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IMDbPro

The Relic

  • 19971997
  • RR
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
5.8/10
27K
YOUR RATING
The Relic (1997)
Home Video Trailer from Paramount Home Entertainment
Play trailer0:31
1 Video
86 Photos
  • Horror
  • Mystery
  • Sci-Fi
A homicide detective and an anthropologist try to destroy a South American lizard-like god, who's on a people eating rampage in a Chicago museum.A homicide detective and an anthropologist try to destroy a South American lizard-like god, who's on a people eating rampage in a Chicago museum.A homicide detective and an anthropologist try to destroy a South American lizard-like god, who's on a people eating rampage in a Chicago museum.
IMDb RATING
5.8/10
27K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Peter Hyams
  • Writers
    • Douglas Preston(novel "Relic")
    • Lincoln Child(novel "Relic")
    • Amy Holden Jones(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Penelope Ann Miller
    • Tom Sizemore
    • Linda Hunt
Top credits
  • Director
    • Peter Hyams
  • Writers
    • Douglas Preston(novel "Relic")
    • Lincoln Child(novel "Relic")
    • Amy Holden Jones(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Penelope Ann Miller
    • Tom Sizemore
    • Linda Hunt
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 223User reviews
    • 112Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 nominations

    Videos1

    The Relic
    Trailer 0:31
    The Relic

    Photos86

    Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore in The Relic (1997)
    Tom Sizemore in The Relic (1997)
    Tom Sizemore in The Relic (1997)
    Martin S. Tellez, Traditional Aztec Dancer
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)
    The Relic (1997)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Penelope Ann Miller
    Penelope Ann Miller
    • Dr. Margo Greenas Dr. Margo Green
    Tom Sizemore
    Tom Sizemore
    • Lt. Vincent D'Agostaas Lt. Vincent D'Agosta
    Linda Hunt
    Linda Hunt
    • Dr. Ann Cuthbertas Dr. Ann Cuthbert
    James Whitmore
    James Whitmore
    • Dr. Albert Frockas Dr. Albert Frock
    Clayton Rohner
    Clayton Rohner
    • Det. Hollingsworthas Det. Hollingsworth
    Chi Muoi Lo
    Chi Muoi Lo
    • Dr. Greg Leeas Dr. Greg Lee
    Thomas Ryan
    • Tom Parkinsonas Tom Parkinson
    Robert Lesser
    Robert Lesser
    • Mayor Robert Owenas Mayor Robert Owen
    Diane Robin
    Diane Robin
    • The Mayor's Wifeas The Mayor's Wife
    Lewis Van Bergen
    Lewis Van Bergen
    • John Whitneyas John Whitney
    Constance Towers
    Constance Towers
    • Mrs. Blaisedaleas Mrs. Blaisedale
    Francis X. McCarthy
    Francis X. McCarthy
    • Mr. Blaisedaleas Mr. Blaisedale
    Audra Lindley
    Audra Lindley
    • Dr. Zwiezicas Dr. Zwiezic
    John Kapelos
    John Kapelos
    • McNallyas McNally
    Tico Wells
    • Baileyas Bailey
    Mike Bacarella
    Mike Bacarella
    • Bradleyas Bradley
    Gene Davis
    Gene Davis
    • Martinias Martini
    John DiSanti
    John DiSanti
    • Guard Woottonas Guard Wootton
    • (as John Di Santi)
    • Director
      • Peter Hyams
    • Writers
      • Douglas Preston(novel "Relic")
      • Lincoln Child(novel "Relic")
      • Amy Holden Jones(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Because the novel portrayed the museum's administration in an unflattering light, they turned the film's producers down. Paramount Pictures offered the museum a seven-figure sum of money to film there, but the administration was worried that the monster movie would scare kids away from the museum. The producers were faced with a problem as only museums in Chicago and Washington, D.C., resembled the one in New York. The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago loved the premise and allowed them to shoot there.
    • Goofs
      In the book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the monster has been in the museum's subbasement for around seven years, making the lair filled with either partially or fully decomposed skeletons completely plausible. However, in the movie they change the duration to only six weeks. The lair they find in the movie with tons of skeletons doesn't connect with the time it took for them to become that decomposed.
    • Quotes

      [Lt. D'Agosta joins the talkative Dr. Zwiezic at the morgue for the autopsy of Frederick Ford]

      Dr. Zwiezic: Lieutenant D'Agosta, it's lovely to see you under such alarming circumstances. 7 decapitations in one week. Don't you just hate someone who only takes head and never gives it?

