History Literature / TheRelic

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* InfantImmortality: Averted, as the first museum victims are two young boys who wander off in a closed area. The movie turns and plays it straight though, changing the boys to the discoverers of the body and the victim becomes the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst old black security guard.]]

* InfantImmortality: Brutally averted, as the first museum victims are two young boys who wander off in a closed area. The movie turns and plays it straight though, changing the boys to the discoverers of the body and the victim becomes the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst old black security guard.]]

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler: Moriarty]].

* ViralTransformation: [[spoiler: The reovirus creates monsters out of anything that ingests it]] by inserting saurian and reptilian DNA into host cells; but the victim needs a steady supply of specialized hormones to [[spoiler: retain its new form, the victim-turned-monster]]; in order to acquire these hormones, the victim must go right to the richest source available and ''[[HorrorHunger eat the hypothalamus]]'' of its victims or go mad from the pain of being unable to sustain [[spoiler: its new form]].

* ViralTransformation: [[spoiler: The reovirus creates monsters out of anything that ingests it]] by inserting saurian and reptilian DNA into host cells; but the victim needs a steady supply of specialized hormones to [[spoiler: retain its new form, the victim-turned-monster]]; in order to acquire these hormones, the victim must go right to the richest source available and ''[[HorrorHunger eat the hypothalamus]]'' of its victims or go mad from the pain of being unable to sustain [[spoiler: its new form]]. [[spoiler:Notably, it is completely possible to engineer the reovirus to become a simply watered down version by using animals that aren't dinosaurs and angry killing machines (in Kawakita's case, rabbits) and diluting the reovirus's existing genes with their genes. Kawakita makes a tidy profit in the end by keeping a sample of the reovirus and being a drug dealer known for pushing "Glaze", a drug with no ill effects.]].

* ViralTransformation: [[spoiler: The reovirus creates monsters out of anything that ingests it]] by inserting saurian and reptilian DNA into host cells; but the victim needs a steady supply of specialized hormones to [[spoiler: retain its new form, the victim-turned-monster]]; in order to acquire these hormones, the victim must go right to the richest source available and ''[[HorrorHunger eat the hypothalamus]]'' of its victims or go mad from the pain of being unable to sustain [[spoiler: its new form]]. [[spoiler:Notably, it is completely possible to engineer the reovirus to become a simply watered down version by using animals that aren't dinosaurs and angry killing machines (in Kawakita's case, rabbits) and diluting their genes. Kawakita makes a tidy profit in the end by keeping a sample of the reovirus and being a drug dealer known for pushing "Glaze", a drug with no ill effects.]].

* BrainFood: The Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga. Human brains aren't its first choice, though, it prefers to eat the plants from the Amazon used as packing material in some specimen crates (which have much higher concentrations of the hormones and such it needs). The events of the novel happen because the crates are moved to a more secure area of the basement after a curator notices they've been broken into, forcing it to search for alternatives (read: brains).
* BreakoutCharacter - The main character in ''Relic'' and it's sequel ''Reliquary'' was anthropology post-grad Margo Green, with FBI Agent Pendergast being a supporting character alongside Lt. D'Agosta. Indeed, in the movie version of Relic the Pendergast character was removed completely to focus on Green and D'Agosta instead. However, Pendergast proved so popular that the authors made him the focus of the following books in the series, so much so that the series of novels has become informally named after him.
* ChekhovsGun: Plenty: Moriarty's sundial watch, Margo's handbag, the broken AC unit in the Computer Room.

* ViralTransformation: [[spoiler: The reovirus creates monsters out of anything that ingests it]] by inserting saurian and reptilian DNA into host cells; but the victim needs a steady supply of specialized hormones to [[spoiler: retain its new form, the victim-turned-monster]]; in order to acquire these hormones, the victim must go right to the richest source available and ''[[HorrorHunger eat the hypothalamus]]'' of its victims or go mad from the pain of being unable to sustain [[spoiler: its new form]].

* WhatAnIdiot: Agent Coffey intentionally causes a bottle neck when he leaves only one door out of the Hall of Heavens open and then refuses to let D'Agosta order a sweep of the exhibit because it's been "sealed" for dramatic reveal. [[spoiler: His actions directly lead to the discovery of a body in the exhibit by a packed crowd of people, which then panic and stampede out the bottleneck, killing at least a dozen people in the panic.]]

* LegoGenetics: See ViralTransformation. [[spoiler:Notably, it is completely possible to engineer the reovirus to become a simply watered down version by using animals that aren't dinosaurs and angry killing machines (in Kawakita's case, rabbits) and diluting their genes. Kawakita makes a tidy profit in the end by keeping a sample of the reovirus and being a drug dealer known for pushing "Glaze", a drug with no ill effects.]].

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler: Moriarty]]

* ItCanThink: Mbwun is able to recognize traps, hide bodies, and do what it can to stay out of sight from humans, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that it [[spoiler: used to be human itself]].

* EldritchAbomination: The Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga.
* HardOnSoftScience: Margo doesn't see any worth in Dr. Whitney's anthropological expeditions.

* HotScientist: Margo is especially [[{{Fanservice}} fanservicey]] when she's changing into her dress for the gala.

* ItCanThink: Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga is able to recognize traps, hide bodies, and do what it can to stay out of sight from humans, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that it [[spoiler: used to be human itself]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Lee throws his hat in against Margo for a grant he doesn't even need (and she will have to close down without) and then to up his odds of getting said grant, he has her "accidentally" locked into the labs during the party so he can brown nose the benefactors in peace.
* NationalGeographicNudity: In the opening of the movie Dr. Whitney is in the company of South American natives who wear little to no clothes.

* TragicMonster: Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga, once its full origin is revealed.

* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler: The Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga]].

A string of gruesome murders plagues the New York Museum of Natural History (Chicago in Movie.TheRelic) in the days leading up to a massive gala to open a new exhibit. The strange mutilations of the bodies suggests the killer may not even be human. But with so much at stake, the museum officials decide to push through the opening despite the dangers.

* TragicMonster: Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga, once its full origin is revealed.\

* TragicMonster - Mbwun[=/=]Kothoga, once its full origin is revealed.

* ItCanThink: Mbwun[=/=}Kothoga is able to recognize traps, hide bodies, and do what it can to stay out of sight from humans, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that it [[spoiler: used to be human itself]].

''The Relic'' (or ''Relic'') is a novel by [[AgentPendergast Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child]] first published in 1995 and adapted into a [[Film/TheRelic movie]] staring Tom Sizemore in 1997.

A string of gruesome murders plagues the New York Museum of Natural History (Chicago in TheMovie) in the days leading up to a massive gala to open a new exhibit. The strange mutilations of the bodies suggests the killer may not even be human. But with so much at stake, the museum officials decide to push through the opening despite the dangers.

''The Relic'' (or ''Relic'') is a novel by [[AgentPendergast Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child]] first published in 1995 and adapted into a movie staring Tom Sizemore in 1997.