REPTILICUS (1961)
Article #629 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-4-2002
Posting date: 4-29-2003

A reptilian monster with the ability to regenerate itself attacks the beautiful city of Copenhagen in Denmark, where tourists can hear beautiful songs like “Tivoli Nights” and enjoy the nightlife and…sorry, I seem to have gotten off the track.

Some thoughts on Reptilicus.

1. Big, bulky monsters are scarier than weedy stringbeans with tiny arms.

2. There is a point in this movie where people are urged not to panic. This is followed by a succession of montages in which giant guns are pointed straight at the viewer’s eyes. This is not the best way to quell panic.

3. The janitor in this movie is proof positive that every country has its own Jim Varney.

4. The most impressive scene in the movie involves a huge crowd of people (every extra in Denmark?) running across a drawbridge.

5. The least impressive scene is any scene with special effects.

6. Most enduring lesson to be learned from this movie; never give in to the temptation to observe your lunch under a microscope.

7. The Danish speak a lot slower than the Japanese, which makes dubbing them a little clunkier. Also, you would have been able to tell this movie was dubbed even if the words had matched the movement of the mouths; it just never sounds like the words were being spoken in the place where you see them being said.

8. Despite a long travelogue sequence, I still have no real desire to see the beautiful city of Copenhagen.

9. AIP removed all scenes of Reptilicus flying because they weren’t convincing. Instead, they added animation of green acid slime spewing out the mouth of Reptilicus. If this is more convincing than the flying sequences, then I want to see those flying sequences. They also cut a scene of the Janitor singing a song with a bunch of children.

10. Reptilicus dies at the end of this movie, though the janitor and that idiot who runs the drawbridge are left alive and breathing. Is there no justice?

And finally, despite a plot element that promises otherwise, there was no sequel.

Yet.