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The Relic

Play trailer Poster for The Relic R 1997 1h 50m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
41% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 34% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
A homicide detective (Tom Sizemore) helps a biologist (Penelope Ann Miller) hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.
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The Relic

The Relic

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Critics Consensus

Fleeting moments of brainless monster mayhem aside, The Relic proves to be too predictably derivative for its own good.

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Critics Reviews

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Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune Jul 10, 2017
3/4
A surprisingly entertaining "monster-on-the-loose" picture set mostly in halls and private passageways of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy Variety Dec 23, 2006
C
Though based on an original and respected novel, Hyams' horror thriller comes across as a pastiche of the genre's conventions as evident in major pictures of the past two decades, such as Jaws and the first two Alien films. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Jan 1, 2000
3/4
All of this is actually a lot of fun, if you like special effects and gore. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault Sep 1, 2022
C-
So it pains me to confess that, aside from the spectacularly ugly Kothoga (a creation of monster-making genius Stan Winston), the movie isn’t much good. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com Jun 27, 2021
3/5
...a deeply silly and perfectly enjoyable no-brainer... Go to Full Review
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Sep 24, 2020
7/10
Features the best ingredients of contemporary monster movie formulas: loud noises, dark places, isolated characters, sudden images of bloody body parts, and red herrings. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Robert P @Superbad 2 days ago The Relic = a *2* star Movie! See more B P @Bradster69 Sep 12, 2026 Not Bad, but Not My Favorite See more James I @James66 Jun 1, 2026 worthless , waste of time See more R T @RT15385128 Nov 14, 2025 This movie was a surprise and special effects are great for the time, Tom Sizemore is a great actor See more Justin T @RT08580778 Oct 21, 2025 Sadly the characters are barely believable as humans, but the performances are memorable because the characters are flawed. I found the story excellent and the casting too. The effects are also excellent, maybe a little dated in the finale but it won’t spoil your fun. The monster is very awesome cool but it’s a shame it’s not in more of the movie. You don’t see the monster until the last 30 minutes. The film is kinda Lovecraftian and kinda like Alien (1979). I didn’t like the cinematography or the editing. It was overcut to the point of nausea and so darn dark you couldn’t tell what was going on. They really hammered the superstition thing right into the skull at every possible moment. For all the flaws, like the water being too shallow to hide the monster, it is a very engaging film with a clever story and a setting I hadn’t really seen before in a horror film. Ultimately there’s a big monster that is really cool and eats people’s heads, that makes it worth watching. See more Jelisije J @jjosifovic Oct 17, 2025 I'm from Chicago and I've been to the field museum so I enjoy this film, but that being said despite my biases this film is shot way to much in the dark which is completely unnecessary and really takes away from the realistic tone this film had. See more Read all reviews
The Relic

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The Relic

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Movie Info

Synopsis A homicide detective (Tom Sizemore) helps a biologist (Penelope Ann Miller) hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.
Director
Peter Hyams
Producer
Sam Mercer, Gale Anne Hurd
Screenwriter
Amy Holden Jones, John Raffo, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Production Co
BBC
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 6, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$34.0M
Runtime
1h 50m
Sound Mix
Surround
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