Reptilicus

Una versión danesa del género de monstruos, en la que un lagarto gigante, que escupe baba verde, amenaza Copenhague. Una película comercial de gran presupuesto y mentalidad seria con un guión formulado y personajes formulados pero tipológicamente bien elegidos. Olvídate del posible carácter distintivo europeo del concepto, aquí todo parece una competición de Hollywood: el ejército, las escenas multitudinarias, el puente levadizo, las dos guapas rubias. Ni siquiera falta el ataque al monstruo bajo el agua. Pero el problema son los pésimos efectos visuales, que en algunas escenas te dejan sin palabras (el escupitajo de baba verde, el hombre en la boca del monstruo). Las películas de ciencia ficción norteamericanas de los años 50 estaban mejor hechas técnicamente. Y esas tomas de archivo de los barcos hundiéndose, que supuestamente no son de archivo y fueron hundidos por Reptilicus... ¡qué va! (04.08.2005)

Poster tagline: INVINCIBLE! INDESTRUCTIBLE! SEE: A MIGHTY CITY TRAMPLED TO DESTRUCTION! SEE: MISSILES AND ATOM BOMBS POWERLESS! SEE: CIVILIZATION RIOTING WITH FEAR! The Japanese have their Godzilla monster-horror movies, Hollywood also has them and the British have tried them with success, so why not the Danes? But as they say, two people might do the same thing, but the result it’s not always the same. Everyone failed here, from the FX artists to the screenwriters and the second rate Danish actors, who, with deadpan performances, recite their lines mechanically like robots (with cringeworthy English), the only one at least a little alive is the actor playing the general, who on the other hand, is hysterically overacting. The FX artists failed, and I have to say that the botched model of the monster was the least of the transgressions. During the final demolition of Copenhagen, there is absolutely no interaction with the already crappy paper models of the buildings, so most of the time the rubber snake rubs its head on them, like a dog on its owner's leg, and spits green saliva in post-production, which doesn't go anywhere and looks like a marker line; and pyrotechnic effects? You can only dream about them. The inhabitants of Copenhagen, i.e. the extras, are running around in a "panic", and if you look closely you can see how they are laughing, I guess the shooting was a lot of fun. The first hour stretches out the time as much as possible, so there is a ten-minute tourist trip through the attractions of Copenhagen, spiced up with a live jazz song (nothing against it, it was ironically one of the few bright moments). And so the only thing that snapped me out of my lethargy was the disruption of the necessary genre cliché with typical characters: the professor with his beautiful daughter and the young scientist with whom the young lady falls in love, but in this case the professor has two daughters. Well, the Danes are original after all :o) (04.03.2013)

"Reptilicus" is a classic product that was filmed in its time. The attempt for each country to have its own monster that tries to destroy its main city. However, "Reptilicus" doesn't stand out either in terms of special effects or the story, so it is more of just an curiosity - also from the perspective that it is the first and so far the only horror film with a monster ever filmed in Denmark. (13.04.2014)