Denmark! Come for the monster, stay for the culture!

Coventry

Here it is: Denmark's very first and only monster movie ever made! I read this trivia info on the website here, but it's exactly the sort of lame excuses my mates and I need in order to track these reputedly awful movies down! However, one thing that immediately struck me as pleasantly surprising about "Reptilicus" was the original way to … awaken the monster; so to speak. Usually it's following an earthquake, or after the thawing of an ice block or radiation, but here it's actually a group of mine workers literally drilling a hole into the monster's tail and pulling up a pile of bloodied flesh. The accidentally chopped off tail is brought to the laboratory of some prominent scientists in Copenhagen for further investigation. They're supposed to be the biggest geniuses in Europe, but they hire a mentally handicapped hillbilly with a flashlight and put him in charge of guarding the monster at night? Smart… The coolest thing about "Reptilicus" is that it was partially intended as a tourist promotional video to attract American travelers. Somewhere halfway the film, the action and suspense are suddenly interrupted for an extended scenic tour around Copenhagen. That's brilliant! May I suggest a catchy phrase to put in the brochure: Denmark! Come for the monster, stay for the country! In many ways this is actually a smart and reasonably ingenious early 60's monster movie. True, it's a giant rip-off and shamelessly borrows elements from "Godzilla", "Beast of 20,000 Fathoms" and "Gorgo", but there definitely also are some imaginative aspects. The makers build up some sort of suspense, for example, by letting us guess what the giant reptile monster looks like exactly. It's a salamander with the size of a dinosaur, but it takes a fairly long time before we get to admire it in all its glory. The special effects are beyond perplexing, with as the most memorable example the devouring of a cartoon drawn little human being – seemingly cut from the storyboard and pasted in the open mouth of the creature. This was quite possible the greatest showcasing of hi-tech special effects I've ever seen. It doesn't get any clumsier and/or more charming than this. Other admirable elements include that "Reptilicus" exclusively introduces intelligent blond-haired women (of course, the majority of Scandinavian women are blond) and features copious amount of military parade stock footage. Some of the extra players are at least 80 years old and it looks as if they were requested to wear their proper WWI uniforms to save some money on the wardrobe and costumes. Last but not least there's a chaotic beach attack sequence that predates the classic "Jaws" sequence with nearly 15 years and there's a truly bizarre moment involving a panicking bridge operator taking a very wrong decision at a crucial time and indirectly causing the death of dozens of people. It's the peculiar stuff like this, which makes me consider "Reptilicus" as a underrated and under-appreciated Sci-Fi gem.

score 6/10

Coventry 4 April 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2231006/