The Relic

"They did the unthinkable. They brought it back."

1997 1h 50m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 668

HorrorMysteryThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

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A homicide detective teams up with an evolutionary biologist to hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.

“They did the unthinkable. They brought it back.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Penelope Ann Miller
Dr. Margo Green
Tom Sizemore
Lt. Vincent D'Agosta
Linda Hunt
Dr. Ann Cuthbert
James Whitmore
Dr. Albert Frock
Clayton Rohner
Det. Hollingsworth
Chi Muoi Lo
Dr. Greg Lee
Thomas Ryan
Tom Parkinson
Robert Lesser
Mayor Robert Owen

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Hyams
Writers: Amy Holden Jones, Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa
Languages: English
Countries: Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 57% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Hyams, shot by Peter Hyams. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Debney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Steven Kemper shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore and Linda Hunt carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Hyams directs. Peter Hyams behind the camera. John Debney scores. Steven Kemper cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Earned back only 57% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
329 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4International production across 4 countries: Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by Peter Hyams, shot by Peter Hyams. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by John Debney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Steven Kemper shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore and Linda Hunt carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "They did the unthinkable. They brought it back.".
10IMDB entry: tt0120004 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 11 themes, including "chicago, illinois", "monster", "based on novel or book", "museum".
12Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Hyams
Original score: John Debney
Editing: Steven Kemper
Production design: Philip Harrison
Costume design: Daniel J. Lester
Makeup / hair: Stephen Abrums
VFX supervisor: Gregory L. McMurry
Sound: Tony Lamberti
Stunt coordinator: Brian Smrz
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $60,000,000
Box office: $33,956,608
Return: 57% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Relic (1997)

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Peter Hyams

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-07-16
★ 7/10
Pot's a misdemeanour. Decapitation seems a bit severe. The Relic is directed by Peter Hyams (also cinematographer) and based on the best-selling novel written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The film stars Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, James Whitmore and Linda Hunt. The music score is composed by John Debney. The Museum of Natural History in Chicago takes delivery of some crates from South America. Sent by an employee, John Whitney, one of the crates appears to be just full of leaves. However, just as the museum prepares to launch a major exhibition, where all the city's top brass will be present, a security guard is horrifically killed. Can superstitious cop Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Sizemore) and evolutionary biologist Dr. Margo Green (Miller) get to the bottom of the mystery before it's too late? From the bunch of creature feature movies that surfaced in the 1990s, The Relic may not win prizes for originality of plotting, but it scores high for tension and gloopy fun. Though the decent budget is evident ($70,000,000), the film has all the old fashioned values to make a creature feature work. Rank and file staples come thick and fast; boo jump moments, characters refusing to accept the un-normal, silly kids, silly coppers, a potential hero and heroine, possible romance, some sci-fi babble, a curse, and of course the creature itself - a big hybrid of god knows what! with the "Kothoga" being a snarling, slimy monstrosity that goes about the museum lopping heads off some inept human beings with carefree abandon. What's not to like there? Though Hyams is no genius director, he is, as his CV suggests, more than capable at crafting a polished movie. Such is the case here, where the "B" movie story is given good technical treatment. The lighting (you may have to adjust your settings here) and editing serve the atmosphere well, while the sound work is of the required horror requisitional standard. More importantly, though, Hyams is aware of building up the tension by not unleashing the creature far too soon. We know it's the killer, and we get little snippets of it here and there, but it's not until all hell breaks loose at the big museum event that we get to see the monster, and it's not a let down. Part animatronic/part computer effect, the "Kothoga" is original and it is scarily great fun. So much so it (thankfully) steers the viewers away from the pedestrian performances of the cast. Not bad exactly, but just doing grizzled and spunky beauty (Sizemore & Miller respectively) doesn't really grab the attention. The best actor on show is Whitmore (tracing a lovely creature feature line from Them! in 1954 to here), but he is badly under written and under used. Still, the minor acting issues matters not, for this is ready made for a Saturday night in with the beer and some snacks, so give it a go and you may just enjoy yourself. 7/10
Gimly2020-07-26
★ 5/10
More than a little genuinely funny dialogue, and I think the creature had a pretty cool design... I'm pretty sure? I don't know though, because every time it appears it's in virtually complete darkness. Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.
CinemaSerf2024-07-12
★ 6/10
Linda Hunt is the museum curator "Cuthbert" who is always on the look out for ways to raise cash. A big charity fundraiser with the mayor and other dignitaries is her top priority but that might be about to be kiboshed as police lieutenant "D'Agosta" (Tom Sizemore) is looking into some curious deaths that see the corpses robbed of their hypothalami! Meantime, scientist "Margo" (Penelope Ann Miller) is studying the body of a big beetle that she squashed (finally finding a good use for an half-ton chemistry book!) that appears to have hybrid DNA of a bug and a lizard. She teams up with the detective and pretty soon they are in the basement of the museum with all hell breaking lose and poor old "Cuthbert" finding her big posh do turning into something altogether more perilous (and wet!). It's all pretty derivative, this, with a mediocre cast delivering a story that's as old as the hills. The visual effects towards the end liven it up a little, but not enough to prevent this from misfiring on just about every front. Hunt adds very little beyond the odd shrug and caustic one liner and Sizemore just doesn't deliver strongly enough with the weak and pace-less storyline he has to work with. It's a bit like an episode of "Stargate" only longer, much longer.