Who's your favorite monster?

August 8, 2007 1:10 PM

What's your favorite monster make-up/non-CGI creature design?

My SO is working on a project which has involved her in the wonderful world of monster design. I'd like to gather some great examples of real-life (as in non-animated, non-CGI) creature design to supplement our research. Examples from horror, fantasy and sci-fi are all welcome. I'm particularly interested in examples of prosthetics and makeup being used to make someone look very inhuman (especially when its done through deft application rather than huge amounts of goo). Movie suggestions and links to creature pics would be great. The scarier, the better.

posted by Bookhouse to media & arts (33 comments total)

The Thing? No cgi in there from what I remember.
posted by puke & cry at 1:22 PM on August 8, 2007

David Cronenberg's The Fly remake has some really great slow evolution makeup of actor Jeff Goldblum's transformation into a full CGI monster. No good photos to offer I'm afraid, since I'm at work, but I'll bet a decent search will come up with bunches.
posted by elendil71 at 1:26 PM on August 8, 2007

Actually. my bad on that one, apparently the ugly Fly monster was a model, not a CGI creation.
posted by elendil71 at 1:29 PM on August 8, 2007

Creature From The Black Lagoon
From Beyond (what remember of it)
Predator
70's zombie movies
Re-Animator

Be sure to check out anything make up related by this guy:
Tom Savini

or this guy:
Stan Winston
posted by Asbestos McPinto at 1:29 PM on August 8, 2007

The Gentlemen from the "Hush" episode of Buffy still creep me out. Though a lot of that was their movement rather than just the make-up.
posted by occhiblu at 1:31 PM on August 8, 2007

Though I suppose they don't count as "very inhuman."
posted by occhiblu at 1:32 PM on August 8, 2007

I'm somewhat partial to the vogons in the recent HHGTG movie.
posted by logic vs love at 1:34 PM on August 8, 2007

Definitely Alien.

Also, not sure if it counts (there was a lot of CGI in the film), but apparently a fair amount of the creature design in Silent Hill was accomplished through prosthetics and hiring dancers to manage the weird monster-y movement.
posted by Shecky at 1:35 PM on August 8, 2007

Most definitely The Thing (John Carpenter version). The various creatures were a work of art.
posted by snap_dragon at 1:38 PM on August 8, 2007

Yup, no cgi in The Thing. A couple more pictures. I can't seem to find any really good, but if you've never seen it, trust me it's freaky as hell.
posted by puke & cry at 1:40 PM on August 8, 2007

Honestly, I gotta go old-school and put in a word for Karloff's original Frakenstein's monster. Yeah, it's all been appropriated bazillions of times to where it's almost a joke, but taken in context, it still holds up.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:42 PM on August 8, 2007

The Ood from the second series of the new Dr Who.
posted by couch at 1:43 PM on August 8, 2007

Many of those are good so here's not mentioned above.

The creatures from "The Descent" are pretty good and the DVD has a nice extras on making them. Unfortunately, they're pretty much lost in the dark film.

"Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning" has some great werewolf suits. The DVD extras go into a little detail on them and shows them in their full glory. The first one, "Ginger Snaps" also has a great werewolf.
posted by chairface at 1:50 PM on August 8, 2007

Dark Crystal had some great monsters. Skeksis and The Garthim scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. I cant think of any cooler monsters, actually.
posted by ElmerFishpaw at 1:53 PM on August 8, 2007

I should mention that The Thing uses a lot of models, which isn't specifically what you're looking for but still good. Seconding Alien and Predator, both of which used people in costumes.
posted by puke & cry at 1:55 PM on August 8, 2007

Isn't anything with Doug Jones wearing a suit the perfect match here. Someome already mentioned The Gentleman.

Jar Jar Binks is really scary to some people and only his head was cgi in most scenes.
posted by uandt at 1:56 PM on August 8, 2007

I FREAKIN' adore the Creature From The Black Lagoon.
posted by willmize at 2:03 PM on August 8, 2007

Does Leatherface count? Sort of a mask I guess.

