BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

carlvistisen At the world expo in Shanghai Denmark chose the little mermaid to be the representative of Denmark and Danish culture. This was a mistake! A mistake only comparable to the Danish military effort during the battles in 1864. Reptilicus is not only the best danish movie ever made, but also the greatest thing ever to be made in Denmark. The reasons why it was no exhibited at the expo remains unknown for surely even a simpleton would be able to see the greatness of this movie. To label this as a movie is inaugurate for this is not only art, this is the product of the human race, all lives lived led to this movie. Reptilicus represents more than just perfection, it represents hope, that in our otherwise meaningless and painful existence there is meaning. Reptilicus is the lighthouse that with a beacon of hope shines in the fog of existence. You can simple not make movie without inspiration from Reptilicus whether it is a conscious decision or not.

MisterWhiplash The monster Reptilicus (I forget if and how often the monster is referred to as this in the movie, but let's run with it and say it is for the sake of the world's entertainment) is a wonder to behold. In what was Denmark's one and only monster movie, how the monster becomes what it is is one thing - it's practically formed through scientist neglect as a guy sleeps on the job and he (or it, not sure if it's a she) un-thaws in a much smaller form of basically a reptile-loaf. Then it reveals to the scientists the next day a small crater-sized wound that is healing itself. And then, you know, one thing leads to another and then BOOM there's a giant reptile-snake thing that looks like a deformed 3 year-old's attempt at a monster creation in the Jim Henson shop, crawling around eating poor unsuspecting people (or at least one guy) through the magical power of horrible special effects (seriously, there's a moment where the monster eats a human that's clearly there through the power of badly placed matte-lines).The monster is so gloriously stupid that it's only a wonder that it took so long for the Mystery Science Theater guys to get around to it upon the revival 18 years after the end of the show. This movie is prime-cut MST3K action, full of wooden actors - and some, like the inimitable Dirch Passer as Peterson (like a less subtle but less intentionally funny Kramer from Seinfeld) who are completely goofy, with the director Sidney Pink trying for real laughs like when he puts his hand in an eel tank - and that monster of the title. You almost can't believe when you first see what Reptilicus looks like and that he/she/it is going to be what we're getting; no amount of commentary can make one not laugh at it, and it's one of the pleasures of bad movies to see it there on the TV screen.Did I mention this is a monster movie from Denmark? Some may not notice if one is only paying attention to the redubbed voice-work from AIP, though this creates an odd feeling as Pink had his actors and actresses speaking *in* English, so it has that effect of knowing the actors aren't speaking with their voices, but they don't have that Japanese or Italian style of dubbing where they try to match their mouths. This coupled with the usual lot of types of stock characters, whether it's the stern-faced scientists or the stern-faced military-men (oh those maps they look at where they don't seem to be pointing at anything) and the women who have the same serious but smiling expressions (yeah sounds like a contradiction, just watch), makes for a sit that is hilarious but also occasionally quite boring. Oh, the dialog certainly helps to bring some laughs, but it's telling that the new MST3K characters have to do a lot of work, particularly in the second half, to make it watchable at all.I mention the second half, which is actually where the majority of the action takes place (most of the first half is set-up, with the scientists unearthing this reptilicus at some construction site that, as the MST3K guys says, is like a place out of the end of the Wicker Man, and then how it forms and remolds and grows in the lab). The problem is mostly one of pacing; there's a first attach by Reptilicus that is a lot of fun, and then it goes into the water after it burns to heal. Then the military tries to strike it with some stock-footage navy ships, and this only reveals it that when it's broken apart it grows *new* Reptilicuses (or Reptilicii, I don't know the plural of a made up monster). And then this new Reptilicus attacks a city, with crowds of Danish folk running all amok (many of them smiling, naturally, since they know they're in a cheesy monster movie as opposed to *real life*), and yet this last part feels so connected to the section set in the ocean that it drags. A lot.Sure, criticizing this movie seems like a moot thing to do, but I thought it might be worth pointing out; part of this is that one or two of the jokes by the crew don't hit every time, so one is left watching this dopey nonsense. But at the least Pink's movie is a glorious bit of nonsense, all summed up by the creature with its (sometimes) green slime or fire or whatever coming out of its matte-lines near the mouth, and some of the 'acting' is so stone-faced it's impossible not to chuckle when they go about plodding through the exposition. It makes for a grand return to form for cheesy/worst movies, though among the worst this isn't so bad.

Scott LeBrun Copper miners in Lapland unearth some organic material. It turns out to be part of the tail of an enormous prehistoric reptile. It's kept on ice back in a lab until a power failure allows the tail to warm up. And because reptiles sometimes have the power of regeneration, the tail grows back into a full grown lizard monster. Which does go on the eventual rampage, of course. The weary yet intrepid military man trying to keep on top of the situation is General Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen).The big problem with producer-director Sidney W. Pinks' movie (which he co-scripted with the great Ib Melchior) is that it gets completely bogged down in talk for its first half. Exposition rules the day, at the expense of action. As a result, it may be hard for some people to stick with "Reptilicus". The Danish cast do the best that they can, even if none of the characters are really all that engaging. Still, in cheap and cruddy genre cinema such as this, you don't exactly ever expect Oscar baiting performances. One amusing highlight is the dopey comic relief by Dirch Passer as slow witted bumbler Petersen.It's no accident that Reptilicus itself is more entertaining than anything else here, no matter how bad the special effects may be at times. The most awful - and gut busting - effects involve the "acid slime" emanating from Reptilicus's mouth. Once this thing enters the movie in a big way, the entertainment value goes up substantially. Dare I say it, the movie's even exciting, in its own stupid and inept way.Pink and company got much cooperation from the Danish people, including virtually the entire population of Copenhagen. The local armed forces also lent quite a deal of assistance.The bottom line is, "Reptilicus" does emerge as a solid diversion of its type. It just requires its viewers to have a fair bit of patience for a while. But they get rewarded with such things as a death occurring between the 43 and 44 minute marks. See this one to believe it!Five out of 10.

JoeB131 Alright. New Rule. Japan won't try to do any Hans Christian Anderson Stories and Denmark won't try to do any more giant monster movies.This seems like an absolutely fair trade off to me, after watching this film that give the Godzilla movies a whole new dignity.The plot is they find a chunk of frozen lizard tail that they let thaw out and it grows a whole new lizard (as opposed to the other way around.) The Lizard then proceeds to rampage over Denmarks' landmarks, while an American General fumes.The special effects are beyond laughable, and if the MST3K guys missed this one, shame on them.We did get a lot of shots of 1960's Copenhagen, which were fun to watch.