Makeup Effects Vehicles

This refers to films that are made to highlight makeup effects. That is to say films featuring physical transformations, Splatter and Gore and unique methods of dismemberment, icky meltdowns, physical creature effects and other forms of bodily transformation.

The Planet of the Apes films and The Exorcist (1973) led to a fascination with their effects. The late 1970s/early 80s brought a cluster of films beginning with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) that highlighted a series of unique and protracted methods of despatch and these caught on with horror audiences of the day.

There was also the Air Bladder Transformation fad of the early 1980s begun with The Howling (1981) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) where we saw characters transform into werewolves in minute detail. Other films depicting similar transformations followed.

Horror magazines of the day, in particular Fangoria, treated makeup effects artists such as Tom Savini, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Tom Burman, Dick Smith, Stan Winston and Greg Cannom as superstars. The cult popularity of these artists became such that their names could be promoted on the poster of a film, while a number of makeup effects artists were even able to make their own directorial debuts.

The genre had largely died down by the 2000s where the replacement of physical transformations with more cheaply produced digital transformations and CGI gore has become the industry standard. Despite this, there are still a number of exceptions that rely on old-school effects.