Top 10 Horror Movie Effects That Aged Badly

“The Ring Two” (2005)
No one was really asking for a sequel to “The Ring,” but we got one anyway in 2005. Most people tend to ignore it. While the first movie contained some genuinely good filmmaking, “The Ring Two” contains horrible CGI deer that pretty much suck any semblance of tension or fear from the scene in question. The deer are attracted to Samara’s presence, and they proceed to attack Rachel’s car - complete with kamikaze deer that barrel straight into the hood at fast speed. The concept of the scene is fairly ludicrous, but even more embarrassing are the CGI deer. They look horrible, and even by 2005 standards are pretty shoddy.

“Resident Evil” (2002)
Lickers are some of the most popular enemies in the “Resident Evil” series, and one was included in the 2002 movie adaptation. However, early 2000s CGI is notoriously poor, and time certainly hasn’t been kind to this creature. There are some decent close-ups where the Licker is obviously made from practical effects. But the filmmakers employed CGI for all the full-body shots, and the visual effects look like they were ripped straight from the video game itself. And no, that is definitely not a good thing. It’s always lame when the final boss and climactic action sequence revolves around an unconvincing CGI creation.

“I Am Legend” (2007)
For a movie with a huge budget, we expected better visual effects than this. Most of the New York stuff looks fantastic, but the infected mutants (officially known as “Darkseekers”) look borderline bad. The mutants were originally portrayed by actors wearing prosthetics, but director Francis Lawrence scrapped the idea one week into filming and decided to utilize motion capture instead. It’s pretty telling that Gollum - who debuted five years before this movie was released - looked better than the Darkseekers. They are obvious CGI creations, and they look quite awful standing next to Will Smith. The faces alone look like something out of a PS2 game.

“Van Helsing” (2004)
Most of the CGI from “Van Helsing” looks quite iffy today… including the werewolf transformation. Back in 1981, John Landis released “An American Werewolf in London,” which is still seen as the benchmark for werewolf transformation effects. It certainly looks better than this. Velkan transforms directly in front of Anna, and while the initial freakout and wall climb is quite effective, things go off the rails once Velkan actually starts to change. The transition from human to computer effect is quite obvious and jarring, and the wolf itself is certainly not convincing. That melting skin is just not good. It is some good music, though…

“The Thing” (2011)
John Carpenter’s 1982 original contains some of the greatest practical effects ever put to film. The remake looks considerably worse - despite being made decades later. The remake actually used practical effects to be more in keeping with the iconic original, but these were replaced by CGI in post-production. And while the design of the creatures is terrific, the CGI lets the imagination down by being so thoroughly meh. Not much about them looks good, including the video game-y faces, low textures, and waxy lighting. This could have been a great prequel if they just spent a couple more months in post cleaning up the effects. As it stands, it’s a far inferior product that was mostly ignored.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010)
We hate to keep saying that the oldies are better, but… the oldies are better. The 2010 “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake was widely maligned. Even Robert Englund got in on the dissing by criticizing the make-up effects. But that wasn’t the movie’s only problem. In one sequence recreated from the original, Freddy appears out of the bedroom wall to spy on Nancy. In the original, Freddy simply hovers over the bed. In the remake, he full-on emerges from the wall, bends his way to Nancy’s right, and opens his mouth in an unintentionally hilarious growl. Everything about the sequence looks kinda ridiculous - including the little knives that shoot out of the wallpaper. Was CGI the death knell for horror?

“Alien 3” (1992)
Mostly everyone ignores “Alien 3” - including James Cameron and even David Fincher himself, who has since disowned the film. Part of its reputation stems from the dark and dreary story, and part of it comes from the horrible visual effects on display. Most of the CGI looks lame today (as does most CGI from the early ‘90s) - especially in the corridor chase with David. The scene features some genuinely impressive camera work and sound design, but virtually all tension dissipates once the alien comes on screen. The composition and lighting integration is off, and the alien moves in such a hilariously janky manner that it’s hard to take it seriously. Maybe this looked good in 1992, but it’s fairly laughable today.

“Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998)
This may have been the best “Halloween” sequel, but it contains the most embarrassing sequence in the entire franchise. When Michael appears to Charles, he is sporting a very obvious CGI mask. The mask is only on screen for about a second, but it’s enough. While there are multiple explanations floated for this usage, one claim is that the original mask used in the scene received a poor reception from test audiences, so the decision was made to digitally recreate the iconic mask from the first movie. If so, it . . . wasn’t the right decision. Late ‘90s CGI was bad enough, but it’s made even worse when plastered over the face of a live-action actor.

“Deep Blue Sea” (1999)
This shark movie is mostly known for the iconic scene in which Samuel L. Jackson is killed mid-inspirational speech. It’s both shocking and hilarious, and has rightly earned its place on the most unexpected movie deaths of all time lists. But it also — yeah, we’re saying it — looks really, really bad. Granted, most people can overlook the poor visual effects owing to “Deep Blue Sea’s” status as a cheesy B-movie. But everything about this death looks horrid today, including the shark, the mauled Samuel L. Jackson figure, and the splashing water. Even when the shark retreats, it goes back under the water in the most unrealistic and unconvincing fashion imaginable. This was a fantastic idea nearly ruined by horrible execution.

“Cats” (2019)
Can “Cats” be considered a horror movie? Not really, but its visual effects were the scariest thing we saw in 2019! Okay, okay, we’re just kidding. On to the real #1!

“Jaws 3-D” (1983)
More sharks! This may genuinely be one of the worst movies ever made. But even if that’s not the case, the entire climax with the shark attacking the station may be the worst-looking sequence ever put to film. The entire thing looks almost like a school project complete with the poorly-composed floating shark, shattering 3D glass, and the hilarious way the shark breaks all semblance of physics and stops moving after hitting the pane. The explosion is even worse, complete with computer blood and dreadful organs that are blown towards the camera. It is pure schlock, and unworthy of the legacy of the original, legendary “Jaws.”