The Relic | 
| Director: Peter Hyams
Actors: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $11.95
New (7) Used (19) from $11.95
Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 24610
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.6
MPN: PARD331547D
ISBN: 6305350213
UPC: 097363315476
EAN: 9780792154624
ASIN: 6305350213
Theatrical Release Date: January 10, 1997
Release Date: April 20, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Do yourself a favor: pick up a copy of Alien, Ridley Scott's brilliant sci-fi/horror masterpiece, instead of wasting your time on The Relic. This patent rip-off of just about every other worthy horror and/or disaster flick certainly looks good in the packaging: a sturdy cast led by Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, and Oscar-winner Linda Hunt; a reliable director (Peter Hyams); and a creepy enough setting--Chicago's Museum of Natural History, where an anticipated exhibition about tribal artifacts called "Superstition" is about to debut. OK. So far, so good. But some of the pieces scheduled for show have crossed customs even though the freighter that has hauled them north is found adrift and empty--its crew the victims of a mysterious creature that is soon on the rampage in the museum. The Relic relies on huge leaps of faith to engage the viewer, and finally offers nothing to elevate what could have been good fun--poking here and there at several different movie genres--to a higher level . Ultimately, the film suffers most from its own self-consciousness--it knows it's a carbon copy of better predecessors, and its awkwardness is apparent. The otherwise glossy production is so dimly lit that it's a struggle to tell what's going on, and everything in this tepid formula piece about genetic mutation gone awry is further marred by cheesy special effects. It's almost as if the movie is trying to run away from itself and hide. Try as they may, the cast is saddled with dull, wishy-washy characters who are predictably doomed or saved, depending on their place in the food chain. While the trick in any good sci-fi film is to make the monster as smart--or smarter--than its pursuers, The Relic relegates its mutated horror to less than brainy turf and the war between good and evil is never much of a war at all--just a noisy, bloody, borrowed mess. --Paula Nechak
Product Description
Margo greene is an evolutionary biologist at a chicago museum. When a coworkers research crate arrives without the researcher green and her mentordr. Forck unpack and investi- gate the material which includes a superstitious relic and an unidentifiable virus found on some leaves native to brazil. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Penelope Ann Miller Linda Hunt Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R Director: Peter Hyams
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| Customer Reviews: Read 110 more reviews...
 Can someone post an answer to this question? June 11, 2009
Abby Reuben (Harvard, MA)
I just watched the trailer for this movie and saw the dog .... I want to see this movie but if something bad happens to the dog I don't think I will. Animals getting hurt even in movies is too disturbing. Can anyone tell me yea or nay on this so I'll know whether to rent the movie .... Thanks!
 WHERE IS SPECIAL AGENT PENDERGAST WHEN YOU NEED HIM? April 25, 2009
Geary A., Jones
I like Tom Sizemore, and Penelope Ann Miller, and this little movie had some half decent scares in it ( particularly towards the end ), but it is nowhere near as frightening as the Preston, and Child book, and I for one really had a problem with the absence of the eccentric FBI agent Pendergast, and the often unintentionaly funny, though persistent, rag-reporter, Smithback ( both main characters in the book ). Still, despite some abysmal lapses in credibility I found myself liking the film enough to watch it again. It's hardly a masterpiece, but it does not deserve to be vilified either.
 "B" Horror movie September 30, 2008
:::DIGITAL BABE::: (East Coast)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
There's nothing wrong with "B" horror movies-I like some (The Unnamable, Pumpkin Head, etc etc), but this was not memorable. There were some scary scenes, but overall, it was 2 hours I'll never get back.
The Relic September 14, 2008
J. Szymanski-mills (North St Marys Sydney Australia)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
May not have made it to the big screen but is really a good movie even with no name actors, thrilling from start to finish, leaves you wondering what is going to happen next
An unwelcome brain sucker that might not be worth your time September 8, 2008
Jenny J.J.I. (That Lives in Northern Nevada)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Relic seems to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies about which I always seem to be sitting on the fence. It's a frustrating treat for the eyes of horror, but one hopes for a little bit more.
Penelope Anne Miller stars as Dr. Margo Green, an evolutionary biologist at the Chicago Natural History Museum (no such thing, I imagine; this was filmed at the Field Museum), and Tom Sizemore is here too as a cop investigating some deaths there and outside the museum, nasty deaths, too. I think Hyams does a great job setting up a doom-choked mood; acting as his own cinematographer, he gives the film a dark and dusty look which is appropriate to being set in a museum. I'd have preferred a little more light so that we could see a little more of the museum and what makes it such a wonderfully creepy setting for a horror film, but still, it works, and besides, seeing this on VHS, maybe I should be giving this movie the benefit of the doubt when things are, I trust, a little clearer on DVD. Unfortunately he's got this incredibly annoying habit of framing close-ups way too close. I don't know if the version on video is pan-n-scanned or simply unmated, so I don't know if it would have looked better, or worse, on the big screen. But these close-ups happen a lot and are a bit annoying.
Stan Winston's creature, the Kothoga, is just great. At the time of this film's release, he said frequently that this was the best creature he'd yet created. It's kind of hard to describe, like a cross between a lion and a beetle, but it's big, it's nasty, and it's exceptionally well realized with animatronics and CGI (unusually good CGI for a creature that's hairy; hairy animals are much more difficult to create with computers than scaly ones). This movie's almost worth a rental just for one incredible shot of the Kothoga chasing down one unlucky guy, grabbing him, and ripping off his head, all in one flawless shot.
Sad to say, the story surrounding this monster is ordinary, courtesy of four screenwriters. The central problem with the story is the character of Dr. Green, who has to be one of the most irritating big-screen heroines I've seen in my lifetime. The story itself, problem has no great shakes other, with the obligatory False Scare By Cat happening no more than ten minutes in, followed up later on by a False Scare By Cleaning Lady. There's a lot going for this movie, but it needed a lot more work in the creative department before being shot, not to mention Hyams needing a good, stern lecture about his use of close-ups. Beside that if you haven't seen this then I would recommend this to monster-movie enthusiasts, but most others won't get a lot out of this one.
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