Main Cast: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
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. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
As far as monster movies go, The Relic has become its own forgotten token of how to entertainingly present yet another B-movie special-effects monstrosity that gobbles up everything in sight during the course of 110 thrill-a-second minutes. Director Peter Hyams paints a slick picture of gory museum mayhem that has enough scares, wit, and truly claustrophobic settings to elevate it past its initial chilly theatrical reception. Highlighted by Hyams' own masterful cinematography, the tension stays taut even when the ghastly beast isn't on the screen thanks to his plays of light and extreme shadow. Detractors knock the film for its conventional underpinnings, but they don't seem to get the fun that the film has within its genre's own confines, none of which would be possible without the truly likable characters that populate the picture. Tom Sizemore has rarely been as charming, while Clayton Rohner steals the show as Hollingsworth, the sidekick cop who not only saves the lives of most of the trapped museum benefactors, but shockingly lives to see another day. And despite some early stumbling with the script's tongue-tied scientific lingo, Penelope Ann Miller makes for a competent scream queen who is both intelligent and sexy as she battles the deadly creature by using her smarts while also wearing a miniskirt. Casting for the rest of the picture couldn't be better, with all roles big and small filled perfectly with character actors who make the most of their screen time. And the monster? While early on in the development of CG animation, Stan Winston takes much of his Jurassic Park knowledge of practical vs. artificial effects to a new level with this gooey creature. With a wholly original design (despite its Predator-like mandibles), Winston and company present a formidable villain that takes down more than its share of SWAT team members, the rich elite, and even a marijuana-smoking security guard (remember kids -- drugs kill!). Though the flick suffers from certainly one of the slowest "running from the fireball" finales, The Relic still delivers the scares as only a solid monster movie can, which is all that should be asked of it during any late-night viewings. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Chi Muoi Lo - Greg Lee; Robert Lesser - Mayor Owen; Tommy Ryan - Parkinson; Lewis van Bergen - John Whitney; Kent George - Grad Student
Credit
James Murakami - Art Director, Eric Orbom - Art Director, Penny Perry - Casting, Dan Lester - Costume Designer, Jack Frost Sanders - First Assistant Director, Peter Hyams - Director, Steven Kemper - Editor, Mark Gordon - Executive Producer, Gary Levinsohn - Executive Producer, John Debney - Composer (Music Score), John Debney - Songwriter, Philip Harrison - Production Designer, Peter Hyams - Cinematographer, Gale Anne Hurd - Producer, Sam Mercer - Producer, John Anderson - Set Designer, Stan Winston - Special Effects, VIFX - Special Effects, Gene S. Cantamessa - Sound/Sound Designer, Gregory L. McMurray - Special Effects Supervisor, Amy Jones - Screenwriter, Amanda Silver - Screenwriter, Rick Jaffa - Screenwriter, John Raffo - Screenwriter, Douglas Preston - Book Author
A researcher at the Museum of Natural History of Chicago returns from South America after visiting a newly discovered tribe - the "Kothoga". He brings some crates with him, containing his research findings. When the crates arrive at the museum without the owner, there appears to be very little inside...just a statue and a bunch of leaves with tiny red parasites. The statue is placed in the museum's new exhibit on superstition and preparations are made for an exclusive party of wealthy museum sponsors, which will be held that very evening in the museum. Meanwhile, the police discover gruesome murders on the cargo ship that brought the crates to the United States and then another murder in the museum itself. Investigating the murders is Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) who enlists the help of Dr. Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) at the museum—she has taken an interest in the contents of her colleague's crates. Finding little to investigate, she throws the leaves away. Unknown to both the police and the museum staff and guests, there is a large creature - an Amazonian beast known as the Mbwun (translation: "He Who Walks On All Fours") - roaming the museum, originally seeking its food from the discarded leaves, but now forced into killing its victims and eating the hypothalamus, necessary for the creature to survive.
The novel was adapted into screenplay form by Amy Holden Jones (who wrote the screenplay for Indecent Proposal). Producer Gale Anne Hurd commissioned Jones to do a rewrite with three other screenwriters in order to produce a shorter, more compact version of the script.[citation needed] Many characters were removed and/or merged with others. The book's location was changed due to the American Museum of Natural History being unavailable and so the production was moved to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
Reaction
The Relic garnered multiple genre awards and received some praise from critics, The film opened #1 at the box office, grossing $9,064,143 its opening week and a total of $33,956,608 domestically, against an estimated cost $40 million. According to the video cover it was given two thumbs up by Siskel and Ebert. Awards included the Stockholm Film and Fantasy Awards and a nomination for the lead actor Tom Sizemore at Boston. However, The Relic has found an audience as a cult hit. Leonard Maltin give it 3 out of 4 stars and stated, "Yes, it's 'Alien in a museum,' but not bad. The monster, done both 'live' and by computer graphics is especially impressive."
