Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob

Jeremy Irons playing dead might seem an odd choice of picture for the front cover of a visual effects journal. All becomes clear when you realise this is a still from David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, a film that both advanced the craft of split-screen 'twinning' and allowed its director to indulge his fascination with 'body-horror' makeup … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob

Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Want to see a Winnebago zooming through space? Just park yourself in front of Mel Brooks's 1987 sci-fi parody Spaceballs. Alternatively you could take a look at the front cover of Cinefex #31. The celestial camper in question goes by the name of Eagle 5 and is in fact a detailed miniature photographed on Apogee's … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Revisiting Cinefex (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes

Carol Anne's in trouble on the front cover of Cinefex #26, assailed by a whole new host of ghostly apparitions in Brian Gibson's 1986 sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side. The apparitions come courtesy of Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios and are thus of superior quality (though most folk wouldn't say the same about the … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes

Revisiting Cinefex (25): Enemy Mine, Der Trickfilm, Fright Night

There's a rule of thumb in the graphic design business: if you want the magazine to sell, put a pretty face on the cover. This is my 25th trip into my personal Cinefex archive, and well over half the covers I've looked at more or less follow that rule (remember, in the world of visual effects, … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (25): Enemy Mine, Der Trickfilm, Fright Night

Revisiting Cinefex (20): 2010

Gracing the cover of Cinefex #20 is a haunting image of the enigmatic Starchild from Peter Hyams's 1984 film 2010. Visual effects supervisor on the film was Richard Edlund, who had recently left Industrial Light and Magic to take over Douglas Trumbull's EEG facility, soon to become Boss Film Corporation. Here's what Edlund had to … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (20): 2010

Revisiting Cinefex (13): Return of the Jedi

I reckon the front cover of Cinefex issue #13 must have shot off the press like a rocket, featuring as it does a dynamic still of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy (AKA that most famous of pirate ships, the Millennium Falcon) speeding through the innards of the second Death Star. Open the … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (13): Return of the Jedi