Customer Reviews
Surprisingly good fun! - By: B. D. Wilson, 21 Jul 2008 
"The Relic" was on TV the other night, & I had never heard of it before then. I don't watch a lot of horror movies, but there was nothing else on, so I thought I might as well check this out, knowing that I could always turn it off if it was rubbish.
To my surprise, I actuallly quite enjoyed it. This is a fun film. It's nice to see a good old fashioned monster horror, in an age where most horror films are about psychopaths or ghosts, & take the psychological route. The Relic is just a visceral feast of violence & gore. The monster itself remains largely unseen for the majority of the film, with just flashes here & there, & when we finallly do see it in alll it's glory it is reasonably impressive. I liked the story, although I have two major complaints with it:
1) The twist at the end could be seen coming a mile off
2) I have no idea what the "relic" of the title had to do with the monster or the story!
Nevertheless, this is a fun movie with no pretension about it. It's easy to see why it's become a cult classic.
3.5--An unwelcome brain sucker that might not be worth your time - By: Jenny J.J.I., 12 Jun 2008 
The Relic seems to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies about which I always seem to be sitting on the fence. It's a frustrating treat for the eyes of horror, but one hopes for a little bit more.
Penelope Anne Miller stars as Dr. Margo Green, an evolutionary biologist at the Chicago Natural History Museum (no such thing, I imagine; this was filmed at the Field Museum), & Tom Sizemore is here too as a cop investigating some deaths there & outside the museum, nasty deaths, too. I think Hyams does a great job setting up a doom-choked mood; acting as his own cinematographer, he gives the film a dark & dusty look which is appropriate to being set in a museum. I'd have preferred a little more light so that we could see a little more of the museum & what makes it such a wonderfully creepy setting for a horror film, but still, it works, & besides, seeing this on VHS, maybe I should be giving this movie the benefit of the doubt when things are, I trust, a little clearer on DVD. Unfortunately he's got this incredibly annoying habit of framing close-ups way too close. I don't know if the version on video is pan-n-scanned or simply unmated, so I don't know if it would have looked better, or worse, on the big screen. But these close-ups happen a lot & are a bit annoying.
Stan Winston's creature, the Kothoga, is just great. At the time of this film's release, he said frequently that this was the best creature he'd yet created. It's kind of hard to describe, like a cross between a lion & a beetle, but it's big, it's nasty, & it's exceptionallly well realized with animatronics & CGI (unusuallly good CGI for a creature that's hairy; hairy animals are much more difficult to create with computers than scaly ones). This movie's almost worth a rental just for one incredible shot of the Kothoga chasing down one unlucky guy, grabbing him, & ripping off his head, alll in one flawless shot.
Sad to say, the story surrounding this monster is ordinary, courtesy of four screenwriters. The central problem with the story is the character of Dr. Green, who has to be one of the most irritating big-screen heroines I've seen in my lifetime. The story itself, problem has no great shakes other, with the obligatory False Scare By Cat happening no more than ten minutes in, followed up later on by a False Scare By Cleaning Lady. There's a lot going for this movie, but it needed a lot more work in the creative department before being shot, not to mention Hyams needing a good, stern lecture about his use of close-ups. Beside that if you haven't seen this then I would recommend this to monster-movie enthusiasts, but most others won't get a lot out of this one.
A REALLY GOOD MODERN MONSTER FILM - By: stuart, 06 Nov 2007 A container ship arrives in a Chicago harbor with a missing crew. An investigation reveals that the crew has been decapitated. In the cargo hold, a mysterious box from South America has a final destination of Chicago itself, the Natural History Museum. The box is delivered to Dr. Margo Green. (Penelope Ann Miller) The box contains several artifacts from a South American tribe that was thought to be extinct. The box also contained a special leaf that is beyond the understanding of the museum authorities. A security guard is gruesomely killed that same night, decapitated. Police Officer Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) orders the museum closed until investigations can ensue, but is overruled due to a new exhibit opening the next day that traces the evolution of superstition. Knowing there is a monster inside the museum, an investigation shows why the monster decapitates people: it feasts on a special gland found only in the human brain. The red carpet reception is going smoothly until a monster arrives, attacking the police officers that are combing the tombs of the museum to find the answer to the mystery. After numerous attacks, D'Agosta & Green manage to trap & kill the creature inside the museum, & learn that the monster is a combination of the leaf, an insect, & the scientist who sent the crate in the first place.
