This isn’t new (it dates from 2010) or at all newsworthy, but Models and Skeletons, The Special Effects of Total Recall is a VFX buff’s dream and well worth bringing to some people’s attention for the first time here, especially as the work of many of the people responsible was criminally overlooked in the credits as digital visual effects were still in their infancy.
We are reminded of the scale of the models used to vividly depict Mars’ red surface and the industrial complex beneath it. We also get to see how the iconic spaceport x-ray scanner scene was put together, including the then state-of-the art technology used in the VFX studios.
For many, the physical and visual effects on Paul’s Verhoeven’s 1990 release are right up there with John Carpenter’s The Thing and, given this work was undertaken 30 years ago, it should be held up as truly pioneering in its field.