Reptilicus
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Movie Reviews of Reptilicus
Movie Review: reptilicus
Summary: 5 Stars
great dvd if you are in to sci-fi and its part of the godzilla history. why its manda before he was updated.Movie Review: Ed Wood, eat your HEART out!
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine what an Ed Wood movie would be like if he had a large budget and government support, including shutting down a major city and the used of the Armed Forces. Yes - THIS is what you'd get! Sid Pink got his ticket punched when he made "Angry Red Planet", which single-handedly saved AIP's bacon. Sid travelled to Europe looking for distributors for "Angry Red Planet", and met Danish film wheeler-dealer Henrik Sandberg, who invited him to Copenhagen, and the rest is history. His AIP bosses gave him the go-ahead for a monster pic that would feature the "beauties of the Danish countryside". Pink also had permission to block off Copengahen's main square whenever he wanted, plus all the unpaid extras he could use. (In one scene, a local bicyle club rides their cycles off of a raising drawbridge for no other reason that it would look neat!) Even the Danish Army and Navy were at Pink's disposal: tanks, cannons, and a cutter throwing live depth charges.
Just to keep interest up, a Danish-language version was filmed at the same time as the English. Ann Smyner, a Danish actress, got top billing but SHE looks ridiculous in a jaw-dropping array of "country girl"-style dresses that make Mary Ann look like Ginger. Mimi Heinrich, another Danish ingenue, comes across MUCH better. Carl Ottosen, a Dane whose English was about as good as my Uzbek, plays the American general who takes over the Danish military (obviously HE got dubbed in). The entire cast seems to have learned their lines phonetically, giving them the aspect of having been recently thwacked in their collective heads by a two-by-four. But all this pales when the marionette "Reptilicus" comes into it's own. Only "The Giant Claw" can boast of a sillier-looking monster - this thing is downright pit-i-ful.
And yet - how can anyone resist this glorious mess? An entire scene devoted to a local singer belting out "Tivoli Nights" as the monster approaches the city, not as filler, but because Pink was so much in love with Copenhagen! A dirt-dumb janitor who decides to stick his arm in an aquarium just to see if that eel really *is* electric (and yup, it is....).
You can catch scenes of this astonishing movie in old episodes of "Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Monkees", among others. In it's way, it came to symbolize the entire zeitgeist of 60s drive-in/cheapo monster movies, but I assure you, it wasn't for lack of money or logistical support. This one must stand as perhaps the purest example of NO TALENT.
Riff away!
Movie Review: Caution: Acid Slime!
Summary: 4 Stars
'Reptilicus' is the rarest of the Grade Z monster movie, alone in the genre of Danish giant lizard attacks Copenhagen with green 'acid slime' type movies, to my knowledge. True to form, the Danes call for UN intervention and after many wacky miscues finally discover an adequate method of pest control. This film achieved a very large cult following in both Denmark and the US in the 1960s, and clips from `Reptilicus' were frequently used on the sitcom "The Monkees" and elsewhere.The film begins with Danish copper miners exploring for mineral deposits and finding some strange reptile flesh, which when taken to the laboratory eventually transforms into Reptilicus, a lizard with a nasty attitude. The UN spends the last half of the film chasing him around with tanks, ships, etc.; only when scientists and the military get together can they find a solution to their infestation problem.
This is typical early 1960s fare: silly monster, silly dialogue, lots of padding (yes, even musical interludes) and ludicrous special effects (especially the `acid slime' and the farmer getting eaten scene) combine to make this a classic. Considering when it was made and the novelty of it being from Denmark, this is a decent drive-in movie. It is a little more ponderous and stuffy than some of the contemporary monster movies from the US, so it doesn't rate five stars for camp value, still, a pretty fun picture to watch with the right frame of mind.
Movie Review: Shoot him point blank, at close range!
Summary: 4 Stars
If you are looking for a high-budget (for the time) Danish monster flick, this one is well worth the rental fee, if not buying (PRICE). The stilted English of General Grayson alone is good for a laugh or two, not to mention the deadly monster vomit that always appears to hit the camera. The picture quality of the DVD is suprisingly good for a 40 year old film (unfortunately no widescreen), though the scenes of Reptilicus himself look like they were filmed with a camcorder at the drive-in. You're already wasting time searching for B-movies on the Internet, why not do something useful and spare 80 minutes to watch this frightening chronicle of the fall of Copenhagen.Movie Review: Monster Movie Nostalgia
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this movie for nostalgia value and rated it that way as well, I first saw this movie in the early 60's at a Saturday afternoon matinee, I was on my own and it scared me more than any Godzilla feature, The monster looked more "lifelike" than some of the others I had seen up to that time,This movie was also in color which is probably why I remember it, I seem to remember Behemoth only in B&W and not sure about the Godzilla movies.As I said nostalgia was the only reason I bought this DVD but if you are a collector of Monster Movies I believe you would have to have this one in your collection.