The Relic (1997)

The Relic is a monster-running-amok movie that stars Tom Sizemore and Penelope Ann Miller as a Chicago Homicide detective and a Biologist dealing with a huge, bizarre and bloodthirsty mutant creature that preys on people at a large museum soon after cargo arrives from South America. The beast, referred to as a Kothoga, is as strange a combination of insect, boar, human and gecko (?) as can be conceived by a combo of CGI and practical effects, while the stars provide both background and sometimes unintentional levity while the beast rampages. This is one of those films that is at once cheesy and somehow hard to turn away from, as you want to see more of the thing just to comprehend what you're looking at and piece together the odd backstory.

Erik M.

Going to keep this short and simple. I loved this movie very much but felt that it would have been better if the Kothoga wasn't kept in the dark so much and we could have seen it in a brightly lit room. Could never figure out the size or color of it because of the constant darkness.

I own this movie on DVD.

I love this movie, and it currently is my favorite horror film of all time. Not counting sci-fi horror movies like Alien or Terminator.
I first encountered this film as a kid when I would regularly go to the library to check out movies from there. They had this on VHS, I didn't know what it was but wanted to see, so I rented it and watched it. And I loved it! Later on, I got ahold of a DVD copy.

For me, this is a creature feature done right.
Basically, the short version, is this is a story of a giant lizard monster being trapped inside a museum with other people in a lock down, and it likes to rip their heads off and eat a specific part of the brain. It's a crazy concept but it had me gripped. Maybe I was the perfect age for this film when I watched it as a kid, probably in the early 00s. I don't remember exactly when. But I loved it and still do.

I still pop it in and watch it every now and then, and I think the last time I watched it. Was on a date with a girl. So yeah, lot of good memories with this.

Mistake Status: I plan to do this movie and have it in my line up.

Quantom X ★