If you’ve been visiting the site for a long time, you may have seen that we’re big fans of stop-motion animation. Sundays used to be devoted to only putting out stop motion articles, until we realized that Star Wars was better suited to have it’s own day. That being said, we respect the special effects titan who really pioneered the genre, Ray Harryhausen, and look forward to his definitive documentary coming out through Arrow Video.


ray harryhausen blurayThe remarkable career of the movie industry’s most admired and influential special-effects auteur, the legendary Ray Harryhausen, is the subject of Gilles Penso’s definitive documentary Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan.

Leaving no doubt as to Harryhausen’s seminal influence on modern-day special effects, the documentary features enlightening and entertaining interviews with the man himself, Randy Cook, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippet, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, John Landis, Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and many more.

These filmmakers, who today push the boundaries of special effects movie-making, pay tribute to the father of Stop Motion animation and films such as ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’, ‘It Came from Beneath the Sea’, ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’, ‘Mysterious Island’, ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ – the films that enthralled them as children and inspired them to become filmmakers in their own right.

Bonus Materials
Interviews with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Peter Lord, Rick Baker
12 Interview outtakes with Joe Dante, John Lasseter, Nick Park and more!
A message to Ray
Deleted Scenes
On the set of Sinbad
Paris Cinematheque Q&A
London Gate Theater Q&A
Audio commentary with the filmmakers
Original Trailer
Ray Harryhausen Trailer Reel

Pre-order at the MVD SHOP or on Amazon

ray harryhausen poster