For nearly 100 years, spanning the greater part of cinema history, filmmakers had to make do without the aid of digitization: computer guided cameras, editing, enhanced coloring and tone, and especially for films of the fantastic, computer generated imagery or CGI. In a relatively short time, CGI special effects have come to completely dominate fantastic films eclipsing the "hands on" FX once created by experienced craftsmen. So ubiquitous has CGI become that the process threatens to overwhelm even storytelling to become an end in itself. Fantastic Cinema in the Years Before CGI is an attempt not only to celebrate those films mostly untainted by the process, but a reaffirmation of movie makers mostly of the previous century, who strived to make their films of the fantastic about something more than FX. Because special effects were often difficult and expensive to create, producers, directors, writers, and actors had work harder at making their stories more believable, their characters more interesting, and most importantly, their ideas more compelling. Elements increasingly lacking in CGI dominated films of the modern era. So dive into this compendium of pre-computer age films, the golden age of fantastic cinema, and find out what you've been missing!
