# What's the lamest special effects you've seen in films? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350 "2009-07-17T16:09:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Falling_Reverend)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/21 "2009-07-17T18:29:47Z")
How about the part in Return Of The Jedi when the rancor is snacking on the gamorrean guard and Luke is backing up, Even in the special editions they never cleaned up the horrible black outline around the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/22 "2009-07-17T18:40:59Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > _Night of the Lepus_ had some classic bad special effects. The “best” is the close up of the giant killer rabbits, which were nothing more than rabbits with some red food coloring around their mouths, chewing on lettuce or pellets or something. One scene would show the actor screaming in terror at some apparently horrible monstrosity, next scene: close up of the cute widdle bunny rabbits. Not to mention that the rabbits used in the closeups were obviously cute-n-fluffy domestic rabbits, not wild ones. And don’t forget for the real “action” shots, they used closeups of a bunny hand puppet, also with mouth smeared in ketchup or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![straggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@straggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straggler)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/23 "2009-07-17T18:48:58Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > The Scorpion King (The Rock) at the end of The Mummy 2. Yep, just tossing my hat in to the ring on this one, too. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/24 "2009-07-17T18:54:02Z")
**Cast Away** – the whale that phases in and out like a Romulan Bird-of-Prey activating its cloak. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/25 "2009-07-17T18:58:37Z")
\*\*Die Another Day \*\*-- when Bond improvises a bit of polar surfing to escape the solar death ray. Let’s just say the CGI effects were “all wet”. The soul-snatching hellish wraiths from **Ghost**. They’re just vague charcoal-grey shapes and not supposed to be detailed or differentiated in any way, and I actually thought they were pretty well animated, esp. for – what? 1984 technology? But who thought they needed full sets of shiny white _teeth_? _That_ was cheesy. (And did they have talons also or am I imagining that? They do scratch their doomed souls, but I don’t recall if their nails or claws were shown.) Shifting to the cinema’s bush leagues, there was the T-Rex with a visible dorsal seam running along its body and tail in **The Last Dinosaur** [1977], whose titular dino also had a noticably rubber head – because when a catapulted boulder impacts its cranium, it leaves a dent that pops back. That left an indelible impression on my mind, hee-hee. And John Carpenter’s **Dark Star** had a spotted orange alien that was nothing more than a beach ball with feet! To be fair, though, that film started out as Carpenter’s student film. (OTOH, George Lucas’ student film-originated first commercial release, **THX1138** , had vastly superior production values.) ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/26 "2009-07-17T19:00:07Z")
Shark Attack 3 is full of fun. A friend bought it and we laughed all through it. If tv counts, anytime Scrubs uses CGI it looks terrible. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/27 "2009-07-17T19:04:22Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Not to mention that the rabbits used in the closeups were obviously cute-n-fluffy domestic rabbits, not wild ones. And don’t forget for the real “action” shots, they used closeups of a bunny hand puppet, also with mouth smeared in ketchup or something similar. **giggles** **pictures Bunny Rabbit from _Captain Kangaroo_** **giggles some more** ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/28 "2009-07-17T19:12:39Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > **giggles** > > **pictures Bunny Rabbit from _Captain Kangaroo_** > > **giggles some more** [Here’s one clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Od92391upY) - cute fluffy pet bunnies being herded through a miniature set, then really bad hand puppet and “gore” effect. I know I’ve seen a better shot of what looks like a puppet but can’t find a clip right now. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/29 "2009-07-17T19:24:47Z")
The worst effect that mattered least was Jane Fonda’s weightless stripping in the beginning of Barbarella. It’s very clear that she’s just writhing around on a big piece of glass. In fact, there are several shots where you can see her reflection in the glass, to the point that I first wondered if it was done on purpose. But, considering the actual content of the shot, who gives a damn? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/30 "2009-07-17T19:35:38Z")
Even as a young child, I thought it was cheesy when a “dinosaur” movie resorted to iguanas with fins glued to their backs. Even the cheapest stop-motion model animation would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/31 "2009-07-17T19:41:46Z")
> [@The\_Falling\_Reverend](#): > > How about the part in Return Of The Jedi when the rancor is snacking on the gamorrean guard and Luke is backing up, Even in the special editions they never cleaned up the horrible black outline around the damn thing. Yeah, even as a kid, I could definitely tell that the “victim” was stop-motion, too, just by the way he moved. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/32 "2009-07-17T20:01:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Kind of hard to top the blob attacking the diner in _The Blob_: the filmmakers just poured a can of goop onto a postcard of a hamburger stand. Can’t beat it, since it’s the same concept, but the movie ‘Beginning of the End’ used the same concept to show ‘giant’ mutant Grasshoppers (or Locusts, or whatever) climbing a Chicago skyscraper - real grasshoppers on a postcard of the skyscraper filmed from above - one grasshopper was knocked off the postcard somehow, and that shot was looped the segment 3 times to show grasshoppers being ‘shot off’ the skyscraper by the movie’s protagonists. The MST3K crew had fun with that concept, incorporating into the end host segment w/ fake rubber grasshoppers ‘attacking’ people and landmarks in various postcards. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/33 "2009-07-17T20:02:44Z")
The autogyro which chases the hero in Hitchcock’s 1935 _The 39 Steps_ is laughably fake. Too bad, because it’s otherwise a great movie for its day. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/34 "2009-07-17T20:17:43Z")
If we’re talking about movies that should have done better, I’d like to nominate the Alien in Alien3. Especially the terrible green screen (or rotoscope?) effects towards the end when it’s climbing on the walls. That eery blue glow looks incredibly bad, especially given how solid the effects are in the previous two movies. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/35 "2009-07-17T20:17:49Z")
Not the lamest, by far, and it was lauded in its day, but I’ve always thought the scene where Alan Rickman is falling in _Die Hard_ looked fake as hell, even in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/36 "2009-07-17T20:31:56Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > And John Carpenter’s **Dark Star** had a spotted orange alien that was nothing more than a beach ball with feet! To be fair, though, that film started out as Carpenter’s student film. (OTOH, George Lucas’ student film-originated first commercial release, **THX1138** , had vastly superior production values.) Dunno if that one counts, the crappiness of the “special effect” was intentional (or at least they made the best of it) - as I recall, they shoot the thing with a trank dart and it _deflates_. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/37 "2009-07-17T20:33:55Z")
Another vote for _Night of the Leapus_. Who ever thought that was a great idea in the first place? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/38 "2009-07-17T20:51:53Z")
What about Spider-Man? The shots of him crawling around buildings were HORRIBLE. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/39 "2009-07-17T21:02:59Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Not the lamest, by far, and it was lauded in its day, but I’ve always thought the scene where Alan Rickman is falling in _Die Hard_ looked fake as hell, even in the theater. Someone better tell Alan Rickman he wasn’t really dropped then. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard#Production)… “According to commentary from the movie’s DVD release, Alan Rickman’s surprise when Gruber is dropped from the building is genuine: the director chose to release Rickman a full second before he expected it in order to get genuine surprise, a move which angered Rickman.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350/40 "2009-07-17T21:09:19Z")
Ever see the old Superman serials from the 40s with Kirk Alyn? Live action except for the flying scenes. It’s a little jarring. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-lamest-special-effects-youve-seen-in-films/503350.md?page=3)