Film review – Dagny – 4/9/97
I have to say that I think the name of this film is somewhat misleading. I was expecting the
title character to be a 4,000 year old South American mummy with a penchant for terrorising
museum staff, but this was not the case. It was in fact a genetic mutant who had only the
loosest connection to the relic of the title. Perhaps the producers felt that “Scary mutant
lizard-dog monster” wasn’t such a catchy title.
In any case, the title doesn’t matter so much. The Relic is a monster movie, pure and simple.
It is very much in the same genre as the Alien movies, making use of lots of gothic-looking
confined spaces and a very nasty, almost indestructible monster. And it does it very well.
The monster is certainly quite scary. It has a suitably macabre way of disposing of its victims,
by detaching the head and ripping out the hypothalamus (a fairly important part of the brain).
The director could have played more on the suspense the audience feels when they are not sure
exactly what kind of a monster they were dealing with. I felt that the monster was more
terrifying before we knew exactly what it looked like, and I think that they could have left
the complete revelation to later in the film.
The science that supposedly allows this genetic mutation to take place is one of the weakest
points of the film. Similarly, the tie-in with South American legends and superstitions
attempts to engage with a mythic archetype of monstrous evil, but this too is patchy and
unconvincing. The sub-plots involving the struggle for research funding and museum politics
are weak and forgettable, but they do provide us with a couple of people that we don’t mind
seeing get munched by the monster. However, in a sense this doesn’t really matter because
these weaknesses don’t detract from the fact that this is a good horror film. It’s gripping,
tense, and scary, and the scene where the heroine comes face to face with the beast will have
you squirming in your seat and peeking out from behind your fingers. The special effects are
good, too; but be warned, if Alien left you feeling queasy, this may not be the film for you.
