The Relic (1997)

The Relic (R) - Review

"Who's the brains of this operation?"

A mysterious relic is shipped from South America to a US Museum in Chicago, but when the boat arrives all the crew are found decapitated.  From there a string of murders in the museum occurs, leading case detective Lt. D'Agosta (the always bigger than life Tom Sizemore) to conclude that there is a killer on the loose that may be more than human.  No one of course will listen to him, for there is an annual gala opening that evening that Chicago's finest will attend (including the Mayor, who orders it to continue to show off his wife's cleavage, seriously).  And so its up to the resident actors to survive the bloodbath with the rubber monster, lead by Linda Hunt, James Whitmore and the lovely Penelope Ann Miller.  Made by veteran Scifi director Peter Hyams (Outland, 2010), the film has CGI that has aged badly, really rubbery effects and obvious lifts from other better horror films, stupid Violin screeches in a desperate attempt to elicit nonexistent scares, a central mystery with as much mumbo jumbo as science and Cinematography as blindingly pitch black as Midnight in a Virginian coal mine.  All this makes The Relic live up to its name, an outdated artifact of late the 1990s Hollywood intent on watering down the Horror genre to attract non-fans.  Despite genuine efforts both in front and behind the camera to make it memorable, The Relic ends up just another forgotten piece of junk gathering dust.

5.5  Hypothalamus' out of 10 (MEDIOCRE)