CGI - Do We Need It?

I know we need CGI. Imagine Jurassic Park without it, or the latest crop of superhero films, but I’m so sick of it being over-used in horror films. For me, it creates this cold barrier against any fear factor.

Last night I watched Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. I know it’s been around for years, but it slipped through the net for some reason. It’s a nice premise – the founder of modern America was actually a killer of nosferatu, having lost his mother to one. I can suspend disbelief and enjoy this unlikely plot. However, from the first onslaught of CGI all emotional investment was lost. What could have been a frightening encounter between Abraham and his mother’s killer loses any credibility and any hope of frightening anyone, because it has so obviously been CGI’d to death. Indeed, every fight scene was taken to ridiculous levels by the use of computer-generated images, making them utterly implausible – most notably a scene involving a herd of wild horses that are so CGI it’s as if Walt Disney had drawn them.

Perhaps this is why I prefer older horror films. Sure, the monsters may not look so slick, but I’d rather watch American tourist David transform into a werewolf in the classic American Werewolf in London (1981) than umpteen CGI transformations. Created by make-up maestro, Rick Baker, the transformation is remarkable for many reasons. Firstly, all the effects were created on camera – ie nothing was added after filming; secondly it was shot with only one cut-away – in stark contrast to werewolf transformations prior to this, when umpteen cut-aways would be employed during the change; and thirdly, it was all shot on a brightly lit set, offering no dark corners or shadows to help disguise any trickery. The real-time effect of this approach makes the transformation of David to wolf brutal, you see and hear the pain as limbs and bones are stretched and cracked into new shapes.

Could you achieve the same powerful impact with CGI? I doubt it.