The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, with A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven, with a screenplay by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Gary Goldman. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside. Based on the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, Total Recall tells the story of Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger), a construction worker who receives an implanted memory of a fantastical adventure on Mars. He subsequently finds his adventure occurring in reality as agents of a shadow organization try to prevent him from recovering memories of his past as a Martian secret agent aiming to stop the tyrannical regime of Martian dictator Vilos Cohaagen (Cox).
Paul Verhoeven is a Dutch filmmaker. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his drama and science fiction films.
Prosthetic makeup, which may also be referred to as special make-up effects or FX prosthesis, is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding, and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup draws a straight lineage from the Stagecraft of theatre and can be observed at the birth of science fiction cinema with Le Voyage dans La Lune, a 1902 French adventure short film directed by pioneer of special effects Georges Méliès.
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit in the near future, RoboCop centers on police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is murdered by a gang of criminals and subsequently revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products as the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop. Unaware of his former life, RoboCop executes a brutal campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity.
Legend is a 1985 American epic dark fantasy adventure film directed and conceived by Ridley Scott, and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert and Annabelle Lanyon. The film revolves around Jack, a pure being who must stop the Lord of Darkness who plots to cover the world with eternal night.
RoboCop 2 is a 1990 American cyberpunk action film directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Frank Miller and Walon Green. It stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. It is the sequel to the 1987 film RoboCop, the second entry in the RoboCop franchise, the last to feature Weller as RoboCop, and the last film Kershner directed before his death in 2010.
The Howling is a 1981 American horror film directed and edited by Joe Dante. Written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the film follows a news anchor who, following a traumatic encounter with a serial killer, visits a resort secretely inhabited by werewolves. The cast includes Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski, Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, and Elisabeth Brooks.
Edward Neumeier is an American screenwriter, producer and director best known for his work on the science fiction movies RoboCop and Starship Troopers. He wrote the latter's sequels Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.
Richard Alan Baker, known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker has won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning when he won the inaugural award for the 1981 horror comedy film An American Werewolf in London.
Officer Alex JamesMurphy, commonly known as RoboCop, is a fictional cybernetically enhanced officer of the Detroit Police Department from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and is the main protagonist in the film series of the same name. Murphy is killed in the line of duty; subsequently, Murphy is resurrected and transformed into the cyborg law enforcement unit RoboCop by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP). In the original screenplay, he is referred to as Robo by creators Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner.
Robert Kurtzman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and special effects makeup artist.
Greg Cannom is an American special make-up effects artist. He is the recipient of several accolades, including five Academy Awards and two Saturn Awards, and has been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and four BAFTA Awards.
Christopher Tucker was a British make-up artist for theatre and film. He specialized in the creation of prosthetic make-up for horror films. Among his notable works were the make-up effects for The Elephant Man, The Company of Wolves, and the stage musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Bodily mutilation in film describes the apparent mutilation for theatrical purposes of a character in a film. Bodily mutilation is most usually portrayed in the context of horror, but is also used in other genres, such as medical dramas or war films. It is used primarily either to shock or fascinate the audience of a film, or to add a sense of realism to a film. Improved special effects in recent decades have seen an increase in the prevalence of bodily mutilation in film.
Mark Rappaport is an American special make-up effects artist.
Steve Johnson is an American special effects artist whose career has spanned more than thirty years. His work has appeared in over 200 films, countless television shows, theme parks, commercials, and music videos. Some of his best-known creations include Slimer for Ghostbusters (1984), the alien seductress Sil for Species (1995), Robin Williams's robotics for Bicentennial Man (1999), and Doctor Octopus's arms for Spider-Man 2 (2004).
William Forsche is an American special effects artist whose career has spanned more than thirty years. His work has appeared in many films, most of which are horror and science fiction projects, though he has occasionally created effects for other films, such as Beetlejuice (1988) and The Nutty Professor (1996).
An air bladder effect, or simply a bladder effect, is a special effect created for motion pictures. The effect employs plastic or latex balloons—known as "bladders"—which are concealed beneath the surface of foam latex or similar prosthetics. Attached to the bladders is a system of tubing that allows them to be inflated. When the bladders are inflated underneath the prosthetics, it results in the prosthetics appearing to shift, bubble, swell, or pulsate.
The special effects of the 1990 action film Total Recall were developed by visual-effects company Dream Quest Images, with contributions by Stetson Visual Services, Metrolight Studios, and Industrial Light & Magic. Over 100 visual effects were produced for the film, which relied almost entirely on practical effects at a time when computer-generated imagery was a new and rarely-used technique.
