I love a good creepy photograph, and artist Joshua Hoffine has a gallery of some of the most disturbing images of children in peril I’ve ever seen. From a giant black and white snake menacing a crying baby to the Devil emerging from a crack in the floor to drag a child off to Hell, Hoffine has created some of the most menacing pieces I’ve ever seen. The most impressive part isn’t the degree of terror his images evoke but that he does them all without resorting to Photoshop trickery. Everything, from the fog to the monsters, is classic old-school special effects magic.
Hoffine does use Photoshop to sweeten the colors of his images, but they are not collages mangled together on a computer. That’s why they’re so visually impressive. There’s something for the subject to recoil in horror from!
A skilled Photoshopper can do wonders for an image, but there’s nothing as impressive and realistic as a practical effect can be. The geniuses behind Lord of the Rings are great and all, but nothing’s as good as Rick Baker’s wolf-out in An American Werewolf in London or Rob Bottin’s work on The Thing. I need something tangible to really creep me out, and Hoffine’s got tangible creepiness in spades!
Tags: horror photography, frightening photographs, creepy photographs, Joshua Hoffine, special effects, scary pictures