The ’90s was a very iconic decade for movies, but what many do not realize is that the ’90s was also an iconic decade for underrated movies with extreme violence in them. Whether it would be sci-fi, historical drama, or horror, many directors were trying to push themselves and the technology with practical effects in the very early days of CGI. We now live in a time when every major blockbuster is a CGI-laden mess, these are some of the most violent practical effects movies ever made.
10 Nightbreed (1990)
The iconic director of Hellraiser, Clive Barker returns with Nightbreed. Starring Craig Sheffer as Aaron Boone, who is drawn to an abandoned cemetery, quickly discovers that within the cemetery is a community of creatures that call themselves the Nightbreed. He is also being hunted by his psychiatrist, played by the great David Cronenberg, hamming it up as a deranged serial killer who wants to pin his killings on Boone.
Though it was lauded at the time by both general audiences and critics, it has gone on to become a cult classic because of its exceptional creature effects and extreme violence. At any given moment, there are probably two too many things going on in the plot, Nightbreed is one of the great horror movies for any fan of extreme violence.
9 Wishmaster (1997)
Directed by Robert Kurtzman, who was the special effects artist on some of the greatest low-budget horror movies of all time. From Evil Dead II to Bride of Re-Animator, he decided to direct Wishmaster about an evil djinn who wants to find the woman who released him to grant her three wishes so that he can unleash other djinn to take over the world.
On his way to find her, the Djinn comes across numerous people who stand in his way and because he is a walking monkey’s paw, he kills them all in really creative ways. For instance, he grants a sales clerk her wish of eternal beauty by turning her into a mannequin. This movie also has a very fun cameo from the great Ted Raimi, brother of Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead trilogy. A very silly but very creative plot that allows Kurtzman to run wild with some very original and violent kills to show off some very impressive special effects.
8 Rosewood (1997)
One of John Singleton’s best, Rosewood is his oft-forgotten western, set in rural Florida in 1923 and this one is not for the faint of heart. About two communities right next to each other, one black and one white, and a white woman falsely accuses a black man of assaulting her. This causes a systematic massacre of the people in the black community.
Though it is disturbingly violent, purposefully done to put the absolute scourge of humanity on full display. This technical masterpiece is very hard to watch due to its brutal honesty, however, it is a very important movie that shows how hatred is taught and passed down from generation to generation. It is still a Hollywood depiction of the massacre, adding the character of Mann (Ving Rhames) who rides into town, saves all the women and children, and convinces the people of Rosewood to rise and fight back. Rosewood is highly violent and can be very difficult to watch at times, it is more prescient now than ever to remind us what happens when hatred goes unchecked in this country.
7 Braindead (Dead Alive, 1992)
Before he directed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson was a horror movie director just like Sam Raimi, the director of the Spider-Man trilogy. They are very similar in that they are both fans of over-the-top gore and practical effects, as well as having very similar careers. A young man who is taking care of his sick mother suddenly dies, then even more suddenly comes back to life and spreads her zombie virus all around the city.
During the climax of the film, the lead Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme) armed with a lawn mower, plows his way through hordes of zombies sending blood and guts everywhere. It is rumored that almost 100 gallons of fake blood were used during the making of this movie. Braindead did receive a lot of negative reviews at the time, it is now considered a cult classic and one of Jackson’s best. Super gory and violent, Braindead is a horror movie masterpiece that is perfect for any horror movie fan.
6 Starship Troopers (1997)
Who would have thought that Paul Verhoeven’s cynical and nihilistic sci-fi romp was going to turn into such a topical piece of art? Set in the not-too-distant future where humanity is expanding out and colonizing other planets and killing off the indigenous species, causing an intergalactic war with an alien race of giant bugs. The entire world is run by the United Citizens Federation, which has control of every part of everyone’s lives, and the only to be able to vote, and the ability to breed is through military service. At the time the movie was hated by critics because they thought that the movie was sympathizing with fascists when the opposite could not be more true.
The movie is such a strong satire and staunchly anti-fascist that, like The Matrix, people took away the wrong message. Decades ahead of its time, Verhoeven was making fun of right-wing militarism, American xenophobia, and how propaganda is used to get young people to sign up for a war that we created. Well before 9/11 and the Iraq war, Verhoeven made a movie satirizing America and how quickly we are willing to give up our rights to “stay safe”, Starship Troopers is now considered one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.
