History Film / Reptilicus

* SceneryPorn: Well, an attempt at it - there are several scenes of various Danish landmarks and cultural events early in the movie (cut from the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode), presumably inserted to attract tourists who saw the movie. Based on the film's obscurity for many years, it likely it didn't work.

'''''Reptilicus''''' is a 1961 [[UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} Danish]] {{Kaiju}} movie, in the vein of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', notable for being the first and only of its kind. A Danish-American co-production, an English-speaking version was filmed simultaneously with the Danish one, which led to the frequent misunderstanding that the two versions are the same except for language, but in practice there are quite a few differences between the two versions, as the two projects each had their own separate director attached (Poul Bang for the Danish version, and script co-writer Sidney W. Pink for the American version) and a couple of differences in cast. Notably, the American version also went through a somewhat heavier post-production and editing process than its Danish counterpart, [[ExecutiveMeddling due to demands from studio executives]], resulting in it first getting released in 1962.

* GodzillaThreshold: Averted. The Danish army refuses to break out its more powerful ordinance while Reptilicus is in urban areas: First to avoid civilian casualties, and later out of fear that blowing Reptilicus up will cause pieces of it to scatter and eventually form more monsters.

* HealingFactor: Ridiculous amounts of it--Reptilicus heals from extreme wounds in record time.

* HollywoodAcid: The monster's main weapon, in the U.S. cut, aside from being a giant lizard of doom.

* FromASingleCell: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. The whole of Reptilicus regenerates from its tail, but for once the scientists have to keep the tail on a nutritient I.V. to supply it with biomass to regenerate with. This is also the reason why the scientists claim that the Army can't just blow Reptilicus up--if they fail to police up all of the pieces, in a few months they'll just have several more of them running around. [[spoiler:And TheStinger implies that this does in fact happen...]]

'''''Reptilicus''''' is a 1961 [[UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} Danish]] {{Kaiju}} movie, in the vein of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''. It is notable for being the first and only Danish Kaiju film. A Danish-American co-production, an English-speaking version was filmed simultaneously with the Danish one, which led to the frequent misunderstanding that the two versions are the same except for language, but in practice there are quite a few differences between the two versions, as the two projects each had their own separate director attached (Poul Bang for the Danish version, and script co-writer Sidney W. Pink for the American version) and a couple of differences in cast. Notably, the American version also went through a somewhat heavier post-production and editing process than its Danish counterpart, [[ExecutiveMeddling due to demands from studio executives]], resulting in it first getting released in 1962.

* FromASingleCell: The whole of Reptilicus regenerates from its tail. This is also the reason why the scientists claim that the Army can't just blow Reptilicus up--if they fail to police up all of the pieces, in a few months they'll just have several more of them running around. [[spoiler:And TheStinger implies that this does in fact happen...]]

* TechnicolorScience: That's a rather interesting laboratory in the Akvarium

Long considered a CultClassic by kaiju fans, especially in its home country. The film would gain notoriety again in 2017 when it was featured in the first episode of Website/{{Netflix}}'s revival of the popular movie-riffing series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000.'' For tropes in that episode, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E01Reptilicus see here]].

Long considered a cult classic by kaiju fans, especially in its home country. The film would gain notoriety again in 2017 when it was featured in the first episode of Website/{{Netflix}}'s revival of the popular movie-riffing series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000.'' For tropes in that episode, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E01Reptilicus see here]].

Long a considered a cult classic by kaiju fans and especially in its home country. The film would gain notoriety again in 2017 when it was featured in the first episode of Website/{{Netflix}}'s revival of the popular movie-riffing series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000.'' For tropes in that episode, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E01Reptilicus see here]].

* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: In the Danish version, Dirch Passer's character, Mikkelsen, gets a completely unmotivated and random comedic song number featuring a children's choir in the chorus, in the middle of the film, apparently solely because the producers thought the film needed a bit of musical relief.

** One excuse's the soldiers couldn't burn Reptilicus up close as it'd slime 'em to death.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "We'll have to shoot it point blank, from very close range!" Ah, yeah, that's what "point blank" means, dude.

* TheEndOrIsIt: Yay! The army [[spoiler: made Reptilicus swallow a poison missile]], and now it's dead! Denmark can now go back to normal life! [[spoiler: Except that the piece of Reptilicus severed by a depth charge is now twitching...]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: The poster art for the U.S. version showed a gigantic draconic monster ripping San Francisco apart, destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, and laying waste to US Navy ships. The Danish poster art was comparatively much more honest.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: General Grayson is introduced as an unpleasant sourpuss, and his friendliness level never really makes it past "brusque" (though he does hit it off with Svend fairly well); at heart, however, he's a good man trying his best to handle a terrible situation.

'''''Reptilicus''''' is a 1961 [[UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} Danish]] {{Kaiju}} movie, in the vein of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''. It is notable for being the first and only Danish Kaiju film. A Danish-American co-production, an English-speaking version was filmed simultaneously with the Danish one, which led to the frequent misunderstanding that the two versions are the same except for language, but in practice there are quite a few differences between the two versions, as the two projects each had their own separate director attached and a couple of differences in cast. Notably, the American version also went through a somewhat heavier post-production and editing process than its Danish counterpart, [[ExecutiveMeddling due to demands from studio executives]], resulting in it first getting released in 1962.

** And the American general is the one who delivers the death-blow with the rocket launcher. In real life, if a general is firing a rocket launcher at the enemy, something has gone very, very wrong.

** And the American General is the one who delivers the death-blow with the rocket launcher. In real life, if a General is firing a rocket launcher at the enemy, something has gone very, very wrong.

* FromASingleCell: The whole of Reptilicus regenerates from its tail. This is also the reason why the scientists claim that the Army can't just blow Reptilicus up - if they fail to police up all of the pieces, in a few months they'll just have several more of them running around. [[spoiler:And TheStinger implies that this does in fact happen...]]

* GodzillaThreshold: Averted. The Danish army refuses to break out its' more powerful ordinance while Reptilicus is in urban areas: First to avoid civilian casualties, and later out of fear that blowing Reptilicus up will cause pieces of it to scatter and eventually form more monsters.

* {{Novelization}}: Written by Dean Owen, who also did the novelization for ''{{Film/Konga}}''. Owen adds in numerous sex scenes between the characters to spice things up.

Had a short-lived adaptation from Creator/CharltonComics, but because they bought the film rights from the American distributor and not the Danish creators, they had to drop the title after issue 2. The story continued, however as ''Reptisaurus''.

* HealingFactor. Ridiculous amounts of it - Reptilicus heals from extreme wounds in record time.