Tonight, I watched the classic SciFi movie “Reptilicus” – and here’s my take
There seems to be a general consensus in the SciFi community that Reptilicus is one of the worse monster movies to come out of the 60’s – and they’re mostly right. Flawed science, bad effects.. and most confusing of all; unnecessary over dubbed vocals.
While drilling for copper, miners discover that their equipment has accidentally drilled into.. a giant prehistoric reptile! (that’s not the flawed science part). Upon scientific examination (here it comes) they determine that the piece they’ve exhumed is the tip of a tail. After it’s accidentally thawed out.. it comes alive! (there we go!) and because it’s a reptile – the scientists some how believe that it will regenerate into a complete animal. (wow, the false science runs deep here).
Regenerate it does! Wreaking havoc all over the Dutch countryside – spitting it’s acid spit everywhere it goes.
Why did I subject myself to his movie? It’s so bad, that it’s funny. Seriously – you could do a great “Rifftrax” to this film, if they haven’t already.
Here are a few of the top stupid moments
- The guy who drilled into Reptilicus actually sticks around to try and help. Dude, you’re a miner. And not a very good one. Why were you involved in the script past your 15 minutes?
- Reptilicus can regenerate from pieces of itself.. let’s try to blow it up! yeah, good idea.. um nooooo.
- Why did Science guy let the village idiot (literally, it’s in the script) keep watch over the frozen remains?
- But wait! The village idiot actually did a better job! Science guy sends the idiot home and proceeds to fall asleep with the freezer open..
- Why did head-science guy have two (TWO) heart attacks in this movie? It didnt even come into play in the story.. he doesnt die and take the secret of saving the world with him or anything.. he just has TWO heart attacks, for like No Reason??
- This movie was made in Denmark, but filmed in English.. the American film distributor apparently didn’t like their attempt at English and had the movie re-dubbed with American voice over actors. So yes, a movie filmed in English was over-dubbed.. into English??
Here’s a few gems for you..
- Reptilicus is Denmark’s first and ONLY monster movie.
- Reptilicus is based off the Meso-American god “Quetzalcoatl” – the Winged Serpent.
