This may be one of Spielberg's worst movies, but the miniatures look incredible during the final action sequences. The best include the Ferris wheel scene and the falling house.

I was lucky enough to see this movie in 70mm at the Museum of the Moving Image.  Needless to say, I was gobsmacked by every beautiful second of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece on the big screen.  Douglas Trumbull’s Discovery miniatures look phenomenal 52 years later.  Yes, you’re reading that right.  These effects are in a 1968 film.

For a relatively low-budget film, the special effects team put absolutely meticulous detail into the props and sets, especially inside the Nostromo. The chestburster scene is every bit as much of a shock as it was in 1979, and the facehugger is one of the greatest, most detailed props in cinematic history.

James Cameron utilizes mostly in-camera effects for Aliens, which still look nearly flawless to this day. The Alien queen ripping apart Bishop is a standout moment.

Rick Baker deserved his first Best Makeup Oscar for this classic. The iconic transformation scene is just as incredible now as it was in 1981, and no level of CGI can change that.

Ah... 2015. When cars flew, there were 19 Jaws movies, FaceTime kind of existed, and 80s nostalgia was everywhere... all thanks to the magic of special effects. And Biff Tannen is still far less evil than Trump.

Douglas Trumbull, the man behind 2001 and Close Encounters, gives Blade Runner some of the best miniatures and matte paintings. In all honesty, E.T. stole the 1983 Best Visual Effects Oscar from Blade Runner.

Medusa actually looks scarier in this movie than she does in the remake. Maybe that's because Ray Harryhausen(in his last feature film) animated her to move slowly and creepily, rather than slither all over the place like Speedy Gonzales. Many think stop-motion looks bad, but I think it adds a lot of creepiness to movie monsters like Medusa.

Douglas Trumbull(of 2001 and Blade Runner fame) created the mothership and aliens for Close Encounters, which are some of the best visual effects in a 1970s film. Like both of those films, not a single shot looks dated over time.

The skeksis are still creepy as f**k.

Tom Savini had previously worked on Romero's Dawn of the Dead when he embarked on the meticulous effects of Day of the Dead. In Dawn, the zombies look too blue, and the blood is cartoonishly bright red(this fake blood also plagued other 70s films). However, Savini perfects his zombies here. Every zombie becomes a character in and of itself, especially the hero zombie, Bub. This also has some of the best gore effects in any horror film, period. The satisfying finale in which the living dead devour the sadistic Captain Rhodes is one of the most satisfying in cinematic history.(Choke on ‘em! Choke on ‘em!)

The stop-motion ATAT walkers still look great today, and so do the Yoda puppet and the matte paintings of Cloud City(which have sadly been replaced in Lucas' Special Editions). The lightsaber effects are now more refined than in Star Wars(1977), without any jump cuts or jerky edits.

This is the movie that made Spielberg realize, “Maybe I shouldn’t ruin my movies like my old friend George.” I cannot thank Spielberg enough for taking the 20th Anniversary Edition with the awful CGI E.T. out of circulation and replacing it with the original, Academy-Award winning version.

The possessed Henrietta(I'll swallow your soul!) is a standout creature in Evil Dead II, one of the few horror sequels better than the first. As dated and obviously low-budget as the stop-motion effects are, they add a unique, goofy B movie charm to this sequel, which also has some of the best fake blood in cinema history.

If one aspect of this film is responsible for its status as "the scariest movie of all time", Dick Smith's effects would be that. Reagan's head-turn and projectile vomiting are among the film's most unsettling images.

Chris Walas deserved his Oscar for The Fly. The Brundlefly is an iconic image in body horror, and is just as hard to watch now as it was in 1986.

Many effects look incredibly dated now, especially the stop-motion Terror Dogs. However, this only adds to the movie's goofy charm, and the rest of the visual effects hold up very well over time. Slimer and the Stay Puft sequence are the most stunning special effects in the whole film. Ghostbusters was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but unfortunately lost to the awful blue screen garbage of Temple of Doom.

Dick Smith created the gore effects in this classic with his impeccable fake blood recipe. The shooting of Sonny Corleone and the Baptism massacre are among the most brutal shootouts in all of cinema.

Gizmo is by far the cutest thing ever put on film. I can't help but tear up when he leaves... his voice is so cute!

He chose... poorly.

The birthing of the pod people is honestly one of the better practical effects in a pre-1980 film.

