Reptilicus

[Søren]

A note about the Petersen-character: he is played by Dirch Passer, the greatest danish comedian in the mid-twentieth century, uncritically wasting his talent in films like this.

[Click Mort]

   The makers of Reptilicus could have taken the easy way out and made the monster, say, a sock-puppet. They chose instead to spend time, effort, and no doubt a sizable amount of money on a marionnette. Or whatever the hell that is. They should be commended for this.

[brad]

my favorite quote from the movie, when the general (or whatever he is) tells some lacky soldier they'll have to shoot the tranquilizer into the monsters mouth... the soldier flips out and says (in disbelief):
"you'll have to fire point blank - AT VERY CLOSE RANGE!"
personally, i would have fired point black from far far back, but that's just me.

[Georgiann]

Sigh...some groan-worthy special effects in this one, and then there are the INCREDIBLY bombastic, stiff speeches of that all-American guy, Brigadier General Mark Grayson(!), who has to be told about 15 times that he can't blow the monster into little pieces because each piece will regenerate into an entire creature.  So why do I feel compelled to tune in everytime this thing is shown on television?  It's a mystery, but there you are.  

[Hugh]

I say this movie years ago.  I had to turn it off then...being young I was easily embarrassed by the ABSOLUTLEY PATHETIC 'special effects', but had forgotten the Danish singer!  This ranks (easily) with 'Killer Shrews' and 'The Giant Claw' as the most God-awful amazingly bad movies ever made.  At least 'Plan 9' has an explanation (cross-dressing director and Hollywood try-hards at the fringe) and the Troma movies are on-purpose bad.  This...I mean, what were they trying to do?

[Lance Manion]

A classic bad film.  I saw this on cable late night a few years ago.  How could I ever forgrt the green acidic slime of reptilicus.  Thank god there wasn't a REPTILICUS II OR REPTILICUS vs. RODAN.  

[Megaloman]

This has always been one of my favorite monster movies since I was a kid.  I still love it for what it is, and am not ashamed to admit it.
I have seen parts of the Swedish version- including the flying scenes (not any worse than the rest of the movie) and the hilarious song "Tillicus" sung by the comedy relief janitor (he was a big comic star in Sweden at the time).
A fun fun movie, far better than any cgi crap out these days.

David McRobie
Xenorama~
http://homestead.juno.com/xenorama
http://www.geocities.com/megaloman01

[Countess Zarina Suspiriorum]

  Run for your life, a killer hand puppet is attacking Denmark!  Well, it sure LOOKS like a hand puppet!  This is one of my fave movies, perfect for a Saturday afternoon but seriously, how did producer Sidney Pick think anyone would be scared by it?  I mean if Reptilicus ever met The Giant Claw there would be strings tangled all over the place!
 The actors are all Danish but spoke their lines in English phonetically (something doen in Italian films all the time) but evidentally their English was so bad it was dubbed anyway.  Robert Cornthwaite, best remembered as Dr. Carrington from THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951), does the voice of Dr. Martens.
 The best scene by far (and there are several of them) shows Langro Bridge and a terrified bridge guard raising the drawbridge causing several people to fall nto the river.
Those were not stuntmen by the way.  See how they are all on bicycles?  Sid Pink paid a Danish bike racing team a hefty fee if they would ride their bikes off the bridge!
 The effects cannot compare with any Godzilla film, heck they cannot compare with an "Ultraman" episode, but somehow this is still a fun movie and I love my video print.
 Now, does anyone else know the lyrics to "Tivoli Nights"?
Come on, I know one of you does!

[NOICECOOL]

I was watching that movie with my friends and we couldn't stop laughing. It was too terrible to turn off! The a professor having a midnight snack, two lonely european girls, the model buildings, and the newspaper guy asking: "Professor what is regeneration"? I love the tongue, and the legs on his neck.  The best part was the farmer guy getting eaten! It looked like one of those pictures from a JC Penny catalogue!!! :-)

I think these are the writers for the new movie "Gigli"

[kaijuman]

This was the first 'kaiju' type film I ever saw in the movie theatre when I was a kid. (around 1976) and for some reason, maybe becasue I was only 7 years old, it really creeped me out!  Especially that scene with the hand comming out of the tank.
Today I watch it with a sence of nostalga.  Sure, it's a bad film... but a GREAT bad film... and it will always have a special place on my video shelf.
So... when do we see Reptilicus 2?  After all... that arm is still down there....   somewhere....

