In the 60s, there were a lot of monsters following in Godzilla’s footsteps. Each nation wanted its own Kaiju: Korea created Yongary; England created Gorgo; and then there was Denmark. Yes, Denmark decided to make its own Kaiju flick, Reptilicus.
As things spread, though, the core idea of what a Kaiju means is lost, which is only partly the case with Reptilicus. This film has the added bonus of having edits done to make it better in the international market that simultaneously make it worse.
Kaiju, as a general rule, are living embodiments of disaster or otherwise forces beyond mankind’s control. Even the nice ones like Mothra and King Caesar are actually deities. These are beasts that mankind cannot deal with, without going to extreme measures. This is one of the reasons the monster in the American Godzilla (1998) was received so harshly. It was not a Kaiju, but just another animal enlarged and mutated that once roamed the screen in great numbers in the 1960s and 1970s.
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So, does Reptilicus meet that standard?
Well, it does and it doesn’t. The creature is pretty well armored, but extreme enough force can pierce its hide and blow it apart. The problem comes from the fact that it’s a reptilian starfish, and each little bit can grow into a new Reptilicus. The commentary is blatant: overt military action and wanton use of that power is dangerous and even worse than any problem it may face. Precision is the key to victory. A fun little cold war message.
The shape of Reptilicus is another point of symbolism. Though it is called a Dinosaur, the creature is without a doubt a heraldic dragon. Particularly, it brings to mind the engravings off Ulisse Aldrovandi, with the way the wing is shaped and the overall body plan. This monster has some pretty deep links in Denmark (the epic Beowulf featuring one, albeit not within Denmark proper). The Dragon remains a symbol of mass destruction and danger—a perfect guise for a Kaiju.
Biology
This is where things get weird.
See, there are two different cuts of the film, and each one presents us with different abilities for the monster. The first cut is the original, Danish copy. The second is the American/International version recorded in English, but then dubbed over anyway.
But let’s start with the basics. The monster is called an archosaur (a group that includes dinosaurs, crocodiles and others), though a very primitive one which for some reason is fully amphibious (able to hide underwater for long periods of time or is in the minds of the writer, fully able to breathe water). Its limbs are quite stumpy both in front and in back. This combination of features brings to mind primitive snakes like Pachyrhachis, Eudophis, Haasiophis and Najash, which all had legs they were in the process of losing and most were either aquatic or semi-aquatic.
The forearms have little claws, but jutting from the shoulder are “Wings”. These are not wings as any other living creature has them, they are almost like the gliding flanges of the modern flying dragon (Draco volans), though all originating at the shoulder rather than spread along the body. It crawls along its belly like an elephant seal (or Jabba the Hutt) and has four pairs of huge fangs.
The monster is also gifted with powerful regeneration, like that of a starfish.
From a tail fragment or severed leg, the creature can grow whole. The rate is realistic, but the energy requirements are still pretty extreme. Starfish can get away with it due to multiple redundancy systems in their body and a general lack of a proper brain. Reptilicus . . . ostensibly, is more complicated than that.
But there are worse things to make fun of in this one.
Now comes the tricky part.
In the Danish version, Reptilicus could fly – one off the most unconvincing effects ever put to film.
We’re talking Ed Wood level flying.
But don’t take MY word for it:
Yeah, that’s fishing line flying at its finest. Big things flying is worse than big things just standing in terms of stresses on the body.
So the distributors cut that and gave him another power to compensate: spitting acidic slime. Like a spitting cobra, only stickier and sillier. This effect is super imposed on several scenes of people running (and laughing).
They also cut out a musical number and inserted in its stead a scene of Reptilicus eating a paper cut out.
Okay, sidetrack over, back to venom. There are quite a few cobras that can spit their venom (all in the genus Naja), and they tend to have a spitting range of over 6 feet. This is used to blind attackers and is primarily defensive.
In Reptilicus, it’s more like Godzilla’s breath. It’s used defensively, but it’s implicitly lethal to all it hits, as their super-imposed nature doesn’t allow after shots.
It’s probably a personal matter at which ability is sillier.