Wow. The scene in which Dr. Griffin reveals himself to the cops looks incredible for a 1933 film!

Ray Harryhausen is a master of stop-motion, specifically the Dynamation process. He literally did all of the animation for his films himself, without any other crew members! When you see the iconic skeleton fight, which is f*cking awesome, keep that in mind.

Many may forget that there are only 6 minutes of CGI dinosaurs in the first Jurassic Park. This is a testament to the fantastic balance between practical and digital effects in the film, which still hold up 27 years later. If only Jurassic World followed the same path... sigh...

Willis O’ Brien’s stop-motion effects on Kong were groundbreaking for their time, and influenced the Academy to create the Best Visual Effects category.

Mr. Creosote is just about the most disgusting thing put on film, and that’s because the practical effects are so great, if so grotesque... I feel like throwing up just writing about it.

The sequence in which Johnny Depp is sucked into his bed as his blood spurts out is one of the bloodiest ever filmed. Another incredible-looking shot is when Freddy starts coming through Nancy's ceiling while she sleeps. The only dated effect occurs in the ending in which Freddy takes a stunt dummy(meant to be Nancy's mother) through the door.

The Faun and the Pale Man are some of the best practical creature designs in all of film.  Don’t @ me.

Tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya!

How the hell did a movie with a dude who has a vision of ripping his own face off get a PG? But then again, nobody even dies in it.

Without the mask, the Predator is indeed one ugly mutha fucka.

The face-melting, head-shrinking, and head-exploding scene could not be improved with any CGI.

ROTJ has by far the best effects in the original trilogy. The final Death Star II battle has the best miniatures in a 1980s film, and the Rancor is probably the best creature in the whole movie. I mean no disrespect to the Ewoks, though... yub yub!

The stop-motion on ED-209 is some of the best I’ve seen in any movie.  I keep forgetting how bloody this movie is every time I watch it!  The blood squibs are incredibly over-the-top, in a typically cartoonish Paul Verhoven style.  The only effect that doesn’t hold up is Dick Jones’ death.  Seriously, how did his arms get so long?

Dick Smith's gory makeup effects make this sci-fi cult classic worth a watch, especially the iconic head explosion. That scene is every bit as awesome as everyone says it is.

In an age where CGI is the norm, Shaun of the Dead uses a surprising amount of practical makeup on its zombies. The scene in which the zombies disembowel David is an excellent homage to Romero's Day of the Dead. Well done, Edgar Wright!

Star Wars led to special effects films being taken more seriously, and deservedly so. The pre-Special Edition Battle of Yavin looks absolutely incredible for 1977, and the opening shot of the Star Destroyer pursuing the Blockade Runner is absolutely jaw-dropping to this day.

People think the flying scenes look bad, but I don’t mind them so much.  At least they look better than the CGI Brandon Routh in<i> Superman Returns</i>.

Dick Smith created the effects for the bloody brothel shootout, which nearly got this movie an X rating. The shot of Travis shooting the fingers off of the owner is as startling today as it was in 1976.

The turtles look the best in the first film, since they were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. They didn't come back for the third one, and it shows to say the least.

Some effects in this film do look quite dated today, but in a good way. The late, great Stan Winston's makeup effects shine when the T-800's face is damaged, revealing bits of the endoskeleton. The "fake-looking" robotics of the T-800 as it removes its eye look really creepy. People say this effect looks bad, but this was a low-budget film, and the dated look of this effect add to its creepiness. When the endoskeleton is finally revealed, as both an animatronic and a stop-motion puppet, it looks incredible to this day. Stop-motion may look jerky to some, but I would take that over a Godzilla costume any day.

Rob Bottin created arguably the greatest practical effects in any film ever made. The infamous defibrillation sequence in which the Thing spurts out of the victim's body is still incredibly grotesque and hard to watch. Another great sequence involves the dog's possession by the Thing, with its skin peeling to reveal grotesque deformity. See this movie ASAP if you haven't already.

The scene in which the Bandits are on top of the giant looks phenomenal.

The best visual effect in this film occurs when Yul Brynner's Gunslinger is on the operating table, as his face is taken off to reveal his inner mechanisms.

Marry Poppins and other Disney films before had tried to mix live action footage with animation, but not at the same level as Roger Rabbit. There are some dated shots, but these effects hold up surprisingly well considering how groundbreaking they were at the time. Oh, and Judge Doom(I talked... just... like... THIS!) terrified a generation.

That eye splinter scene...