The Relic (1997)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Ken S

  
  The aboslute, complete, middle of the road, starring that chick you cast when you can't get Renee Russo

• Film C

  
  this is probably the worst movie ive seen in ages, preictable, boring and a stupidly unbelieveable storyline! this movie seriously isnt worth the watch!

• Jens S

  
  Very decent monster horror thriller that makes the best of its rather silly premise and takes it to a really atmospheric museum exhibition. That's highly entertaining, sometimes even pretty exciting. Of course the tension is bigger for as long as you don't see the monster,… More
  Very decent monster horror thriller that makes the best of its rather silly premise and takes it to a really atmospheric museum exhibition. That's highly entertaining, sometimes even pretty exciting. Of course the tension is bigger for as long as you don't see the monster, but considering its age, the CGI creature still looks pretty great today. Night at the Museum for adults, it you will.

• Dean M

  
  Two thumbs up for a cool mythical beast prowls among the exhibits in this sci-fi/thriller film. Would I call it's an <i>Alien</i> in a museum. Heh!

• Lady D

  
  After a promising start, this film became dull and in the hope that the storyline would get better I carried on watching until I got so bored I had to switch it off.

• Curtis L

  
  Pretty terrible.

• Candy R

  
  Horror flick about a monster that terrorises Chicago's Natural Histroy Museum.

• Dean !

  
  A very enjoyable horror as an ancient creature turns up at the Natural History Museum and runs amok. Quite gory and good SFX as well.

• Steve B

  
  Seemed like a low-rent X-Files to me.

• xGary X

  
  Reasonably well shot, reasonably well acted, reasonable effects but it's all been done so much better already. A decent enough creature feature, worth watching if you've seen Alien one too many times already...

• Ryan M

  
  5.2/10 Even if I find something of the like to have a genuine amount of respect for, I'll always be searching for a new monster movie to admire and adore. I haven't seen a good one in a while. The classics often feel dated, and most of the "new" monster… More
  5.2/10 Even if I find something of the like to have a genuine amount of respect for, I'll always be searching for a new monster movie to admire and adore. I haven't seen a good one in a while. The classics often feel dated, and most of the "new" monster movies are lacking the scares or anything else, for the matter. There are some monster films that I've liked, but not enough that I've loved. "The Relic" had no chance, with its little premise, at being one that would truly stick with me. And what do you know; it didn't stick with me. Big surprise. The strange thing about the movie is that, it's rarely good, but at the same time, it's rarely a truly revolting bore. That is, until you take a moment to realize how bland the characters are, and how lame the big twist behind the film's monster really is. Honestly, there's just not too much to like about "The Relic", other than that it makes for some decent popcorn entertainment. It's pretty close to being dumb fun, but it just misses the target. If it had a target. For the film's duration, it felt like a cheap knock-off of the much better claustrophobic monster movie/horror film, "Alien". I won't compare the two a whole lot, to save us all some time, but the mimicry is obvious. Anyways, here's the story: a mythical being is released from an artifact found near a South American tribe. However, this is not until the artifact is shipped overseas, and transported to the Museum of National History in Chicago. Now, it doesn't take long for the monster to have its first few meals, but it takes quite a while for us to actually get a glimpse at it. This I admired, for the filmmakers seemed to know some of the essentially monster movie rules, and obscurity is one of them. The monster lingers in the shadows, simply hunting its prey. This is what most good movie monsters do; the ancient beast let loose in the museum in this film is no exception. There are characters who I have not named, because I don't feel that they are important to what this film sets out to do; nor did I really give a damn about any of them. "The Relic" is too straight forward in its ambitions to truly impress me; and too decent to truly disgust. The creature effects are surprisingly impressive, compared to my initial expectations. I kind of expected the thing to look like...well; I don't quite know what I expected. However, I can tell you that I expected something much worse than the monster that I got. It's nothing memorable, it's not really scary looking, and it's not terrifically inspired, but I liked how it didn't feel incredibly dumb. Or at least, not as dumb as the actual movie. It's easy to imagine that there is an audience for "The Relic". Some people like it, some may even love it. It's competent entertainment. It is decently filmed, decently directed, decently acted, and preposterously plotted. If you're in the mood for cheese and blood, then you've got exactly that sort of combination, and it works better than it should. But that doesn't mean it works, per se, overall. I have absolutely no issue with "The Relic" or people liking it, but it lacks the kind of zest that makes the few good movies within this genre so good.

• Deb S

  
  Mindless mayhem! A Detroit museum receives a shipment of bizarre crates, containing an old tribal relic and some leaves which have some strange fungus on it. That night a security guard named Frederick Ford (Jophery C.Brown) is literally torn to pieces by a giant monster. Homicide… More
  Mindless mayhem! A Detroit museum receives a shipment of bizarre crates, containing an old tribal relic and some leaves which have some strange fungus on it. That night a security guard named Frederick Ford (Jophery C.Brown) is literally torn to pieces by a giant monster. Homicide detective Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) and evolutionary biologist Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) team up and discover that the leaves contained some sort of unidentifiable fungus that systematically mutated into a wild monster. D'Agosta insists that the museum should close its doors but the Museum doesn't need any bad publicity and are planning to hold a gala for the Mayor (Robert Lesser) his wife (Diane Robbin) and so they try and sweep the incident under the carpet. Lt. D'Agusto can't stop the gala from going ahead, the bad news for the guests is that there seems to be a giant mutated creature running around that needs to eat human brains for a particular hormone it survives on. "The Relic" offers some surprisingly nasty killings (numerous decapitations) and vicious monster effects (we have Stan Winston to thank for that). Horror fans will appreciate the extended and atmospherically filmed sequences in the museum catacombs, showing how a small group of survivors try to escape the monster evolved specifically to decapitate people! The Good Points: The museum set was magnificent with its various artifacts and relics, the autopsy scene and the bodies on the drifting ship were good. Overall I enjoyed it but I found the constant darkness distracting and made the film difficult to watch at times, still worth a watch but these flaws stop it from becoming a classic modern horror film that it could have been.

• Alec B

  
  Works as a fun B-monster movie. There is one big surpirse that really is kinda expected. But the monster looks pretty cool. And I liked how there was no obligation for a love story and how Penelope Ann Miller's character (while scared shitless, I mean who wouldn't be?) is… More
  Works as a fun B-monster movie. There is one big surpirse that really is kinda expected. But the monster looks pretty cool. And I liked how there was no obligation for a love story and how Penelope Ann Miller's character (while scared shitless, I mean who wouldn't be?) is smart when fighting the monster. She uses brains rather than guns which was nice for a change.

• Donna D

  
  Oh, this was an awesome movie. Full of action, suspense and thriller. But the only thing that sucked was not showing the monster until way later!

• Adam M

  
  Fairly decent horror/monster movie.When some crates arrive at a museum there appears to be nothing in them, but when its discovered that murders happened on the cargo ship containing the crates and a security guard is brutaly murdered at the museum police are sent in to investigate a… More
  Fairly decent horror/monster movie.When some crates arrive at a museum there appears to be nothing in them, but when its discovered that murders happened on the cargo ship containing the crates and a security guard is brutaly murdered at the museum police are sent in to investigate a possible link and get alot more than they bargained for when it seems some kind of monster hybrid thing has been stalking the museum for victims.Although this looks dated and despite a slow, confusing start it soon kicks into gear and becomes quite an exciting, if not brilliant, horror/thriller.

• Anthony V

  
  Has it's moments.

• Barry L

  
  Hmmmmmmmmmmm box standard creepy wannabe...watchable but dont pull a muscle fighting for a copy.

Read all 17 featured audience ratings