The Relic

I love this movie and I am happy to now have it in my collection for nostalgia’s sake.

The Authors Preston and Childs wrote the book. A stunner. This movie adaptation is a terrific - never a dull moment - with excellent cast AND I compare the script writing of this movie to others I watch. Most cannot compare. Lots happening but loose ends are tied up without confusion as the exposition is amazingly and subtly all encompassing - and not boring! This kind of movie - probably "horror" genre - seldom gets Oscar nods, but this is a great script and deserved some kind of appreciation.

First of all, I loved the book Relic and its sequel Reliquary. It didn't bother me that in this case great liberties were taken with the book when they `transformed' it for the screen. I love the movie as is by not comparing it to the book. No matter what, you will always have the source material, intact; it's not as if it disappears when a movie adaptation comes out.As for the criticism that most of this movie suffers from poor lighting....I can't argue that point. The lighting is peculiar and not a little deficient. The revelation that surprised even me is that the director Peter Hyams filmed it that way on purpose. He referred to it as "exotic light" consisting of shadow, darkness, hints of shape and movement; the less details seen the better. He wanted confusion; he wanted terror built from what isn't seen as well as what is seen. I might not agree with him on all of that as I am one of those people who like to see everything. I don't believe that much darkness serves his purpose as well as he thought it did, and yet, this is one of my favorite films that I return to often, also upgraded to this Blu-ray version. It's just as exciting the umpteenth time viewed as the first. But it is, literally, dark, even in scenes that didn't make sense. For example, the work space in the museum is also poorly lit. How could scientists work under such conditions, they have to see what they're working on. In addition, the museum is also dimly lit, how are you supposed to see the exhibits without proper lighting? I think a better balance could have been struck between these scenes and the ones in the tunnels where darkness made sense, was even expected. But of course no amount of second guessing is going to do any good at this point. The movie is what it is and I love it. The acting is great, the story moves along quickly, there's plenty of fright along the way as well as humor, and then of course, it stars the incomparable Linda Hunt. Enough said.

BOTTOM LINE: Is this film perfect? Nope. Is it a faithful word-for-word adaption of the novel? Not even close. Is it an entertaining, turn down the lights & jump at stuff that leaps out at you popcorn flick? Absolutely. Fans of the Preston & Child novel loathe the many changes but for mainstream monster movie fans this one’s bloody good. 4 STARSTHE STORY: Researcher from Chicago Museum of Natural History ships back a strange cargo from the deep Amazon jungle whose contents provide more questions than answers. A cute, quirky museum scientist & a hard-nosed Windy City homicide cop must quickly piece together the cryptic clues... before they’re ripped to pieces, along with the rest of the museum staff and half the ChiTown PD.THOUGHTS: I’ve loved this movie ever since catching it in a snow-covered theater back in January of 1997. I knew nothing of the source material, only the film’s two stars: Tom Sizemore & Penelope Ann Miller. (Plus, I have a big soft spot for James Whitmore, ever since I first saw THEM! decades ago.) I enjoyed THE RELIC tremendously and I’ve watched it numerous times over the years. Fans of the novel have by & large torn this movie a new one, due to the many changes. I didn’t get around to actually reading the novel until almost 20 years later, after already having seen & enjoyed the film several times. It is indeed very different from the movie. However, if you divorce the film from the book you’ll be OK. Otherwise, you walk in with a massive chip on your shoulder and will probably just hate the movie to death. I think the film, for what it is, is a lot of silly, scary, rollercoaster ride-styled fun. Sure there are plot holes, gaps in logic and whatnot, but 99% of all horror films, by necessity, have these shortcomings. Movie viewers must maintain the ability to suspend disbelief and go with whatever preposterous flubdubbery the writers & directors are throwing at us. In the real world, these kinds of situations would almost certainly never be solved as quickly & efficiently as they are in the movies and on TV. In fact, these fantastical events obviously don't happen in the real world at all, so you have to take things at face value. Sure, this movie could've been better, but even as it is I think it's got a lot of great things going for it. And speaking of that… legendary creature F/X wizard Stan Winston gives us one of the coolest, most original movie monsters in decades. The Kathoga alone makes this film a keeper for me. The practical stuff looks amazing, and while the CGI isn’t as polished as today’s digital product his lethal Kathoga creation is nonetheless one of moviedom’s slickest killer creatures. Plus I really enjoy the performances of all the actors in the cast, from the main stars right down to the bit players.THE BLU-RAY: A pretty pedestrian hi-def release from Lionsgate, who licensed the film from Paramount. The improvements in both audio & video, compared to the tepid DVD version of THE RELIC, more than make it worth the double dip. But be aware that there’s no new bonus material, just the on-camera interview with director Peter Hyams & his full-length audio commentary, both ported over from the standard-def release. Still, if you’ve never seen the film, this is the best looking format of it so far and, short of a frame-by-frame restoration, this is likely as good as we’ll get for this enjoyable creature feature.

