The Relic (1997)

The monster movie bites back in this suspenseful thriller. All the elements are there fore the build up. Artefacts are brought from South America which unbeknown are carrying ancient religious powers. Its a cliché from other films including th e start of 'Exorcist' but here its done beautifully.

With the archaeological find now in Chicago and no one getting suspicious by the dead bodies that came with it- they can't be too bright otherwise they would dump the find in the harbour and that would be the end of the film.

Politics overrules those that start to worry that they may be dealing with something more that what appears to be on the surface. And then all hell does break loose.

Relic is a good introducing to suspenseful films for those that don't normally see them.

Fmovies: This just might be the best monster movie I have ever seen, with a believable and action-packed story, good acting and thrilling special effects - thrilling because they bring something thrilling to life; the monster. I think the strength of the movie is in the casting of Penelope Ann Miller in the lead role. She is a terrific actress, who should have lots more screen time than she's received - and she's not your typical scream queen. She starts out as a very believable forensic anthropologist and her reactions when she sees the carnage the creature has left are totally believable. And the ending, where she employs her scientific prowess to fight to the last, is great.

This is one well-conceived and believable story featuring themes such as rapid evolution and mixed DNA. Furthermore, Penelope Ann Miller is superb in the leading role. While the good stuff doesn't begin until about 40 minutes to the end, it sure gets good, with the suspension, action and terror rising. Of course, the main attraction of The Relic is the monster. Similar to Jaws, the actual monster is hidden for much of the film. There, however, the similarities end. When the wait is over, The Relic reveals itself to be an excellent beast, aesthetic and even beautiful. It's stupendously brought to life with excellent animation. The scenes with the monster wouldn't look out-of-date on the screen today.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

When a shipment of artefacts returns to America from South America the police find decapitated bodies on board the ship. When a similar murder occurs in the Chicago museum Lt D'Agosta suspects a psychotic killer and shuts down the museum. With political pressures to keep the museum open for an `opening gala' for Chicago's rich and famous, D'Agosta is forced to give way but sets the place up with a police presence to deal with any trouble. Meanwhile scientist Margo Green suspects that an empty crate of mysterious leaves may have been more than just that and examines the potential that a virus on the leaves caused some sort of creature to evolve. When the same `evolution' attacks during the gala setting off the security alarms and locking down the museum it becomes a fight for survival and escape.

When this came out in the cinema I felt that that was not the best place to see a film like this and decided to wait for video or TV. I finally saw it on TV last night and feel that my gut feeling was right – the small screen is the best place to see this film. At a cinema you may have higher expectations than you would if you watched it in the comfort of your own home on a lazy Saturday night and that might have hurt this film because honestly it's not that good a film. However as a video you perhaps have a lower expectation and then this film is a nice little surprise.

It is without it's own style or ideas but it is an effective monster movie which, in a nutshell, is really what it is. The film follows the traditional formula of all these types of things – monster loose, location sealed or remote, characters separated and picked off in the order you expect until the hero gets the better of it. In that sense this is without any new ideas but and doesn't shine on the plot front but it is an effective little movie. Not particularly scary but more gore than I expected and the film manages to keep the beast frightening by keeping it in the shadows for the majority – even after we've seen it, it is still shot in darkness. In fact the way the film is moved into darkness adds to the tension and makes it more exciting. Of course it isn't fantastic but it does do what you expect a monster movie to do, which is my point. It's main weakness is that it plays it very straight (although the mood made by the darkness helps this) many monster movies have successfully gone more tongue in cheek and done well (Deep Rising from the same period comes to mind. However, having gone the straight road the film does stick to it well despite a very unlikely explanation for the beast.

The cast are par for the course with this type of film – no big stars but support cast given bigger roles. Sizemore is on good form and is at home in the lead of this type of film, I doubt he could carry a blockbuster but he is good. Miller has done better films and she is OK, sadly she is lumbered with all the science stuff and isn't as impacting until near the end. To contrast the two characters there was a 20 minute spell in the middle where both Sizemore and Miller are absent from the action (in different areas) – I noticed Sizemore's absent but it wasn't until Miller came back that I noticed she was gone. The rest of the cast are the usual monster food and you can almost predict who will live and die without 30 seconds of them being introduced – selfish arrogant scientist? How long do you think he'll last!?

Despite this and other clichés the film is good enough to wa

The Relic fmovies. Folks complain about the fact that this movie lacks realism on the technical side of things. Supercomputers and bio-jargon are all over the place in this movie. That's all true.

However, I do not watch movies for education. I watch them for entertainment. This movie scared me silly, and *that's* why I give the film an 8. It had some cheesiness - including the computer junk - so it doesn't rate a ten, but it was certainly a pretty darn good horror flick.

One great thing about it is that they knew where and how to end it. They brought the story to a close before you got bored with the monster. Kudos to the writers for making it fearsome all the way to the end, and also to Tom Sizemore for doing a great job with his character. He's a pretty believable cop.

Find a friend with a big TV and watch this thing in the dark with a cute girl. You won't be disappointed if you're looking for a good story with a good scare. It ain't Shakespeare, but it's definitely worth watching.

Overall I liked this movie until I read half the reviews--done before, simplistic, not realistic, etc. It is not a GREAT sci fi movie, but it is not as ridiculous as most of the genre. Best feature is that none of the major characters behave idiotically to further the plot. One never feels compelled to yell "Turn around, stupid!" or "No. Don't go into the basement alone!" or "Please turn on the lights!" or (to the heroine) "Don't you remember it's invulnerable to bullets?" The heroine is afraid throughout the movie (shouldn't she be?), but is she irrational at any time? The curmudgeonly, wheelchair-bound senior researcher is trapped on an upper floor, but does he emerge at the end from his place of hiding behind the computer console? The detective is disbelieving at first, but does he obstruct and endanger in the end? The science may be unbelievable (it's like finding a mummy curse) and that prevents this from being a great sci fi, but the behavior of the characters seems authentic (researchers who know their environment) and that is this movie's major strength.

The Relic has had some harsh reviews from a number of people. But I must say what a good film it was. The film takes horror movies back to the way they are best. It left film fans with a sense of what a horror film is all about. The cast of Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore carry the film to a point that you are on the edge of your seat. The effects are some of the best I have seen in a long time. When I came out of the film, I was hoping they will do the next book but it does not look like it. If you do like to see a horror film that makes you look over your shoulder when you go in the basement when see this.