[Swamprat]

I don't understand it. These are the same people who gave the world LEGO... You'd think they could make a decent monster flick wouldn't you? Remember the TV series Green Acres? There was an episode where there was nothing on TV but this movie. It drove Eddie Albert insane. I didn't think a monster could get more rubber necked than that one flying three headed Tokyo stomper who got his ass kicked by Godzilla. How could I be so wrong? This thing looked like a bad marranotte being handled by a very bad puppeteer. I kept waiting for its snout to get caught in it's own armpit or stuck in something worse. The effects, like the acid spraying, can't really be called special effects. The model buildings and structures are worse than the Japanese  efforts. The British made one of these Godzilla ripoffs called GORGO which proved that round eyed idiots could do it at least AS well as the Japanese did. I guess Scandinavians should stick to building ugly but safe automobles and raising world class hot tub bikini teams. I would think that with their Viking heritage these guys would have designed one helluva serpent type monster...Reptilicus stands on a par with the Giant Crab Monsters and that pitifull "monster" that finally made a brief appearance at the end of the DUNWICH HORROR. The techs back at Toho Studios must still be snickering their asses off over this one. Avoid this snot licker.

[Efrem Sepulveda]

Outstandingly bad movie that I showed my new wife last night!!  I went to Blockbuster to rent this schlock along with Life is Beautiful (for her) to balance out things.  I had a wonderful time with her last night watching a wonderfully bad film.  Tell me folks, does that lady on beach putting lipstick on before she got slimed look like Geena Davis?

[The Unfortunate Dane]

Actually... this movie is... not bad. Not very bad. Not very boring. It is INEXORABLY HORRIBLE AND MORE BORING THAN GODZILLA. But you have to admire their courage. I wonder what the hell went on in that "think-tank" of theirs.

Instructor: "Okay, the americans have already done the James Bond movies, and we were late with our copies. Now the Japanese are doing 'Godzilla', and the americans haven't got a foothold yet. This is it!"

Producer I: "A godzilla in Copenhagen? Wait! How about the Little Mermaid gets toxin all over her body and comes to life? People woulld love that!"

Instructor: "Too small."

Producer II: "You are forgetting ONE thing. This isn't the US, this is Denmark... everything is minor over here!"

Instructor: "Sit down!"

Producer I: "Hey! Hey, hey! How about a massive dino? Like this Japs's... copy it like we are used to?"

Instructor: "I'm listening..."

Producer I: "Yes! Somebody finds a dead dino, takes it to Copenhagen, and it starts making trouble!"

Producer II: "Why would they take it to Copenhagen?"

Instructor: "Let him speak! Go on..."

Producer II: "How does it come to life?"

Instructor: "Shut up!"

Producer I: "We'll figure all that out later... now, in those movies we need special effects, but... there is no such thing in Europe."

Instructor: "How about drawings on film? That would look cool?"

Producer II: "Drawings? That's stupid!"

Instructor: "You're fired!"

Thus did they make Retilicus. Reptilicus? How the hell did they come up with that lame name?

Instructor: "We gotta find a name... Godzilla? No. Mermaidus? Hm? What's the english word for Firben?

Producer I: "Reptile!"

Producer II: "Reptilus?"

Producer I: "How about Riptilla!?"

Instructor: "I got it! I got it! Reptilicus!"

-Silence-

Instructor: "What?"
____________________________________________________________

And so they shot the movie, the green snot, the bad acting, the bad lounge singer... and... made a hell alot of money!

[Max]

It's been 30-years since I saw it. My feeling then was that it was simply the worst movie ever made and nothing since has changed my mind. The 'point blank' line quoted above is my favorite of all time. And I love the shameless Chamber of Commerce travelogue of Copenhagen midway through. Challengers come and go - Reptillicus is still the champ!

[MadMex]

This movie is the all-time greatest Cheese-fest!  I had to buy it for my bad movie collection.  Funny...it seemed so much more sophisticated when I saw it at age 6.