Something That Goes "Bump!" In The Night

Crafted as a rather solid and entertaining horror monster flick, The Relic (1997) is a mix of modern day monster movies and the old school ones from the 1950s. A creature runs wild in a Chicago museum, and its up to a scientist and a cop to stop the monster from eating way too many people. There is also a running gag about the cop losing custody of his dog, and since it took them a while to get the FX completed you actually see less of the creature, which is a good thing since it ups the tension and makes you less likely to get tired of watching it in action. Still Stan Winston was behind the film's effects, so I knew those were at least going to be worth of my time, even if the rest of the film had been a total waste (luckily that was not the case).

This film is actually based on a novel, and I hear the book is great-not to mention a key character was cut from the film, which is a bummer. Yet the present cast is good enough to help carry the movie, and I liked that Dr. Green and Lt. D'Agosta had this nice underlying chemistry that made it apparent they liked each other, but it wasn't incredibly obvious. Despite how the film concludes there could have been at least a couple of sequels, but maybe we are better off with just this singular movie to tide us over. At least there are a couple of wicked kills, and there is an explosion. Can't make a monster movie without having those two ingredients...81