A surprisingly entertaining "monster-on-the-loose" picture set mostly in halls and private passageways of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

Though based on an original and respected novel, Hyams' horror thriller comes across as a pastiche of the genre's conventions as evident in major pictures of the past two decades, such as Jaws and the first two Alien films.

All of this is actually a lot of fun, if you like special effects and gore.

So it pains me to confess that, aside from the spectacularly ugly Kothoga (a creation of monster-making genius Stan Winston), the movie isn’t much good.