ROTTEN TOMATOES: Total Recall: The Best of Stan Winston

Total Recall: The Best of Stan Winston

by Tim Ryan

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more info...	Pumpkinhead (1988, 53 percent) Winston's directorial debut tells the spooky tale of a father who, after summoning the titular demon to enact revenge against those who killed his son, learns there's a price to be paid for his actions. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, Winston's film blends the supernatural with fairy tales, and his bony, raptor-like creature is the stuff of nightmares. Given his duties as director, Winston delegated much of the special-effects work to others; nonetheless, he crafted a creepy morality tale whose cult has only increased with time. Rob Vaux of Flipside Movie Emporium called it "satisfying B-movie fun from effects maestro Stan Winston."

more info...

Leviathan (1989, 11 percent)

Even on the most middling of projects, Winston proved to be an inventive craftsman. Case in point: Leviathan, which was panned by critics for its hackneyed underwater monster-movie plot. Still, Winston labored to create a unique creature; pouring over medical books and photos of deep-sea life, he designed a baddie that fused human, octopus, lamprey, and eel characteristics. Andreas Samuelson of Slasherpool called it "forgettable and predictable, but with a good cast and some fun special effects."

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(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply

Floor Man writes:
on Jun 18 2008 06:16 PM

Man! Guy was a genius...!

(Reply to this)

Dionei writes:
on Jun 18 2008 07:13 PM

It'a shame he passed away... Those were good days when the special effects were made in plastic and not looked like plastic...

(Reply to this)

crazykila93 writes:
on Jun 18 2008 08:12 PM

He will definately live out in our hearts as a film legend.

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jun 18 2008 08:46 PM

In reply to this comment (#1799620)
Yeah I miss that. When it was good old fashion make up and stuntwrok instead of CGI.

(Reply to this)

Zora_187 writes:
on Jun 18 2008 09:37 PM

I completely agree with you Dioeni. It's a shame he died while Terminator: Salvation was still being made.

(Reply to this)

citizenjames writes:
on Jun 19 2008 06:05 AM

i remember watching my laserdisc for JURASSIC PARK (i'm dating myself) and my friend's wife commented that "spielberg is a genius... the guy created dinosaurs." i quickly corrected her: "stan winston created dinosaurs... spielberg just told them what to do."

i good example is i believe there is only six minutes of cgi footage in JURASSIC PARK... everything else is stan. people talk about how fake effects look but movies are more than that. i'll take bad effects and a good story over great effects and a bad story every day and twice on a sunday. what stan did was marry the two flawlessly. i defy anyone to point out the flaw in IRON MAN and what's practical and what's cgi. people complain about HULK but the problem (which i have none) isn't sloppy cgi... it's just that cgi hasn't caught up with stan.

www.jamesford.wordpress.com

(Reply to this)

TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Jun 19 2008 07:01 AM

In reply to this comment (#1800422)
"it's just that cgi hasn't caught up with Stan."

Amen, brother.

..and there are those of us who remember laserdiscs.. (I had a friend who lost quite a bit of money investing...)

While there will always be those that rise to the occasion and show us something we've never seen before, I will not be surprised if it is a long time before anyone like Stan Winston comes along.

(Reply to this)

CallMeBakes writes:
on Jun 19 2008 08:58 AM

There are a lot of people who can create crazy creatures and fabulous effects in their mind. It's another thing entirely to be able to actually create it physically. Stan Winston did just that. Anything that was inside his head, he could eventually bring to fully realized life. The man was simply a genius. Nothing else can be said. He will be missed.

(Reply to this)

minderbinder writes:
on Jun 19 2008 09:11 AM

Brilliant guy, he will be missed.

People always rant about how great the CGI was in Jurassic Park, not realizing that most of the shots that look photorealistic are practical effects and not computer generated.

AI had some astounding visuals, but it was such a wasted opportunity. The craftsmanship in that is just amazing, but the movie is ruined by an awful script, really a shame it could have been brilliant but ended up a mess.

(Reply to this)

zsmiller79 writes:
on Jun 19 2008 09:17 AM

R.I.P. Stan Winston

He changed the way effects are created for the big screen.

(Reply to this)

MacLeoD39 writes:
on Jun 19 2008 02:13 PM

OKAY!!!!! ROB BOTTIN DID THE WORK IN THE THING!!!!!!!!! AS WELL AS THE FOG!!!!!! ROB BOTTIN!!!!!!!! not Stan Winston!!!!

(Reply to this)

avoidz writes:
on Jun 19 2008 08:28 PM

In reply to this comment (#1801372)
@MacLeoD39 - Look up The Thing (1982) on IMDb; Stan Winston is listed under the Full cast and crew for "additional makeup effects".

:( It's extremely sad to lose such a great artist, but his art lives on in the movies he worked on.

(Reply to this)

RETyrant writes:
on Jun 20 2008 03:21 AM

It's a shame. He also created the monsters in the video game The Suffering. There was supposed to be a movie adaptation of the game where he was to design the actual creatures used in the film, but I don't see it being made after his death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Suffering_(video_game)

(Reply to this)

MacLeoD39 writes:
on Jun 20 2008 01:31 PM

In reply to this comment (#1801815)
okay i feel very dumb lol i never knew that Stan Winston had anything to do with The Thing it's one of my all time favorite movies I just never paid close attention to the credits!! thanks for the info!!!!

(Reply to this)

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