10 Movies With Great Special Effects

Makeup From Oscar-winning films like Les Mis down to Hollywood flops like Lone Ranger, makeup plays an important role in how the characters in these movies are brought to life. While CGI is obviously heavily used to tackle the more over-the-top looks, many of them are still handled the old-fashioned way. To be fair, some also utilize a bit more than just some touches (aka hours) of makeup. The faun in Pan's Labyrinth, which won the Oscar in 2006, became such a memorable character through a combination of layers of make-up, robotics, and other effects.

In fact, many of these transformations wouldn't be possible without the use of contact lenses. How else would Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, for example, have such glowing red eyes? Exactly. And as it turns out that the makeup and contacts route is even more difficult and time-consuming than you might imagine. You can't just throw in contacts willy-nilly, get some makeup done, and go from there. According to Acuvue, there are a series of dos and don'ts that need to be followed for any contact lens wearer—that goes from the millionaire actors down to every-day folks. Did you know you should put them in before getting all that makeup put on? Yes indeed—and here's hoping the folks handling the actors' transformations followed that rule, too. It's cringe-inducing to imagine the pain one would suffer otherwise.

And just before we get into this year's awards season, we wanted to take a look back at 10 films that really excelled when it came to the makeup department. Let's get to it!

• Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - From the aforementioned evil, glowing red eyes, to the streaks of red, to the horns atop his cranium, it was the makeup that made Darth Maul's character that much more terrifying. Well, until he got his arse handed to him, but that's neither here nor there.


• Beetlejuice - Say his name three times and you'll see one of the ugliest, gnarliest looking characters from cinema history. The green grime, the purple-shaded eyes, the hair... it's all a disgusting masterpiece.


• The T-800 from the Terminator Series - CGI was obviously more heavily used than traditional makeup, but not when Arnold took a beating as the T-800! The way the team made his face transition from human(-like) skin to the robotic skeleton underneath is forever stuck in the minds of Terminator fans the world over.


• The Orcs from the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy - Here we have another example of CGI definitely used being a lot with makeup definitely having its own impact. The LotR trilogy did bag some Oscars for its makeup work after all, and you can just look at how one actor was transformed into an orc if you need proof.


• The Joker from The Dark Knight - In what's arguably his finest role, the late Heath Ledger got caked in makeup to become the most frightening adaptation of the Joker to date. Sure he had the ol' reliable look of red, white, and green, but those scars? That brought it home.


• The Faun from Pan's Labyrinth - The faun gets top billing here simply after seeing just how much work went into making actor Doug Jones look the part. There are other noteworthy characters, of course, but the faun cannot be trumped here.


• Mrs. Doubtfire - Hey, comedies need their fair share of makeup, too. Proving that point is one of Robin Williams' finest, as he gets overhauled from a lackluster father into (eventually) a sweet old Scottish "woman" named Euphegenia Doubtfire.


• The Wolfman - OK, so 2010's The Wolfman wasn't a "great" movie—well, depending on who you ask—but it did win an Academy Award for its makeup. If you want to know why, you'll just have to see it for yourself. The scene where a tied-up Benicio Del Toro becomes the titular character is too much for words.


• Voldemort from the Harry Potter series - Ralph Fiennes' turn as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" made him into perhaps the most hideous character he's ever taking on in his career. Take note of the blue contacts next time you catch Voldemort on screen, too.


• Hellboy - Doug Jones (the Faun) almost made a second appearance as Abe Sapian in Hellboy 2, but the look of the main man is simply too well executed to pass by. Everyone about Ron Perlman's morphing into the demonic superhero is worth commending: The crackled red skin, his larger-than-life stature, the broken horns, etc... Also, give Perlman some props for sitting there for four hours during the whole process. Crazy.

Do you have some personal favourite special effects/makeup moments that you want to share with us? Be sure to take to the comments section and let us know your thoughts!