Frank (Sean Chapman) escapes Hell through the floor of the attic, and the audience watches in horror as his deformed body comes up through the floorboards. But how was it done? Practical effects, of course! The forming flesh effects were captured with wax and reverse-photography, which gave the effect of Frank’s arm stumps pushing up through the floor. With brilliant uses of a false floor, melting wax, and lots of fake blood, this scene still holds up by today's gore standards. In both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser, these films didn’t have to use the cheap tactic of jump scares; the true horror was held in the practical effects.

This takes us back to the modern-day, where I present to you one of the most blatant abuses of CGI and jump scares: 2017’s IT. Based on the horrific Stephan King novel of the same name, this film had every right to be a commercial success, but Andrés Muschietti’s cheap use of CGI and jump scares detracted from the film’s scares. The Hollywood Reporter’s John Defore disagrees with the film's cheap scare tactics, writing “though effective individually, the scenes don’t build upon each other to fill us with dread. And they would benefit from a few more practical effects mixed in with the CGI.” This resulted in IT’s scares becoming boring and repetitive, something that was unexpected in the highly anticipated film.

Thankfully, there is still hope for the practical effect. Ari Aster, director of Hereditary and Midsommar, utilizes practical effects in a big way, and focuses more on the storyline for scares. In a decapitation scene in Hereditary, rather than playing it safe and using CGI, Aster opted to use an animatronic puppet to replicate a young teens head being smashed into a telephone pole. With the use of a collapsible inner skull, the aftermath of the incident made viewers look away in disgust. Aster proved that practical effects still have a place in modern-day horror, changing the course of the horror genre forever.

The future looks bright for the horror genre. With practical effects making their way back into big-budget Hollywood flicks, all is not lost. It has been proven time and time again that deviating to cheap scare tactics such as jump scares, and the abuse of CGI, does not bode over well with casual horror viewers and enthusiasts alike. To move on to the future of the genre, we must first learn from the past, and with today’s technologies the limits of practical effects are begging to be pushed. With that being sad, it looks like the future of the horror genre is about to get a whole lot scarier.