Raiders of the Lost Ark – 1981 (WINNER)
It’s hard to know where to start with this special effects extravaganza. This was still a film that was firmly rooted in the era of practical effects, and as such, they were inventive and excellently executed. There were a ton of stunts, animated effects, animal effects, very competent blue-screening, and some great matte paintings. There were fire effects, ice effects, lightning effects, explosions, chases, skeletons, angels, and, of course, a giant rolling stone ball.
But for me, one of the most memorable effects in the film were the deaths of the three main villains in the film’s climax. One’s head shriveled, one’s face melted off, and the last one’s head exploded. The best one, the melting head, which had never been done before in quite such gory detail, was accomplished by doing a plaster mold of the actor’s face, sculpting a stone skull, and then painting on gelatin layers of different colors that would melt off the skull in stages. A special gelatin was created that had a very low melting temperature. Then, when the cameras started to roll, intense heat lamps were directed at the fake head. The effect was frighteningly effective!
In the same scene, we see ghostly angels come out of the ancient artifact that change from beautiful to horrific just before lightning shoots out from the lost ark, killing all the Nazi soldiers. Then a fantastic firestorm swirls around the bound heroes, freeing them and consuming all the dead bodies. It was an exciting and utterly fantastic climax to the adventure story.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the incredible stunts! Again, probably the most memorable one was when Indiana Jones hooked his bullwhip to the underside of a truck and was dragged along behind the speeding vehicle. In reality, his clothes would be shredded, not to mention his skin, but never-mind that. During that scene, there are men climbing all over, and falling off of, the outside of the truck. But also quite memorable was the scene inside the Well of the Souls, from which Jones escapes by mounting a giant toppling statue and crashing it through a wall.
And, of course, there was the swarm of creepy animals, a repeating trend that every other movie in the franchise has continued. Here, it was snakes. They were there in their hundreds, covering the floor of the Ark’s resting chamber. But the actors were never in any real danger, not even from the king cobra that threatened them. It was behind a glass window, though if you look super carefully, you can see the snake’s reflection in the glass.
All in all, the film showed audiences fantastic things they had never seen before. I remember seeing the film as a child and being terrified by its climactic horrors. And because the effects were all practical ones, there was a solidity and a realism in them that CGI effects sometimes seem to lack if they are poorly done. Today, most of these stunning visuals would have been created in a computer.