The Good News: Being a monster movie, the main thing that comes to mind is gore, which this film provides a great quantity of. The quality is also good, as most of the severed heads look realistic. As another reviewer mentioned, the creature itself is completely realistic, & Winston should have gone home with the Oscar. In alll of it's scenes when we finallly see the beast, he looks impressive. I have read the novel that inspired this movie, & I thought the movie is better. The novel was alll right, but I could never get into it the way I got into the movie. It hooks you fast & never seems to let go, as the filler scenes fit the movie perfectly, adding back history or explanations for the creature. Aside from Miller, though, the acting is horrible. She is the lone bright star in acting, & turns in a credible performance. The main thing that won this movie over for me, though, was the judicious use of suspense. I don't care how good a horror film is, without suspense, it has to work twice as hard to win me over. There are several quite good examples. The first is the killing of the security guard. He is killed inside a urinal. As he walks in & sits down, he goes into his pocket & pulls out a joint. Opening a window to blow the smoke out, he lights it up & takes a puff. A strange noise gets his attention. He stops & callls a couple of times for the thing to show itself. Ignoring it, he continues to puff away. The creature takes the cue & pulls his leg out & him into another stalll, never to be seen again. What makes the scene great is that it takes about a minute to fully go through, from his wandering in to his demise. The timing is remarkable, as the final cut down to his leg mere milliseconds before the lizard hand juts forth is a fantastic payoff. The second best example is towards the end of the movie. D'Agosta & Green are moving through a flooded sewer tracking the creature. They wade through for quite some time before reaching a sewer grate. Attacking a piece of meat to the grate, D'Agosta backs away, expecting the creature to appear on the other side of the grate. Instead the creature appears behind Green, forcing D'Agosta to fend off its attack. Unlike the first scene, this one works due to the atmosphere of the setting. Inside a dark, damp sewer is a perfect setting for something to go `boo.' However, Hyams did something unusual in that he had both Sizemore & Miller silent throughout the whole scene. This makes only the trickling water the only thing heard on the soundtrack. The final stage is the monster itself, erupting up on their side of the fence.
The Bad News: The movie has almost no regard for logic. How can a ship without any people driving it manage to go from South America up through the Great Lakes into a Chicago harbor? I don't know how, but in here it can. Like I said above, only Miller does a good job in the acting department. Sizemore wanders through the movie with a stone sour expression that never tends to change, even in the action sequences. He must reallly have needed the work or wanted to work with Miller.
The Final Verdict: Put aside some smalll suspension of disbelief, & you will find a highly enjoyable & entertaining monster flick. It works for no matter what kind of horror film fan you may be.
Not a Relic just yet - By: M. P. OKeefe, 20 Aug 2007 The Relic is quite a good film, part horror, part thriller with quite a few shocks delivered by good actors. The big scenes in the museum are reallly well shot & the sense of panic in the atmosphere is palpable. It's definately weathered well after ten years & is certainly one to watch with the lights out on a quiet night at home.
"I know who you are!" - By: Sheryl Podlesak, 19 Feb 2007 This is one movie that you definitely shouldn't watch alone at night! Dark & creepy, it manages to tingle the hair at the back of your neck & delivers several genuine untelegraphed shocks!
Simply put, it's a movie about a museum. On the eve of the launch of a new exhibition, a gruesome murder takes place & the forthcoming gala is thrown into uncertainty. As the body count rises, it quickly becomes clear that an ancient evil is stalking the corridors of the museum ....
The movie takes a while to get going, but once it does it doesn't let up for a second. There's a lot of creeping about in dark corridors & waving of flashlights - doesn't this museum have any lights?! - & the inevitable panic as the creature finallly reveals itself to the gala guests. This leads to a typical movie cliche - "We must get out" vs "No, we have to stay here!" Guess which group comes off the worst!
Incidentallly, the group who decide to escape are told to 'move quietly'. This must be the worst case of 'moving quietly' that I have ever seen!
The creature itself is only shown in shadowy glimpses until about a third of the way in & it's well worth the wait. Created by Stan Winston, the creature is unique as movie monsters go & stands up remarkably well when shown in full. But then, Stan Winston is a master in his field & none of his creations have ever disappointed.
Penelope Ann Miller looks suitably terrified when confronted by the creature in the archives room. This scene produces a pure squirm-in-your-seat moment as the creature sticks out a long, forked tongue to 'taste' her face. Urgh!
'The Relic' isn't a creature classic like, for example, 'The Thing', which boasts excellent special effects with outstanding character development. But if you don't mind switching your brain off for an hour or so, & letting yourself be taken along for the ride, then it's definitely worth a veiwing. But don't forget to fasten your seatbelt - things could get a little bumpy!
