Needed Good Make-Up Effects
The satire and commentary on consumerism are good. But, the movie needed good make-up effects of when people got consumed by it to give it the punch it needed.
shareRespectfully disagree.
For a low-budget movie, I think they did quite well (and IMO, 'amazing' FX might have detracted from it's message?)
Personally, I wouldn't have minded a few more (as you say) "Consumption" scenes (spread throughout) for pacing issues (of which this movie has around the middle third) but (hand on heart) I loved the animatronic 'Chocolate Chip Charlie' head.
Similarly, DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) hasn't lost any of it's 'Commentary' (despite it's FX work looking 'Quaint' nowadays)
Low budget movies seem to mock 'Consumerism' a lot better, by not being 'hypocritically' expensive themselves.
I just watched "Basket Case," made on $32,000, and it had great make-up effects. I think that they just needed the right person to work on this movie. Rick Baker made his mark working on "It's Alive!" and here it's the same director. Maybe he could have consulted on this or something. Dick Smith consulted on "Scanners" and that resulted in some excellent make-up effects.
share