The Relic (1997)

4 factual errors

★★★☆☆

Starring: Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore

Factual error: When the beast itself moves, it bounds, but the sound effects make it sound as though the beast is running.

Factual error: 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.

Factual error: When D'Agosta and Hollingsworth are in the Santos Morales, they find blood on the walls and floor which is not only dry but also red. Dry blood is brown.

Factual error: When Margo and Lieutenant D'agosta walk into a lab, Margo asks one of the techs what the "soup" is, to which the tech responds Rhinoceros Megarhinos. No such species exists.

More for The Relic

Mistakes

Plot hole: What happened to the two boys who stayed in the museum past closing, after the homeless guy seemed to attack (or at least be seen to be stalking) them? The next time we see them, it's the next morning, and they're fine. So where did they go? Who helped them? What happened to the homeless guy? The boys couldn't have just hidden, as the homeless guy has been in the museum for ages, and these two boys just got there that day. The homeless guy would have known all the nooks and crannies and every little hiding spot available; he would have caught them.

redbaron2000

More mistakes in The Relic

Trivia

Trivia: Producers Gale Anne Hurd and Sam Mercer wanted to film the movie at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. However, the museum's administration was afraid that the film would not only cast the museum in an unflattering light, but it would also scare kids away from the museum. They were given permission by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago to film there, because they loved the movie's premise.

More trivia for The Relic

Questions

Question: How big is the Kothoga? In some scenes, the Kothoga is about the size of a tiger but in other scenes, it's almost the size of a horse. During the Kothoga's attack during the Supernatural exhibit, it is seen chasing a SWAT officer and it's very huge but in another scene, when it crashes through a skylight and lands in front of some computers, it's not very large.

Answer: While the size is never explicitly stated, the creature does seem to be somewhat larger than a tiger and approaching the size of a horse when the scene needs it to be. Perhaps its size changes as it eats and needs sustenance?

Erik M.