Random 'Death Becomes Her' Is Way Weirder Than You Rememb (13 items)

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  (#12) It Won An Oscar For Special Effects

  For a movie so campy and downright bizarre, it may come as a surprise that it won any Oscars at all. The star-studded cast may not have won anything from their performances, but the visual effects team won over Batman Returns and Alien 3 for their groundbreaking mixture of practical effects and CGI. 

  The win was well-deserved. The studio responsible, Industrial Light & Magic, essentially pioneered the medium of CGI, and Death Becomes Her was one of their great successes that would pave the way for Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump in the years to follow.
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  (#5) Helen Has A Gaping Hole In Her Stomach

  Tensions are high when Helen realizes that Madeline has foiled her plan to be the youngest and most glamorous of the two, so she decides to take action.

  As Helen and Ernest discuss their plan to stage Madeline's end, Madeline steps in and shoots Helen through the stomach, just to realize that she too has become immortal. 
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  (#9) The Camera Gets Up Close And Personal With The Rear End Of Goldie Hawn's Fat Suit

  To emphasize how far gone Helen is after Madeline took her man - yet again - the scene where she is shaking and crying at the wedding immediately pans to a rather intimate and rather offensive shot of Helen’s rear. 

  Goldie Hawn had been transformed into a nearly unrecognizable version of her former self with the aid of prosthetics, makeup, and a fat suit. Honestly, the general idea probably would have been just as clear without the perverse camera placement. 
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  (#13) It's The Movie Robert Zemeckis Made Between 'Back To The Future Part 3' And 'Forrest Gump'

  One potential cause for the fever dream vibe of Death Becomes Her was the thematic whiplash felt by its director, Robert Zemeckis. This film’s release in 1992 fell between two of his massively successful films, Back to the Future Part 3 and Forrest Gump. 

  The bizarro Western theme of the final Back to the Future film drove its franchise to its logical conclusion, to the point where Zemeckis said, "There will never ever be a Return to the Future in the most absolute way. There will be no more Back to the Future.” It was time for something new, and something new meant bitter undead female rivalry with comical slapstick and gore. 

  The 1994 release of Forrest Gump may have been a response to Death Becomes Her. Rather than backstabbing and constant rivalry, Zemeckis decided to focus on a painstakingly earnest character like Forrest Gump, who only wants to do the right thing.
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  (#3) Helen Seduces Ernest By Repeating The Same Word

  One of the most head-scratching moments of this already chaotic film is the scene where Helen shows up unannounced to Madeline and Ernest’s mansion after taking the immortal beauty potion. 

  She embraces Ernest, trying to seduce him to snatch him back from Madeline, but the way she does it is confounding. She holds him close and whispers those alluring words that every man wants to hear: "You're a powerful sexual being, Ernest... Sexual. Sensual. Sexy. Sex. Sex. Sex!"

  It works.
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  (#6) Famous Departed Celebrities Pop Up At The Climax Of The Movie

  When Lisle accosts Ernest by the poolside, she offers him her potion of eternal life. Though he is unsure and frightened by the prospect, Lisle invites him to the party upstairs where “all of her clients” are in attendance. 

  Some notable clientele include Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, Elvis, James Dean, and Greta Garbo, all of whom had passed by the time the film premiered in 1992. This suggests that in the Death Becomes Her universe, they were all kept alive and in their physical prime by the potion. 

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