Some Practical Advice

 In the last month I bought a bunch of the recent Rifftrax on-demand movies to watch with the Roku app.  And there was one thing that struck me that I shared on Facebook:  if you're doing a really low-budget horror/sci-fi/action movie, stick to practical effects.  They might still look bad, but probably not as bad as low-budget computer effects look.

A few of the movies that made me think this were Feeders, Lycan Colony, and Suburban Sasquatch.  Feeders could at least use the excuse it was made in the mid-90s so great computer effects weren't very affordable.  Still at one point when a doctor is on the floor with his head ripped off, the neck and blood look like they were done in MS Paint. It's one of those times when even the professional riffers can only laugh because it is so utterly ridiculous.  Though to be fair a lot of the practical effects, like the clay lump alien puppets, were pretty bad too.

Lycan Colony and Suburban Sasquatch were made early in the 21st Century.  Lycan Colony uses a lot of bad green screen that leads to one riffer saying, "How can you manage to make rolling look fake?"  I mean, seriously, someone is supposed to be rolling down a hill and it looks incredibly fake.  One guy is supposed to have a tattoo on his neck but instead of drawing it on with a marker or using a sticker or something, they tried to do it digitally and you can see it wobbling when he moves.  Though it's still probably not as funny as the terrible acting (like when a guy blurts out, "MMMMistake!" which would describe the whole movie) done mostly with heavy Boston accents.

Suburban Sasquatch has even more hilarious computer effects.  It's about a Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) terrorizing a suburban development--hence the title.  The Sasquatch is clearly a suit, the kind where you can see the seams and the two cops have the fakest-looking uniforms ever; they're brown button-down shirts with darker brown tape on the shoulders.  They couldn't even go to the dollar store for a couple of fake badges.  Strippers have more realistic cop uniforms!  But that's nothing compared to the computer effects of when the Sasquatch gets shot with an arrow and fake digital blood splurts around.  Or when he picks up the cop car and it changes dimensions in his grasp.  (Though ironically the cop car looks far more real than the cop uniforms.)

By contrast Vengeance of the Dead was made in Wisconsin early in the 21st Century and while it's not a great movie, it looks far less ridiculous than the others I mentioned.  The reason is it doesn't use a lot of low-rent computer effects.  Instead it relies on practical effects, mostly a young guy lighting old people on fire after he finds an old spoon that causes him to start sleepwalking to avenge a family murdered in the 30s.  There aren't any of those moments where you just laugh at how utterly stupid the action on the screen looks.

The basic message overall is to not let your reach exceed your grasp.  If you don't have the money for ILM-quality digital effects, then don't write your script so you need them.  It's just going to look ridiculous.  To apply this to writing, I guess that would mean to stay with what you can do well; don't venture too far from your comfort zone or things probably won't go so well for you.