“I’m a soldier professor Martens not a scientist. That’s the way I know how to kill.”
Mining engineers in Lapland looking for copper pull up a hunk of something they can’t identify. They call in a couple scientists for advise. It turns out it is a part of the tail of some kind of prehistoric reptile. The tail is sent to Professor Martens (Asbjorn Andersen) in Copenhagen and kept frozen so that scientists can study it. Someone, however, leaves the door to the cooler open and the tail thaws out. The scientists discover that the tail has started to regenerate. So the scientists, who are real smart people, think “Hey, let’s grow a giant prehistoric reptile”. Good idea.
Eventually Reptilicus regenerates totally. During a power failure he breaks out of his container and starts his rampaging through the countryside. The Danish military is called out. They are led by the United Nations appointed American general Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen). They must find a way to kill the monster without blowing it up. With it’s regeneration abilities each piece of monster has the potential to make another monster.
"Reptilicus" was release in 1961 and was directed by Poul Band and Sidney W. Pink. There’s some comic relieve with the antics of the night watchman Peterson played by Dirch Passer. Passer is considered Denmark’s greatest comedian. OK. It appears that all of Copenhagen was used as extras on the film. I’ve never seen so many people running from an imaginary monster before. It was awesome.
I’m a fan of giant monster movies. Whatever kind of monster they are. And usually I don’t care what the monster looks like. It can be a guy in a suit, it can be something on a back screen that looks big, it can be rubber, or paper mache whatever. Reptilicus is a case in point. Crappy sea serpent type monster with tiny hands on tiny arms and green acid spit shooting from its mouth. Loved it! He is a combination of a marionette and hand puppet depending on the need. Wobbly from head to tail. And he’s one of my favorites.
The original Danish-language version was directed by Danish director Poul Bang and released in Denmark. The American version, which was in English with a nearly identical cast, was directed by the film's American producer-director Sidney W. Pink. It was Denmark's first and last giant monster movie.