5 Blade (1998)
Stephen Norrington’s Blade ran so that James Mangold’s Logan could fly 20 years later. Starring Wesley Snipes as the titular Blade, a half man, half vampire who is determined to kill all the vampires on Earth. The movie opens in a very 90s dance club that turns out to be a place where the vampires bring humans to feed on them. Blade interrupts wearing the crispest black trench coat ever put to film and proceeds to kill every vampire in the room with some impressive, ahead-of-its-time fight choreography. Inspired directly by the comic books, Snipes knows exactly how to pose and when to flip his trench coat to look like he is being lifted directly from a comic book panel.
Unexpectedly, this hard R comic book adaptation is one of the most important movies in the last 30 years. This movie was a proof of concept for taking a comic book character seriously rather than poking fun at, it can be incredibly successful at the box office. Blade is a mainstream, hyper-violent comic book movie that started off the wave of Marvel movies.
4 Audition (1999)
One of the most visceral horror movies ever, made by one of the most impenetrable filmmakers ever. The Japanese David Lynch, Takashi Miike’s Audition is about a recent widower, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), who sets up a fake audition for women to try out to be his next wife. The woman he eventually settles on is not the person he thought she would be. Without giving too much away, the ending involves some of the most disturbing violence ever put to film, so much so that this writer thinks about it at least once a week. Miike is such an incredible auteur that is so in control of tone and the audience because a majority of this movie is very slow and methodical that by the time the ending comes around your head will be spinning.
The film’s ending could be read as misogynistic, however, this writer likes to view it as more empowering for any woman that has felt objectified by a man in a professional setting or any setting for that matter, though it may be heavy-handed. The comparison to Lynch comes from the fact that all of Miike’s movies are profoundly weird and all of his actors act in the strangest ways so that the audience can’t find solid ground to stand on because of how often he shifts the tone. Audition is an upsetting horror movie that should not be watched unless you are willing to endure some devastating violence.
3 Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
Directed by the great Brian Yuzna who is the master of practical effects horror and starring a young Melinda Clarke, most known for playing Julie Cooper in the triumph that is The O.C. A strange horror comedy that is incredibly schlocky that would not get made today, but like every other Yuzna vehicle it showcases the practical effects. Yuzna, also the director of the iconic Society, goes wild with some very impressive practical effects with buckets of blood and guts.
After having witnessed a top-secret experiment where the dead are being brought back to life, a young couple is in a motorcycle accident, where the woman (Clarke) dies. The boyfriend goes back to the secret lab to get the serum to bring his girlfriend back to life, accidentally releases a bunch of zombies, and turns his girlfriend into something else entirely. With wall-to-wall horrifying practical effects, Return of the Living Dead III is one of Yuzna’s best and is a classic C+ horror movie that every horror movie fan needs to see.
2 Total Recall (1990)
The second Paul Verhoeven movie on this list, and for good reason. Total Recall is set in the near future where a man who is trying to have fake memories implanted in his head of a vacation to Mars, is quickly wrapped up in government espionage and a revolution to bring air back to Mars. Just like Starship Troopers and Robocop, Verhoeven is satirizing America’s obsession with violence in cinema by making this movie upsettingly violent. Verhoeven was once again misunderstood by critics at the time because there is so much collateral damage (a movie Arnold Schwarzenegger would later star in) in this movie.
Innocent people are being killed left and right, which has nothing to do with what Schwarzenegger has found himself wrapped up in. His casting of Schwarzenegger is in itself a parody of the action hero of the ’80s who kills anyone who gets in his way and has him start off the movie as a regular guy even though he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Almost every movie Verhoeven made in the ’90s is a subversive over-the-top parody of American exceptionalism that was thought to be too violent at the time, but very quickly became ret-conned into being one of the best sci-fi films of all time.
1 Story of Ricky (1991)
A young man, played by the great Siu-Wong Fan, who inexplicably has superhuman strength is put into a private prison and must fight his way to freedom. Probably the most violent movie ever made, Ngai Choi Lam’s Story of Ricky is an achievement in practical effects that would shock directors like Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi. At one point, a bad guy in the movie uses his intestines in an effort to try to strangle the titular Ricky.
Made at a time when CGI was still in its early days, Story of Ricky is gruesome, so much so that it received a Category III rating in Hong Kong that was rarely given to a non-sexual film. Made for virtually no money and the little money they had clearly gone into the practical effects, Story of Ricky is a hyper-stylized and hyper-violent blood fest with some very impressive creature effects that make it a classic ’90s action movie.