The Runestone

1991 "An ancient prophecy is about to become a modern nightmare."
4.8| 1h45m| NR| en
Details

A New York detective takes the case of a bulletproof monster sprung to life from Viking legend.

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Reviews

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
Machiavelli84 You know those movies with a cool idea and set up that should have been a lot better? This movie is one of them.A mysterious runestone is discovered in Pennsylvania and taken to the city, where it turns out to have housed the Norse wolf Fenrir. Fenrir escapes and goes on a killing spree. It turns out that the ancient Viking explorers who arrived to America left Fenrir off inside the runestone (thanks, Nords!) and now that he's been unleashed, he's set to begin Ragnarok (aka, Nordic doomsday).Again, it's a cool premise, and with an awesome soundtrack, decent acting, and capable directing, this film has promise. Unfortunately, the movie gets dumb, and it gets dumb quick. For one, I'd like to know how Fenrir intends to destroy the world when he seems to mostly just do random killing on the street (I've read a little on Ragnarok, and Fenrir's role is a LITTLE MORE involved than just going around killing thugs and homeless guys. Furthermore, it is established early that guns don't work on Fenrir. One character, a police detective, even figures this out from firsthand experience. Despite this, people seem to continually think that a bunch of guys armed with guns are able to fight Fenrir off. Nobody seems to stop and think, "Hey! Wait a minute! Guns don't work! Maybe we should look for SOMETHING ELSE to fight this beast with!" As a result, a lot of policemen needlessly die (and of course, nobody in the city or press ask why half the police force just went bye bye). It's a personal pet peeve of mine when characters don't seem to adjust accordingly, like any sane rational person would. Remember the "Prince of Space" episode of MST3K where Crow shouts to the characters, "YOUR WEAPONS HAVE NO AFFECT ON HIM!" That's how I felt near the end of this movie. I have to also admit that the monster design is a bit disappointing. No, I'm not bummed it wasn't CG. The monster suit itself is actually pretty impressive...however, I just feel like a powerful Nordic spirit would look a little different than a glorified werewolf.There are also some unintentionally funny moments. For example, when the character of Martin attacks a girl, another character says, "Martin! What the h--- are you doing?!" to which Martin replies, "Martin is doing THIS!" and punches him. Then there's another scene where Fenrir puts on a police cap and kills a policeman while wearing it. Really?! The film lost all seriousness for me at that point. I seriously expected Abbot and Costello to appear on the scene after that.Like I said before, the film had amazing potential. It started out really well for the first forty-five minutes or so, but then it starts to go downhill quick. There is plenty to commend this film for, but in the end it just doesn't work out.
Tikkin When I started watching this I thought it was going to be really boring and didn't pay much attention to what was going on. However, it seems that The Runestone is one of those films that improves as it goes on, because things seemed to pick up in the second half. The mystery surrounding the monster slowly sucks you in. The best scene is in the art museum, where a girl is doing some ironing (in a display box thingy) and people are watching her. Suddenly the monster bursts in and attacks her, and blood sprays across the windows. One of the people watching then says: "What's the artist trying to say?" to which another replies "Housework kills". The monster then bursts through the glass and attacks them too. This scene is priceless and definitely worth seeing the film for! There are a few other cool scenes after this which keep you watching. The acting is quite decent and better than most horror flicks. Overall, The Runestone is worth a watch for horror fans who can tolerate a bit of cheese.
Big Squirrel Having just sat through this it is hard to put into words exactly what the viewing experience was like.The plot is pretty much the same as every one of these type of films - Some ancient artifact creates or resurrects a monster, people run around a bit and the monster is killed.What saves this film from rating a 1 is that it is hilarious (but not at the points where it is supposed to be). There seems to be more pointless and stupid chases in this film than any I've seen for a while.The monster looks pretty fake but is not so bad that it ruins the film. The music is totally awful and is almost as bad as the dodgy disco music from Friday the 13th Part 3.The acting and wardrobe are slightly on the dodgy side but it just adds to the charm of this gem of a film.One to see and then try to forget.
HumanoidOfFlesh The miners discover strange runestone in the mine.The runestone is transported to New York.Not long after that an archaeologist Martin Almquist,while studying a discovery,cuts his finger and becomes a blood-thirsty monster.This creature-on-the-loose flick isn't very good,but isn't completely bad either.The film tries to be scary and exciting at the same time,some lines are also pretty funny.No gore at all-for me the lack of blood is disappointing.The acting is acceptable,the monster is creepy looking and kills so many cops that it has to be seen to be believed.Good for the rainy day,just don't expect anything special.My rating:5/10.