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Marubeni
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Paramount Pictures
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They did the unthinkable. They brought it back.
A homicide detective teams up with an evolutionary biologist to hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.
CinemaSerf
Jul 12, 2024 · via TMDB
Linda Hunt is the museum curator "Cuthbert" who is always on the look out for ways to raise cash. A big charity fundraiser with the mayor and other dignitaries is her top priority but that might be about to be kiboshed as police lieutenant "D'Agosta" (Tom Sizemore) is looking into some curious deaths that see the corpses robbed of their hypothalami! Meantime, scientist "Margo" (Penelope Ann Miller) is studying the body of a big beetle that she squashed (finally finding a good use for an half-ton chemistry book!) that appears to have hybrid DNA of a bug and a lizard. She teams up with the detective and pretty soon they are in the basement of the museum with all hell breaking lose and poor old "Cuthbert" finding her big posh do turning into something altogether more perilous (and wet!). It's all pretty derivative, this, with a mediocre cast delivering a story that's as old as the hills. The visual effects towards the end liven it up a little, but not enough to prevent this from misfiring on just about every front. Hunt adds very little beyond the odd shrug and caustic one liner and Sizemore just doesn't deliver strongly enough with the weak and pace-less storyline he has to work with. It's a bit like an episode of "Stargate" only longer, much longer.
Gimly
Jul 26, 2020 · via TMDB
More than a little genuinely funny dialogue, and I think the creature had a pretty cool design... I'm pretty sure? I don't know though, because every time it appears it's in virtually complete darkness. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._
John Chard
Jul 16, 2019 · via TMDB
Pot's a misdemeanour. Decapitation seems a bit severe. The Relic is directed by Peter Hyams (also cinematographer) and based on the best-selling novel written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The film stars Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, James Whitmore and Linda Hunt. The music score is composed by John Debney. The Museum of Natural History in Chicago takes delivery of some crates from South America. Sent by an employee, John Whitney, one of the crates appears to be just full of leaves. However, just as the museum prepares to launch a major exhibition, where all the city's top brass will be present, a security guard is horrifically killed. Can superstitious cop Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Sizemore) and evolutionary biologist Dr. Margo Green (Miller) get to the bottom of the mystery before it's too late? From the bunch of creature feature movies that surfaced in the 1990s, The Relic may not win prizes for originality of plotting, but it scores high for tension and gloopy fun. Though the decent budget is evident ($70,000,000), the film has all the old fashioned values to make a creature feature work. Rank and file staples come thick and fast; boo jump moments, characters refusing to accept the un-normal, silly kids, silly coppers, a potential hero and heroine, possible romance, some sci-fi babble, a curse, and of course the creature itself - a big hybrid of god knows what! with the "Kothoga" being a snarling, slimy monstrosity that goes about the museum lopping heads off some inept human beings with carefree abandon. What's not to like there? Though Hyams is no genius director, he is, as his CV suggests, more than capable at crafting a polished movie. Such is the case here, where the "B" movie story is given good technical treatment. The lighting (you may have to adjust your settings here) and editing serve the atmosphere well, while the sound work is of the required horror requisitional standard. More importantly, though, Hyams is aware of building up the tension by not unleashing the creature far too soon. We know it's the killer, and we get little snippets of it here and there, but it's not until all hell breaks loose at the big museum event that we get to see the monster, and it's not a let down. Part animatronic/part computer effect, the "Kothoga" is original and it is scarily great fun. So much so it (thankfully) steers the viewers away from the pedestrian performances of the cast. Not bad exactly, but just doing grizzled and spunky beauty (Sizemore & Miller respectively) doesn't really grab the attention. The best actor on show is Whitmore (tracing a lovely creature feature line from Them! in 1954 to here), but he is badly under written and under used. Still, the minor acting issues matters not, for this is ready made for a Saturday night in with the beer and some snacks, so give it a go and you may just enjoy yourself. 7/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Penelope Ann Miller
Dr. Margo Green
Tom Sizemore
Lt. Vincent D'Agosta
Linda Hunt
Dr. Ann Cuthbert
James Whitmore
Dr. Albert Frock
Clayton Rohner
Det. Hollingsworth
Chi Muoi Lo
Dr. Greg Lee
Robert Lesser
Mayor Robert Owen
Diane Robin
The Mayor's Wife
Lewis van Bergen
John Whitney
Constance Towers
Mrs. Harriet Blaisedale
Francis X. McCarthy
Mr. George Blaisedale
Audra Lindley
Dr. Matilda Zwiezic
John Kapelos
McNally
Tico Wells
Bailey
Mike Bacarella
Bradley
Gene Davis
Martini
John DiSanti
Guard Wootton
David Proval
Guard Johnson
Jophery C. Brown
Guard Frederick Ford
Don Harvey
Spota
Santos Morales
Capt. Borne
Ralph Seymour
Sergeant
Lyn Alicia Henderson
Perri Masai
Brian Steele
Kothoga
Amanda Ingber
Donna
Montrose Hagins
Chanting Woman (as Montrose Hughes)
Eddie Jemison
Museum Worker
Kurt Naebig
Police Officer
Ken Magee
Coroner's Assistant
Aaron Lustig
Dr. Brown
Ron Cummins
Dr. Gross
Ned Schmidtke
Capt. Martin
Gary A. Hecker
Kothoga (voice)
Craig Hosking
Helicopter Pilot
Dana Kristen Vahle
Helicopter Pilot
Dick Warlock
Policeman (uncredited)
Peter Hyams
Director of Photography
Adam Shankman
Choreographer
Brian Smrz
Stunt Coordinator
Dana Freitag
Stunt Double
Carl Paoli
Stunt Driver
Danny Lima
Stunts
Dean Raphael Ferrandini
Stunts
Dick Warlock
Stunts
John Branagan
Stunts
Jophery C. Brown
Stunts
Linda Perlin
Stunts
Mark Harper
Stunts
Paul E. Short
Stunts
Rick LeFevour
Stunts
Peter Hyams
Director
Barbara Harris
ADR Voice Casting
Gary Levinsohn
Executive Producer
Mark Gordon
Executive Producer
Gale Anne Hurd
Producer
Stiles White
Production Coordinator
John Debney
Conductor
John Debney
Original Music Composer
Tony Lamberti
Sound Designer
Mark 'Crash' McCreery
Character Designer
Stan Winston
Creature Effects Technical Director
Amanda Silver
Screenplay
Amy Holden Jones
Screenplay
Rick Jaffa
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The Life After Death Project 2: Personal Encounters
2013
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
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2008 · 14 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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2022 · 11 wins
Joker
2019 · 11 wins
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