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Director: Peter Hyams Starring: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore Screenplay: Amy Jones, John Raffo, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver Country: USA

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After an ominous opening sequence that features an anthropologist sampling a weird potion and freaking out in some nondescript South American jungle we see a collection of mysterious crates loaded on to a cargo ship bound for the USA…

Later, in Chicago, the museum of natural history is preparing for a gala event that has been months in the planning, but soon after the aforementioned mysterious crates show up a security guard is found dead – his head ripped off and parts of his brain missing – and with a killer potentially roaming freely throughout the building a shadow is cast over the impending soiree, much to the chagrin of the museum's powers that be. Gruff Chicago cop Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) is called in to solve the case, and after seeking assistance from the museum's comely mini-skirt wearing Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) the pair eventually learns the disturbing truth: the Kothoga - a mythical South American jungle creature with a fondness for the human hypothalamus (that's a particularly tasty part of the brain, apparently) is running rampant in the museum, and unfortunately for all and sundry it has got one hell of an appetite! Of course, this is only revealed after the museum's big event is allowed to go ahead as planned (against D'Agosta's wishes, naturally), providing the Kothoga with an ample selection of partygoers to terrorize and snack upon.

On paper The Relic probably reads like the kind of movie that would be made for the Syfy channel nowadays, but with a budget rumoured to be around the forty million dollar mark this was far from a B-grade cheapie, and director Peter Hyams used Hollywood's fat cheque books to produce a slick, atmospheric and entertaining creature feature.

The film does take its time to get to the creature goodness (the counter had passed the one hour mark before the Kothoga was fully revealed) but if anything this is one of its strengths as Hyams had obviously studied the likes of Alien and Jaws and knew that the "less is more" approach is what made many of the great creature thrillers work effectively. It's not in the same league as Alien or Jaws mind you, but it's still damn good popcorn chewing fun.

The story teases us with the gory aftermath of the Kothoga's handywork early on just so we know what kind of nasty beastie we are dealing with, and thanks to a snappy script (adapted from the novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) that uses all the clichés but never actually feels cliched (D'Agosta's efforts to protect the public are hampered by the powers that be who believe the show must go on at all costs, just like Brodie's struggle in Jaws. And why does the appearance of a large creature always seem to coincide with some sort of major event?) and some solid acting things are far from boring while we wait for the beast to run amok. Tom Sizemore in particular, in his first starring role after playing second fiddle to the likes of DeNiro and Denzel, delivers an engaging performance as the likeable cop who cuts to the chase when the situation needs to be sorted. Example - In one scene, as the scientists, enraptured by the Kothoga's presence, begin theorising and bringing up the creature's mythology, D'Agosta cuts off their scientific gobbledygook to ask "How the fuck do we kill that thing?" I don't know about you, but if I were trapped in a museum with a giant South American creature salivating over my puny brain that's the kind of guy I'd want leading from the front.

When the creature action finally kicks in it's good stuff too. The Kothoga, a sort of cross between a lizard and a lion with nasty teeth and tusks, is a fearsome looking creation (no surprise, considering Stan Winston is credited with the effects work) that is brought to life by a mixture of old fashioned practical FX and CGI. The practical FX look fantastic (again – Winston – would you expect any less?) and the CGI isn't too shabby either.

Some twelve years after it was released The Relic isn't fondly remembered by too many, which is a shame as it is a reasonably smart and well acted movie that doesn't skimp on the essentials like creature action and gore and mixes its straighter faced drama with cheesy monster mayhem and genuinely atmospheric suspense sequences almost perfectly.