19 Best Movies With the Worst Effects of “Scary Valley”
A film doesn’t have to be a special effects extravaganza to be worth watching, but it looks like we’re increasingly not interested in going to the theater to watch it if it’s not. And if we’re going to pay good money, we want those special effects to look special. Moving away from practical effects over the past few decades has opened up previously unimaginable expanses of imagination, and also opened the door for some deeply ugly and flimsy computer imagery – moments that don’t so much expand our imaginations as leave us scratching our heads (or laughing at the screen).
From digital twins that move like video game characters to superfluous computer graphics that put people, places, and objects in situations that are only possible inside a computer, bad effects can spoil our feelings of disbelief by hitting us in the head with a reminder that we are we do not look real. In addition, there is the problem of “supernatural valley” where attempts to recreate living things come close, but not close enough to reality, creating an effect that can unintentionally (or intentionally) cause concern. Consider Clifford’s new film , Big Red Dog , which reminds us that the supernatural valley effect still applies even when what we see doesn’t have to be realistic.
(Though this Clifford looks considerably less disturbing than Martin Short’s unrelated 1994 film. )
Bad effects are not always a killer. The films can still be good, despite a couple of awkward moments; Decades later, crappy computer graphics might even be sympathetic ! All 19 films on this list are good, despite some cunning special effects that take you straight out of combat.