Any number of zombie movies.
posted by Big_B at 2:19 PM on August 8, 2007

Whoops, missed the inhuman part. What about the monster from Jeepers Creepers? Sort of inhuman. Although it freaks my wife out to no end, so that's my fav.
posted by Big_B at 2:24 PM on August 8, 2007

The Hush Gentlemen were scary exactly because they looked sort of human- they were aping it- metal teeth but human suits and mannerisms. Also because they "kept their hands clean" by having henchmen to do the actual dirty work. They were a great analogy (is that the right word?) for the baddies you meet in real life.

I like things that look like something familar but not quite.

(Pictures of things like Tasmanian Tigers freak me out for that reason- their jaws just should not have opened that far!)
posted by small_ruminant at 2:44 PM on August 8, 2007

Try anything from Peter Jackson's early movies. Check out these from Brain Dead:

Rat Monkey

Zombie baby

Zombies

And, from Bad Taste, a head thing.
posted by supercrayon at 2:47 PM on August 8, 2007

I also like anything that has an otherwise normal looking person with weird things moving under their skin. Or their muscles moving slightly weirdly.
posted by small_ruminant at 2:50 PM on August 8, 2007

Seconding Tom Savini, there's a reason people pay a fortune just to go to his school for makeup. He's just that good.
posted by Kellydamnit at 2:53 PM on August 8, 2007

Thanks for the stuff so far. Samll Ruminant, I agree with you (and that picture is freaky). To me the Gentlemen are a great example of deft application of prosthetics (for them the eyes and teeth) making actors look very wrong, as opposed to looking like guys wearing a mask.
posted by Bookhouse at 2:55 PM on August 8, 2007

Also from the Dark Crystal, Landstriders are the most creatively constructed "monsters" I can think of. They were pretty creepy in that movie despite being cast as friendly to the protagonists. The same sort of getup (person in custume with leg and arm stilts) could be used to create all kinds of freaky, spindly quadrapeds. Think exoskeleton.
posted by contraption at 3:54 PM on August 8, 2007

Seconding the Landstriders and Skesis from Darkcrystal

Seconding Gieger's Alien Design

Stan Winston's Predator design has always had a special place in my heart

More recently The Thin Man from Pan's Labrynth is excellent, though I'm not sure it fits your requirements as they did blue screen out his legs.
posted by subtle_squid at 6:55 PM on August 8, 2007

The Ood from the second series of the new Dr Who.

... will be returning in the fourth series.
posted by kindall at 7:19 PM on August 8, 2007

An American Werewolf in London. Rick Baker won an Oscar for best makeup for it. At the time, the transformation scene was amazing.
posted by lilywing13 at 8:47 PM on August 8, 2007

Jabba
man/bat Dracula from the movie with Gary Oldman
the navigator from the early 80s Dune movie
the American Werewolf in London
the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Maybe have a look at Beetlejuice?
The the aliens from an older Dr Who series that had suckers all over them, can't think of the name though.
posted by Tixylix at 9:20 PM on August 8, 2007

nthing Alien and Predator. And Ginger Snaps.

Also, the werewolves in the first Underworld were mostly real.
posted by krisjohn at 10:26 PM on August 8, 2007

Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera. No, I didn't faint at the unmasking scene, but the nose still creeps me out. How he did it.

That reminds me of Michael Crawford's take -- a far cry from the sunburn in the recent movie. How another version of his was done, applied from 2:30 to 5:00 and taken off from 8:25 to 9:10.

A more general thought -- since you're looking for makeup, not animated/CGI work, you might want to edge towards stage makeup. Of course, it has to read from a distance, so you'll need to make it subtler, but live theater is one situation where you're guaranteed nothing's added in post-production. I'm trying to think about monsters onstage -- maybe start with some of the more extreme Calibans?
posted by booksandlibretti at 1:13 AM on August 9, 2007

No one’s mentioned X-files yet. It featured loads of really great old-fashioned prosthetics. Some of my faves include The Flukeman and The Great Mutato.
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 3:51 AM on August 9, 2007

Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors was some pretty amazing puppetry.
posted by plinth at 10:48 AM on August 9, 2007