The Relic

The Relic (1997) is a sci-fi horror thriller directed by Peter Hyams, available to watch online on iFILM. Based on the novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the film is set inside the Field Museum in Chicago: a shipment from a South American expedition arrives without its scientist, and the crew of the delivery vessel has been slaughtered.

Detective D'Agosta, played by Tom Sizemore, catches the case. Evolutionary biologist Margo Green — Penelope Ann Miller — is already at the museum studying the crates and starts connecting the deaths to something in the cargo. Linda Hunt and James Whitmore play museum administration doing their best to keep a gala fundraiser on schedule while people disappear in the basement.

Stan Winston's creature effects hold up; Hyams shot much of the film on practical locations inside the actual Field Museum, which gives the institutional gloom a documentary edge. The film is one of the better straight-horror entries of the late-90s monster cycle. Stream The Relic (1997) online on iFILM.