It’s time to make your voices heard, horror fans! The 2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards are nearly upon us and the nominees have been revealed. You – yes you! – can now weigh in on the nominees and throw your weight behind the movies you want to take home the night’s biggest prizes. The ceremony happens in October but the time to vote is now.
While the full list of nominees can be viewed right here, we’re taking the time to highlight the nominees from each category. Today, we’re showcasing the nominees for Best Creature FX. What would monster movies be without the artists who bring these creatures to life? Nothing, is the short answer. So let’s have a look at the best of the best in that arena from this past year in horror.
Legacy Effects, Dust Bunny
Director Bryan Fuller delivered this generation’s gateway horror classic with Dust Bunny. It also delivered some great practical creature FX thanks to the folks at Legacy Effects. In the movie, after losing her foster parents to a bedroom-dwelling beast, Aurora hires a professional assassin to hunt it. That beast in question is why this movie earned its place at this year’s Chainsaw Awards.
Legacy Effects has been around since 2008, working on everything from Godzilla to Jurassic World. They brought their expertise to Fuller’s latest, putting them in great company as part of this year’s field of nominees.
Studio Gillis and Wētā Workshop, Predator: Badlands
Dan Trachtenberg asserted himself as the Predator whisperer with Prey, but he took things to another level with Predator: Badlands, the biggest Predator movie ever. It focuses on a young Predator who is outcast from his clan and finds an unlikely ally on his journey in search of the ultimate adversary on a deadly planet. That planet is overflowing with wild creatures, which the folks at Studio Gillis and Wētā Workshop expertly brought to life.
The Predator itself got a cool makeover, but the creatures this planet was populated with expanded the universe and made for a true visual feast. This is genre filmmaking at the largest possible scale. This movie would be nothing without its outstanding creature effects.
Millennium FX, Primate
There’s nothing quite like a modern creature feature that has a practical creature at the center of the action. That’s precisely what director Johannes Roberts did with Primate, bringing a deadly chimp to life through fully practical means thanks to the folks at Millennium FX. The movie focuses on a group of friends whose tropical vacation turns into a terrifying tale of survival as the family chimp Ben comes down with a case of rabies.
Miguel Torres Umba is owed a lot of credit as the man in the suit playing Ben, but the effects on screen are no joke. From a very convincing chimp to some truly gnarly gore, this movie goes hard in an old-school, lean, mean way. It’s precisely the kind of movie that belongs at the Chainsaw Awards.
Werner Pretorius and Amazing Ape Productions, Backrooms
There is no bigger surprise this year in the realm of horror than Backrooms. Directed by Kane Parsons, a YouTuber turned Hollywood superstar who just celebrated his 21st birthday, it took the industry by surprise. That’s because Parsons was able to translate his YouTuber series for the big screen in impressive fashion, in no small part thanks to the incredible work by the folks at Werner Pretorius and Amazing Ape Productions.
The movie takes place after a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond our reality leaving her to venture into the unknown to save him. Unfortunately, once she gets there, she encounters some truly terrifying, undeniably impressive creatures. Ones that made Backrooms worthy of recognition in this category.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Five Nights at Freddy's 2
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop is legendary in Hollywood. In terms of practical puppetry, it simply doesn’t get any better. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 greatly benefited from that craftsmanship, as Freddy Fazbear and his pals are downright marvels to look at. These are some undeniably impressive practical animatronics. One might say the Henson’s Creature Shop folks did a killer job on the sequel.
The second installment in the franchise takes place one year after the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Abby runs away to reconnect with her animatronic friends, uncovering dark secrets about the true origins of Freddy's and unleashing a horror hidden for decades. Those hidden secrets gave director Emma Tammi and the Henson gang a lot to work with.
The polls are now officially open and close on July 15 at 11:59 PM PST. Vote now, horror fans! The FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards will be broadcast October 25 on Shudder, so be sure to tune in.
