Reptilicus (1961)

One of the best of the so bad it’s good movies. If those are your favorites, don’t miss this one. American International by way of Denmark comes up with what happens when a copper miner drills the wrong tail. As a bonus Carl Ottosen is on hand  as American General Mark Grayson with one of the screen’s worst “acting” jobs.

Sven finds blood on his drill. He and his fellow copper miners take a look. It’s a large piece of tail.  It ends up in an aquarium freezer in Denmark. Professor Otto Martens is in charge. Dr.Peter Dalby tries to put some bones together. Dimwit Petersen is hired to keep an eye on the tail. The room has to stay frozen.

A sleepy Dalby gets careless and the freezer door opens and the tail is no longer frozen. It’s growing. Joining the fun are blonde UNESCO scientist Connie Miller and General Mark Grayson (Carl Ottosen). He doesn’t want to be there. Of course he and Connie take a tour of Copenhagen and it melts his cold,cold heart…for a while.

One night during the inevitable thunderstorm the electricity goes out. Dalby tells Petersen to get the cops. Since he’s busy sleeping instead of putting his lunch under a microscope or sticking his fingers in the electric eel tank he hops on his bike. When the cops get there only Dalby’s glasses are left. Reptilicus is outta there.

So, how did he grow from a piece of tail without all that “Jurassic Park” science stuff? Because he did. That’s why.

The ninety foot cross between a reptile and a mammal visits a farm. He devours fourteen cows. Since they come with their own milk they were easy to digest. Grayson leads tanks and other heavy artillery to the scene. Reptilicus heads for the water as the firepower makes him laugh.

Later on a couple on the beach don’t see a film running behind them of Reptilicus coming out of the water. That clears the beach in a hurry. Just for kicks he spits out a green acidic slime. Its effects aren’t shown because it wasn’t in the budget. A flame thrower makes him lose his sense of humor and get back underwater. Time to call in the Danish Navy.

There he is! He’s half asleep and trying to recover. Now he’s being depth charged. He loses a claw before Otto stumbles into the lab and warns that the critter can regenerate. Otto had a heart attack while they were trying to blow Reptilicus up. He and Grayson butt heads on how to destroy him.

Now the battle for Copenhagen is on! This is one thousand percent fun. It looks hopeless. Then Sven comes up with the answer.

Reptilicus tries to find out the time

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