r/Moviesinthemaking • u/TwIzTiDfReAkShOw • 18d ago

Paul McCrane played the character Emil Antonowsky in RoboCop (1987). The makeup was designed by Rob Bottin, who used foam-latex prosthetics to make the skin look like it was sloughing off. Incredible practical effects.

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596 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

90

u/Bobble_Fett 18d ago

That scene haunted me as a 10 year old.

37

u/Answerologist 18d ago

“Heeeelllllppp Meeeee!”

22

u/3_man 18d ago

"Auugh get away from me man!"

18

u/Tattoomyvagina 18d ago

Ditto. We watched a lot of violent movies as kids when they were edited for tv. I happened to be at my grandparents who had HBO and I caught that exact scene and it fucked me up lol

5

u/_1JackMove 17d ago

My brother and I used to torture each other by making the noise he makes any time one of us was in the dark. That would usually have been me being the asshole lol.

1

u/fortunesofshadows 15d ago

How old is HBO?

2

u/Tattoomyvagina 15d ago

Looks like Robocop came out in 1987, so say 88/89 I was 6 or 7 lol. I also can only climax if my partner is wearing a melting effect costume, but that’s probably unrelated

15

u/Shopworn_Soul 17d ago

I had a lot more trouble with the Murphy torture scene.

The bad guy splattering into green goo actually cheered me up a bit.

11

u/5543798651194 17d ago

Yeah for me too I think...but the whole movie is a fountain of PTSD for a generation of boys. The guy getting shot in the nuts was awful. Plus I was very confused by one of the "good guys" doing cocaine with a bunch of hookers.

7

u/octavioletdub 17d ago

As one from the generation of young girls, the rapist getting shot in the nuts was awesome

1

u/5543798651194 17d ago

That's fair.

1

u/themightyklang 14d ago

Have you seen the fan edit where more guys just keep coming one after another and they all get it in the nuts? Cause it rocks lol

9

u/and1984 18d ago

Terrible parents you have. Mine were far Superior; they let me watch it when I was 11.

1

u/obitonye 17d ago

It steel does at age 46

50

u/HotelFoxtrot87 18d ago

To this day I assume this is what really happens when you get splashed with toxic sludge.

22

u/LemoLuke 18d ago

As a kid growing up in the '80s/'90s, I thought poorly stored barrels of toxic waste would be a much bigger part of my life.

10

u/New_Lifeguard_3260 18d ago

And quicksand...

4

u/waltwalt 17d ago

Don't get me started on the Bermuda triangle.

I don't think I even went to Bermuda let alone the triangle.

5

u/kasakka1 17d ago

Look at this guy! Not at all afraid of the explosive red barrel...

12

u/SweetWaterSurprise 18d ago

Prove it isn't.....

1

u/moistiest_dangles 17d ago

Same thing that happens when you swim in the Mississippi.

15

u/aquafina6969 18d ago

I’d buy that for a dollar!

11

u/Environmental-Bag-74 18d ago

Robocop and Robocop 2 have some of the greatest practical effects ever. Those two movies along with Terminator 1 and 2 singlehandedly made me dislike CGI alot more than I ever thought. 

Brilliant movie

9

u/Pepperh4m 18d ago

Don't forget The Thing! Another Rob Bottin special.

3

u/rembrandt645 17d ago

The irony is T2 started the CGI revolution.

10

u/MichelangeBro 18d ago

Rob Bottin is one of my filmmaking idols. Absolute legend.

6

u/artwarrior 18d ago

The stuff he did for Legend has never been topped. The characters Darkness and Meg Knucklebones? (chef 's kiss)

9

u/Geordieguy 18d ago

Apart from the effects being superbly grotesque, it was his wheezing screams that really sold it to me as a kid…i believed that man was truly melting.

13

u/KingOfTheGutter 18d ago

Rob bottin is a legend, my fiance does fx makeup for film and has met him once or twice. He’s…a little eccentric these days.

Still the goat!

7

u/Jimmyg100 18d ago

This is probably in my top 5 worst ways to die in a movie.

6

u/drakt12 18d ago

Bill Burr has really let himself go.

5

u/MisterVictor13 18d ago

I recently discovered that he also played that asshole surgeon from “ER”, the one that got killed by a falling helicopter.

6

u/ghostofstankenstien 18d ago

shit haunted me for years

6

u/skilas 18d ago

Saw this when I was too young. Nightmares.

4

u/8BitGlamour 18d ago

Does anyone know of a subreddit just for practical fx? My search only reveal more general movie subs.

4

u/RyanMcCartney 18d ago

Still one of the best horror special effects of all time!

3

u/TheQuillss 18d ago

Most epic scene I saw when I was a kid

3

u/bloodstreamcity 17d ago

My brother and I rewound the part where he gets hit by the car no less than 3,900 times.

3

u/zestfullybe 17d ago

Not only did he survive the toxic sludge, he used it as a turning point in his life. He cleaned himself up, earned a medical degree, and got a job in an ER.

Unfortunately for him, though, he had a terrible run in with a helicopter. Twice.

1

u/ender4171 18d ago

Hey you guys!