[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[FATHER SIGHS]
[EXCLAIMING IN ANNOYANCE]
[UTENSILS CLATTERING]
Honey, it's family hour,
there must be something on.
DAUGHTER: Oh, wow, Candied Critters!
[FATHER EXCLAIMS]
Oh, great. It's Monsters, our favorite show!
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
[SHUSHING]
It's starting.
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
[FATHER CHUCKLES]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[PHONE RINGING]
[DIAL TONE]
Damn.
[SIGHS] Nearly seven.
He said he'd be here no later than five.
He probably got slowed down by the storm, Dad. Relax.
Relax? I've got an hour's drive ahead of me.
If Merrick's made me wait all this time
just to hear another of his ridiculous theories,
I'm gonna be very upset.
[DOOR OPENS]
Come on, Jeffrey, aren't you gonna give me a hand?
This better be good, Paul. Dad's really mad.
Thanks, Anita.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, Merrick, what is it this time?
The find of the age, Jeffrey.
This thing's big.
It's bigger than atomic power or penicillin.
This thing is gonna rewrite history.
Forgive me if I reserve judgment on that.
All right, look. I was on my dig a couple of days ago outside of Reno.
The radio started screwing up,
and I'm not just talking about interference,
the damn thing was magnetized along with everything else in the camp.
Look at this.
Look at this magnetic field.
Look at that intensity.
It's some sort of magnetite or a meteorite, perhaps.
No, no, it's an unnatural field.
It... It's too light to be solid.
I tried to take core samples,
and it broke every diamond drill bit I had.
You get it?
A machine? It's a machine?
[PHONE RINGING]
Let it ring, damn it, this is more important.
This thing was found in sedimentary rock
dating back to late Cenozoic.
Whatever's in here is 65 million years old.
Impossible.
You mean like some sort of alien artifact?
Or evidence of an intelligent life back then,
technically as advanced as we are now.
I expected something outrageous from you, Merrick,
but this time, you've outdone yourself.
Come on, we all know what's in here. We have no explanation.
Let's open the damn thing. Let's use the laser drill.
Come on, it's not gonna do your tenure any harm.
Oh, come on, Dad.
All right.
It seems the easiest way to prove you wrong.
[BUZZING]
We're not making a dent.
Uh-oh.
The last time, the power was down for two hours.
Batteries are dead.
We'll get another one from downstairs.
We'll get a Geiger counter too. Come on, Paul.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUDDING]
[GROWLING]
[ANITA SCREAMS]
[CREATURE GROWLING]
What the hell happened?
How'd this thing get opened?
Whatever was in here is gone.
That's impossible.
That's so weird.
This design is... most unsettling.
Talk about unsettling, take a look at that.
LISA: Blood.
I wonder whose blood.
Anita.
[CREATURE GROWLING]
What was that?
[CREATURE GROWLING]
Paul, what is it?
What's going on?
This must be some kind of hoax.
No, it's not a hoax. Whatever was in that shell is alive.
[CREATURE CONTINUES GROWLING]
[ACID SIZZLES]
[CREATURE SCREAMS IN PAIN]
What was it?
Dad, I'm terrified.
[WIND HOWLING]
Come on, let's get the hell out of here.
Are you out of your mind? With that thing lurking around out there?
Okay, look, let's push the cabinets up against the door
and try and keep it out.
Lisa, get the lantern.
Are you crazy? That's not gonna stop it.
You got a better idea?
Come on.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
Call the police.
Hello?
Help, help!
Hello!
The phone's dead.
Great. Now what are we gonna do?
You're responsible for this creature being free, Merrick.
You better think of something.
All right, Jeffrey, you can blame me later,
but let's figure out what we're up against.
Now this thing dates back to when the dinosaurs died out.
JEFFREY: So? MERRICK: So what if it's an intelligent race
that evolved from dinosaur origins,
you know, like some sort of pre-human civilization
before whatever disaster happened.
You're saying that this is some sort of a time capsule?
Lisa, get me the Geiger counter.
[GEIGER COUNTER CRACKLING]
You're right, Lisa.
This thing had a wake-up call set millions of years ago.
It's probably an isotope that won't have life decay.
If they built this capsule, then it must be intelligent.
And that means we can reason with it,
communicate with it.
You mean the way it communicated with Anita?
Or maybe it was frightened.
Perhaps not fully recovered from its hibernation.
[CREATURE GROWLING]
It's back!
What are you doing?
I'm gonna go search for some kind of a weapon to fight this thing.
No, no. No, listen, we are scientists,
we're not little creatures hiding from a hungry lizard.
We've got to overcome our instincts!
Well, my instincts are pretty good right now!
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[GROWLING]
Dad?
JEFFREY: Listen to me.
I know you are an intelligent being.
You must recognize me as one also.
We won't hurt you.
We mean no harm.
Wait... [SCREAMS]
Dad!
[JEFFREY SCREAMING IN PAIN]
[CREATURE GROWLING]
[SCREAMS]
[THUDDING]
[THUDDING STOPS]
[PANTING]
Why?
Why isn't it attacking us?
I don't know.
Maybe it's not hungry now.
Oh, God. Dad. [CRIES]
[SOBBING]
MERRICK: If we could just understand its origins, you know,
then we could deal with this thing.
Dad tried to deal with it, and he's dead.
You say this thing dates back from when the dinosaurs died,
but what killed them?
Probably a meteor. When it hit, it changed the weather pattern.
We gotta figure out a way to kill it.
It's gotta have some kind of a weakness.
Maybe they just saw it coming.
The acid hurt it but that was the only bottle we had.
Maybe they just tried to preserve themselves
until the ecology just got back to normal.
Think. There's gotta be something we can do. I want this thing dead.
The old legend of the dragon goes back to dawn of time.
So?
For eons, mammals have been hunted by dinosaurs.
The only way they survived was a strong primal fear.
Now it's so strong that it remained in their genetic memory.
That's why we're so scared of this thing.
I mean, that's where the whole legend of the dragon comes from.
[GASPS] Oh, God, it's cold in here.
I know.
Ever since the power went out, the temperature just dropped about twenty degrees.
Hey, wait a minute.
Dinosaurs were cold-blooded, weren't they?
Well, maybe the cold will kill it.
I don't think so, Lisa.
Most of the species were warm-blooded.
But if it is a reptile then the cold might stop it.
Last time I looked, it was pretty healthy.
If we just knew where the damn thing was,
we could just make a run for it.
Unless there's some kind of weapon that's still aside.
I know. We haven't gotten one.
Wait a minute. Come with me.
Let's go.
Which way?
[CREATURE GROWLING]
This way.
[WIND HOWLING]
[WATER DRIPPING]
Stay close to me.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUDDING]
[GASPS]
MERRICK: What is it? What is it?
I thought I saw something.
[GROWLING]
[GASPS]
[ROARING]
[SCREAMS]
Come on!
Hide!
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[GROWLING]
[WIND HOWLING]
Hey!
Come on! Come on!
Come and get me, you poor excuse for a toupee!
[WIND HOWLING]
[CREATURE SCREAMING]
[CONTINUES SCREAMING]
[GRUNTS]
Are you okay? I'm fine.
What the hell happened?
Man, it's freezing in here!
Yeah, exactly.
Let's get out of here.
I'll call the police.
[PHONE RINGING]
Hello?
It's for you.
Yeah, Merrick here.
Oh, my God.
What's wrong?
You were right. That capsule was set at a specific time and it wasn't the only one.
397 more, last count.
All of them buried outside of Reno,
and all of them hungry.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[ROARING]
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]