Warning there are some scary bits in the movie so if have kids then adults watch first so can tell the kids what parts to close their eyes. Great cast and great movie with suspense and great special effects. Very recommended. Wish was available in 4k!Tom and Penelope and Linda Hunt are great.

excellent condition discs

Exactly what I needed thank you

This movie is interesting because it says a lot about direction. The Relic is a book about a woman named Margo who is a scientist at The Museum of Natural History in NYC. She ends up all intertangled with a spore from the Amazon that transform people into lizard monsters. From this story the writers focused in on Pendergast's charter and made a whole series on him and the movie director just cut pendergast out completely. Pendergast in the book is a supportive character to the role of the FBI and Margo, but does not really serve a purpose to drive the story.I give it three stars as it stands alone as a film, but given the history here it's really worth looking at if you are into story development.

Adaptación cinematográfica de la novela del mismo título de Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child e interpretada por Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller y Linda Hunt, entre otros, con momentos similares al Alien de Scott entre mas oscuros que claros. (la edición en DVD mejora con respecto a la de , en su momento, VHS. No es de mis favoritas del director pero mantiene el suspense durante toda la cinta. Recomendable

I got this film as a trip down memory lane, love the scene where Dr. Margo Green is chased through the museum labs by the creature, doors and glass flying everywhere!Feels like an 80s classic, but it was 1997, but not diminished in any way because of that!In my view up there with the likes of Alien :)

Ottimo su tutto solo. Che ho erroneamente pensato che ci fosse l'audio in italiano essendo un blu r forse anche a causa del trafiletto messo da Amazon sembrava che per avere l'audio in italiano bastasse cambiare i parametri del menù ma non è così per fortuna mastico un po' d'inglese

Im Hafen von New York wird ein Führerloses Transportschiff gefunden. Alle an Bord sind Tot und verstümmelt. Kurz danach treten im ortsansässigen Naturkundemuseum mysteriöse Vorfälle und Morde auf.Irgendetwas ist mit dem Schiff nach New York gekommen und es ist hungrig...Der Film „Das Relikt“ aus dem Jahr 1997, unter der Regie von Peter Hayms („Unternehmen Capricorn“, „Ein Richter sieht rot“, „ End of Days“...) ist ein sehr gelungener Gruselfilm. Ich würde hier nicht von einem reinen Horrorfilm sprechen. Für mich beinhaltet „Horror“ immer „Jumpscares“ und „Splatter“. Es geht hier zwar auch stellenweise brutal zu aber das macht diesen Film nicht aus. Peter Hayms sagte mal irgendwann, dass er eigene Erfahrungen aus seiner Kindheit mit der Geschichte von Douglas Preston und Lincoln Child, „Relic– Museum der Angst“, verbinden würde. Hayms war wohl als Kind mal über Nacht in einem Museum vergessen oder sonst irgenwie zurückgelassen worden. Quellen dafür, ob das der Wahrheit entspricht, hab ich leider nicht mehr aber ist (glaube ich ) auch nicht so wichtig und ich zumindest denke schon, dass es der Wahrheit zumindest nahe kommt...In zunächst ruhigen Bildern und Kamerafahrten wird die Geschichte erzählt und diese Art den Film zu zeigen unterstützt hervorragend die unheimliche, bedrohliche Atmosphäre, die nach der Ankunft des Schiffes im Hafen, dann im Museum lauert.Die Darstellung des Monstrums wird wohl dosiert, nur rudimentär eingesetzt. Das mag vielen sauer aufstoßen aber mich stört es jetzt nicht, da der gezeigte Rest -die Handlung halt- mich zumindest überzeugen kann. Klar, eine große, Oscarreife Geschichte sollte man nicht erwarten aber sie ist fesselnd und ich war doch gespannt, wie das Ganze wohl ausgeht.Viele Negativrezensionen weisen darauf hin, dass das der Film zu stark vom Buch abweichen würde. Einige Charaktere wurden wohl gestrichen und der Hauptcharakter des Buches wurde durch einen mehr oder weniger häufig auftretenden Nebencharakter ersetzt. Da ich das nicht beurteilen kann (ich habe das Buch nicht gelesen) aber immer auch versuche eine Eigeninterpretation zu schätzen, geht dieser Aspekt nicht in meine Wertung mit ein -kann er ja auch gar nicht...Das Bild ist DVD-scharf und im vorbildlichen 16:9 Format. Die wunderbare Musik umschmeichelt die Bilder und unterstützt gelungen die Atmosphäre. Die dargestellten Charaktere wirken sympathisch und die Schauspieler liefern eine überzeugende Performance ab.Extras:- Trailer: Hinweis auf die Illegalität von Raubkopien (startet nach einlegen der DVD), Eigentrailer, Das Phantom der Oper, Alone in the Dark, Fargo, 12 Monkeys, Der Schakal- Behind the scenes- Besetzung/Stab- Produktionsnotizen- Ein DVD-Rom Part (nur mit PC möglich)- Kapitelauswahl- Deutsch / Englisch DD.5.1 + Untertitel + deutsche Untertitel für HörgeschädigteFazit: „Das Relikt“ ist ein ordentlicher „Monsterfilm“. Das Ungeheuer wird zwar nur selten wirklich gezeigt aber die Handlung macht neugierig und hält „bei der Stange“. Die Darsteller sind super und auch alles andere hier weiß zu überzeugen.Fünf Sterne für einen gelungenen Monster-Gruselfilm!

La película llegó a tiempo y en buen estado. La película es una de mis favoritas de terror, muy buenas actuaciones, solo bien con subtítulos en inglés.