Plot Summary
A mythological creature stalks the halls of a museum during a society fundraiser in this cheap sci-fi horror genre knock-off of Alien (1979). Penelope Ann Miller stars as Dr. Margo Green, an evolutionary biologist at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History who receives a shipment of artifacts from a colleague performing fieldwork in Brazil. Among the contents are leaves containing a rare fungus that, unbeknownst to Green or anyone else, attracts the palate of a rapidly mutating, lizard-like monster called Kothoga that has stowed away on a Brazilian freighter and has found a subterranean route into the museum from Lake Michigan. Before long, several museum employees have become decapitated snack food for the beast, which prefers to dine on human hypothalamuses and pituitary glands. Despite dire warnings from the museum staff, a gruff coroner (Audra Lindley) and the investigating detective, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore), the Windy City's oblivious mayor orders a black-tie museum fundraiser to proceed. During the event, the building's high-tech security system locks Green, D'Agosta, the mayor, and many chi-chi party guests in with the hungry animal, forcing everyone to attempt an escape through an underground waterway with which Kothoga is all too familiar.
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Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
32%- Reviews Counted: 28
- Fresh: 9
- Rotten: 19
- Average Rating: 4.4/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Gore seekers need only to know the body count is high and the scares are cheap as director Peter Hyams shares his beast's repellent disregard for human life.
Rotten: Though based on an original and respected novel, Hyams' horror thriller comes across as a pastiche of the genre's conventions as evident in major pictures of the past two decades, such as Jaws and the first two Alien films.
Customer Reviews
Dreck of the highest order.
Now, I dont mind Peter Hyams, although he is universally known for his less than stellar 2001 sequel. I just made a space pun. But besides that mis-step, he has made some things that i dont mind watching, especially when there is nothing else on, but The Relic is something that should be ignored. Maybe if we ignore it long enough it will cease to exist. I thought that after 10 years it would have evaporated into the ether, but apple dragged it out of the depths. For shame. I am writing this review to let you know that even for fans of bad horror and monster movies, this one is not only easily forgettable, it should be easily forgotten. Dont believe 2 line reviews. People say that they like this movie, but why? "Because i like it" isnt a valid answer. They cant give you a reason. That is because there is none. This movie blows. Chunks. All over the screen. Do yourself a favor and waste your 10 bucks more smartly than this. Waste it on anything but this...Grosse Point Blank is pretty funny, with more suspense and action in the first half than this movie in its entirety. Or maybe High Noon. That is a classic which plays out in real time. That must be suspenseful! Bottom line: The Relic = Crap. Sorry, but that is the way it is.
Shouldn't Have Bothered
Despite the iTunes review, this movie isn't a ripoff of Aliens -- it's an extremely bad movie version of an extremely good book of the same name written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Key characters and plot points were eliminated, leaving a Grade C production behind. Just read the book instead, or, if you want a great creature feature, watch . . . well, watch Aliens.
Not Great
This is the first movie I ever fell aslep watching in a theatre.
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