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: You're bad, Matilda. Real bad.

      Dr. Zwiezic: Autopsy attended by Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta, Chicago homicide. I heard your ex got custody of the dog.

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: Is it on the goddamn internet?

      Dr. Zwiezic: You shouldn't have been late on your ALPO payments.

      [D'Agosta chuckles]

      Dr. Zwiezic: We have an African-American male, probably age 55 - 60. Height 5'4" - with his head maybe 6'1". Weight 160, give or take, if you know what I mean. There are an undetermined number of lacerations proceeding from the left anterior pectoral region downwards through the sternum, terminating at the right anterior abdominal region. Pectoralis minor and pectoralis major are separated to a great degree, and there is spontaneous dehiscence. The sternal process has been split and the ribcage exposed. Now for the head. The head is decapitated between the axial process and the atlas. The entire occipital portion of the calvarium and half the parietal process has been crushed, or rather seemingly punched through and removed, leaving a hole perhaps 5 inches in diameter. The skull is empty. The entire brain appears to have fallen out or been extracted through this hole.

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: Any idea about a weapon?

      Dr. Zwiezic: [Dr. Zwiezic replies dramatically] Something big.

      [Lt. D'Agosta chuckles]

      Dr. Zwiezic: The brain is severely traumatized and appears to have been severed at the medulla oblongata. The pons varolii is intact but separate. The cerebrum has been completely separated from the mesencephalon, and... Hey! Hey, wait a minute. This brain is light, even for a man. Something's missing, Lieutenant. Where's the rest of it?

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: We got everything we found.

      Dr. Zwiezic: There is no thalamic region. There is no pituitary gland.

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: What are you talking about?

      Dr. Zwiezic: The thalamus and hypothalamus regulate body temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat. It regulates hundreds of hormones into the bloodstream. Don't you agree, Fred?

      Coroner's Assistant: Yes.

      Dr. Zwiezic: He never shuts up.

      Lt. Vincent D'Agosta: [Lt. D'Agosta smirks] Hmm.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Fierce Creatures/Metro/In Love and War/Prefontaine/The Relic (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      SUNRISE
      STRING QUARTET IN B FLAT MAJOR

      Written by Joseph Haydn (as F.J. Haydn)

      Performed by Kodaly Quartet

      Courtesy of Naxos of America

      By Arrangement with Source/Q

    User reviews223

    Review
    Top review
    Enjoyable creature feature B-movie with the usual formula
    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 watch as long as you know what you are getting – it is certainly better than a lot of the creature feature movies you can get at your video store and the mood produced by the director in all that darkness helps it along nicely. Not great but better than average for the genre.
    helpful•47
    18
    • bob the moo
    • Jun 2, 2003

    FAQ4

    • How big is the Kothoga and how much would it weigh?
    • Why didn't the Kothoga kill the German Shepherd Pollux after it killed the other one Castor and its handler?
    • If the homeless man who later turns out to be a convicted rapist and a suspect was living in the sub-basement, how did he not encounter or even get killed by the Kothoga that was living down there as well?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 10, 1997 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Relic
    • Filming locations
      • Field Museum of Natural History - 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Near South Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • Production companies
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Cloud Nine Entertainment
      • H2L Media Group
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $40,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $33,956,608
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $9,064,143
      • Jan 12, 1997
    • Gross worldwide
      • $33,956,608
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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