Stop-Motion VFX in Live Action

Collection essay

Stop motion is a production technique, not a look. In these works it is used inside live action as a visual-effects method: a creature, prop, vehicle, miniature or isolated sequence is animated frame by frame and then photographed or composited into the surrounding live-action production. This collection is deliberately broader than a list of famous Ray Harryhausen films. It includes brief effects shots that can disappear inside otherwise conventional live action, television episodes, creature work, miniature animation, replacement or frame-by-frame prop movement, and later productions that intentionally return to stop-motion VFX alongside digital tools. Membership is evidence-led rather than appearance-led. Stop Motion Archive is used as a high-yield discovery and viewing source, while the underlying work remains a normal SMDB Film record. The same classification powers the Films and Watch filters so this collection, the catalogue and the media library cannot drift into three different definitions.

Films in this collection (120)

W Wednesday 2026 — Mackinnon & Saunders Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 — Plan B Entertainment; Tim Burton Productions; Mackinnon & Saunders Star Wars: Skeleton Crew 2024 — Tippett Studio Asteroid City 2023 — American Empirical Pictures; Indian Paintbrush; Studio Babelsberg Independents The Primevals 2023 — Castel Film Romania Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2016 — Chernin Entertainment; Ingenious Media; Scope Pictures; TSG Entertainment Queen Crab 2015 — Research needed Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage 2014 — Research needed (independent/self-distributed) The Lost Spider Pit Sequence 2005 — Weta Workshop Monster Island 2004 — Research needed The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 2004 — Touchstone Pictures; Indian Paintbrush Elf 2003 — Chiodo Bros. Productions Monkeybone 2001 — 20th Century Studios; 1492 Pictures FW Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo 1996 — Troma Entertainment Mosquito 1995 — Research needed Screamers 1995 — Triumph Films Dragonworld 1994 — Full Moon Features Oblivion 1994 — Full Moon Features Puppet Master 5 1994 — Research needed Bloodstone: Subspecies II 1993 — Castel Film Romania Coneheads 1993 — Paramount Pictures; Tippett Studio Freaked 1993 — 20th Century Studios Prehysteria! 1993 — Research needed Puppet Master 4 1993 — Research needed RoboCop 3 1993 — Orion Pictures Robot Wars 1993 — Research needed Army of Darkness 1992 — Carolco Pictures; Dino De Laurentiis Corporation Demonic Toys 1992 — Research needed Doctor Mordrid 1992 — Research needed Nemesis 1992 — Research needed Class of Nuke 'Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown 1991 — Troma Entertainment Subspecies 1991 — Castel Film Romania Winterbeast 1991 — Mercury Films International Zeiram 1991 — GAGA Communications; Crowd Inc. A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell 1990 — Troma Entertainment Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders 1990 — Research needed Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990 — Amblin Entertainment Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor 1990 — Research needed RoboCop 2 1990 — Orion Pictures; Tippett Studio Robot Jox 1990 — Empire International Pictures Ghostbusters II 1989 — Columbia Pictures Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 1989 — Walt Disney Pictures; Silver Screen Partners III; Tippett Studio I, Madman 1989 — Research needed Alice 1988 — Film4 Productions; Condor Films Beetlejuice 1988 — Warner Bros. Entertainment; The Geffen Film Company Mutant War 1988 — Research needed Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988 — Amblin Entertainment; Touchstone Pictures; Silver Screen Partners Willow 1988 — Lucasfilm; Imagine Entertainment; Tippett Studio A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987 — New Line Cinema; New Line Cinema's House of Horror Batteries Not Included 1987 — Universal Pictures Dolls 1987 — Research needed Evil Dead II 1987 — Dino De Laurentiis Company Ghoulies II 1987 — Research needed House II: The Second Story 1987 — New World Pictures RoboCop 1987 — Orion Pictures; Tippett Studio The Gate 1987 — Research needed Howard the Duck 1986 — Lucasfilm; Tippett Studio The Golden Child 1986 — Paramount Pictures; Tippett Studio Ewoks: The Battle for Endor 1985 — Lucasfilm Return to Oz 1985 — Walt Disney Pictures The Dungeonmaster 1985 — Research needed Young Sherlock Holmes 1985 — Amblin Entertainment Dreamscape 1984 — HBO Ghostbusters 1984 — Columbia Pictures The Terminator 1984 — Hemdale films; Pacific Western Productions; Orion Pictures Hercules 1983 — Research needed Krull 1983 — Columbia Pictures Basket Case 1982 — Research needed The Thing 1982 — Universal Pictures Caveman 1981 — United Artists Clash of the Titans 1981 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Warner Bros. Entertainment; Legendary Pictures Dragonslayer 1981 — Paramount Pictures; The Walt Disney Company The Evil Dead 1981 — Renaissance Pictures The Howling 1981 — International Film Investors The Day Time Ended 1980 — Research needed Laserblast 1978 — Irwin Yablans Piranha 1978 — United Artists Planet of Dinosaurs 1978 — Research needed Starcrash 1978 — Research needed The Alien Factor 1978 — Research needed Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1977 — Andor Films The Crater Lake Monster 1977 — Research needed Flesh Gordon 1974 — Research needed The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1974 — Columbia Pictures When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth 1971 — Hammer Film Productions Equinox 1970 — Research needed On the Comet 1970 — Filmové studio Gottwaldov The Valley of Gwangi 1969 — Warner Bros. Entertainment One Million Years B.C. 1966 — Hammer Film Productions; Seven Arts Productions 7 Faces of Dr. Lao 1964 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Galaxy Productions; Scarus, Inc. First Men in the Moon 1964 — Ameran Films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 1963 — Research needed Jason and the Argonauts 1963 — Columbia Pictures Jack the Giant Killer 1962 — Zenith Pictures Journey to the Seventh Planet 1962 — Cinemagic Inc. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm 1962 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Babes in Toyland 1961 — Walt Disney Pictures Mysterious Island 1961 — Columbia Pictures The Fabulous Baron Munchausen 1961 — Krátký Film Praha; Filmové studio Gottwaldov Dinosaurus! 1960 — Research needed The Time Machine 1960 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Galaxy Films Fiend Without a Face 1958 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer House 1958 — Research needed Invention for Destruction 1958 — Krátký Film Praha; Filmové studio Gottwaldov Monster from Green Hell 1958 — Research needed The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 1958 — Columbia Pictures Tom Thumb 1958 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 20 Million Miles to Earth 1957 — Columbia Pictures Earth vs. the Flying Saucers 1956 — Clover Productions The Beast of Hollow Mountain 1956 — Research needed It Came from Beneath the Sea 1955 — Clover Productions The Lost Continent 1951 — Research needed The Great Rupert 1950 — Research needed Mighty Joe Young 1949 — RKO Pictures King Kong 1933 — RKO Pictures Son of Kong 1933 — RKO Pictures The Lost World 1925 — First National Pictures PR Pathe Review: Monsters of the Past 1923 — Research needed Three Ages 1923 — Research needed The Ghost of Slumber Mountain 1918 — Research needed