REPTILICUS
(1962)Director: Sidney Pink
MGM
REPTILICUS
(1962)What's green, scaly, shoots acid slime from its mouth, can regenerate at a moment's notice and can fly (at least in the Danish version) from one Scandinavian metropolis to another? If you answered REPTILICUS, then obviously anyone reading this is familiar with this 1962 Danish/American co-production which was released in America under the auspices of that leader of drive-in classics… American International Pictures.
The plot is very simple and manages to throw in every monster movie cliché plus find a couple of new ones in the process. While drilling through the frozen tundra in Northern Scandinavia, Svend Viltorft (Bent Mejding) discovers the fleshy and bloody remains of what scientists Dr. Martens (Asbjorn Andersen) and Dr. Dalby (Poul Wildaker) determine to be of reptilian origin (hence the name "Reptilicus" or "Reptilicus Martentius" as one clever newspaper reporter puts it). Of course, scientific curiosity leads Martens and Dalby to fly the specimen to The Denmark Aquarium in Copenhagen where they have "the facilities for study."
Since this IS a giant monster-on-the-loose "epic," it isn't long before the frozen Reptilicus begins to thaw out (through human carelessness) and regenerate itself a new and improved body. In addition, the ravenous reptile also develops such superpowers as the ability to shoot projectile green acid slime at its hapless victims (shades of Linda Blair!!!) as it makes a virtual shambles of Copenhagen, Denmark. It isn't until General Mark Grayson (an American general played by Danish "actor" Carl Ottosen) arrives on the scene that the battle between man and monster becomes personal as Grayson makes it his business to wipe out this slithering menace once and for all. How does he do that? Well... I'm NOT telling!!! Get up and run (DON'T WALK!!!) to the nearest DVD seller and get this nutty classic in your monster collection today!!!
REPTILICUS is NOT the worst monster-on-the-loose film as some critics may have it, but it IS the most entertaining BAD film you'll see and that makes its charm all the more appealing. The wooden acting (and I'm being kind) is made all the more silly by the dubbing. According to Samuel Z. Arkoff in his 1992 autobiography, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants, when Sidney Pink showed him a rough cut of REPTILICUS, Arkoff couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculous "sing-song" Scandinavian accents. He demanded that Pink hire American actors to re-voice the Danish actors. After a variety of lawsuits, Pink gave in and hired such familiar voices as Robert (THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD) Cornthwaite, Janet (THE JETSONS) Waldo, and J. Edward (THE ANGRY RED PLANET) Mc Kinley to provide the voices for the characters of Dr. Martens, Karin Martens, and General Grayson, respectively. Even co-writer Ib Melchior provided his voice for a variety of characters.
The special effects themselves are of a primitive nature lacking the technological advances of today, but more importantly, it's lacking a decent budget. Reptilicus himself is nothing more than a marionette which plows through a miniature Copenhagen on what looks like a ping-pong table with a painted backdrop and miniature buildings. Also, budgetary concerns forced the special effects crew to eliminate any blue screen effects which would put the characters and Reptilicus on the screen at the same time. The one scene in which this is tried is where Reptilicus pops out of the water behind two beachgoers. Unfortunately, the screen with Reptilicus moves while the two people remain still and the effect is noticeable. Also, Samuel Z. Arkoff eliminated all scenes (for the U.S. release) in which Reptilicus flies over Denmark because they were reportedly laughable.
MGM's DVD isn't bad when you consider that the film was made overseas nearly 40 years ago. However, it is INFERIOR to some of their other recent genre releases (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES for example which has an EXCELLENT transfer). It wasn't shot in "ColorScope" or "Cinemascope" or any other scope popular in the 1960s, so the transfer is in full screen. The colors could have been a little brighter (although the green in Reptilicus' green slime looks pretty good). There are scratches and fuzziness in some scenes as well. However, the picture quality of this DVD is about as good as Orion's 1994 VHS release of this film and THAT was a vast improvement over the chopped up versions floating around TV stations in the 1970s and early 80s. The sound quality is excellent (in mono) and features the English language track as well as an inferior French language track in Dolby Digital. Also, French and Spanish subtitles are available.
The only extra is an original theatrical trailer without any narration. It's too bad that footage (or stills) wasn't found of Reptilicus soaring through the sky. That would have made for an interesting extra as would an audio commentary from director Sidney Pink or even surviving cast members like Ann Smyrner who later appeared in Pink's JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET and with Vincent Price in AlP's THE HOUSE OF 1,000 DOLLS. Still, all nitpicking aside, REPTILICUS always held a special place in my heart NOT because it's a great science fiction film (which it most certainly is NOT), but simply because of how hard Mr. Pink and his cast and crew tried to be convincing. They don't always succeed, but they do give us genre fans 81 minutes of a cult classic which should be owned on DVD by any TRUE monster movie collector. (Joe Cascio)