I'm often very glad that I'm not much of a reader. Quite often when I encounter a movie-adaptation of a (famous) novel, there are always hundreds of people complaining about how awful the movie version was in comparison to the book. Well, I've never – and probably will never – read the book, so at least I don't have to feel ashamed about tremendously liking the film! It's like I don't know any better, you dig? This is also the case with "Watchers", for example. Allegedly, the Dean Koontz novel differs enormously from the 80's horror film version, with characters and story lines altered left and right in favor to appeal more to contemporary horror loving audiences. Travis, the lead character, is originally a 40-year-old social outcast in the book, whereas he's a poignant 16-year-old rebel kid in the film, portrayed by Corey Haim who was quite big at the time thanks to the success of "The Lost Boys", "Lucas" and "Silver Bullet". That's the 80's horror film industry for you. Can you blame them?
Either way, "Watchers" is a shamelessly entertaining and virulent late 80's creature-feature with a pleasingly high body count, gruesome special effects, an irresistible charming 80's setting and ambiance, cool acting performances and one of the best use of an intelligent dog in a film ever. Travis Cornell lives, with his yummy mother, nearby a research facility where the government – in all secrecy of course – works on the ultimate warfare weapon. The weapon itself is a giant and nearly indestructible Bigfoot creature, but the breakthrough is that it is telepathically linked to a intelligent dog. The monster is programmed to track the animal down and kill everything on its path in between. The dog and the monster escape from the lab just before there's an explosion. The dog hitches a ride in Travis' truck and he decides to keep the animal when he notices its abnormally high intellect. The dog can type warnings on a computer and compose messages via a game of scrabble, for crying out loud! Meanwhile, the Oxcom monster leaves a trail of blood and mayhem throughout the area, and if that isn't worse enough yet, there's also the relentless government agent Michael Ironside. He's after Travis and his dog to cover up the failures. "Watchers" is fast-paced and exciting, with massacres that are delightfully gruesome. The Oxcom monster has the nasty habit of removing people's eyeballs, which leads to a handful of grisly images and eerie make-up effects. The acting performances are great. Barbara Williams is excellent as Travis' caring mother and Michael Ironside behaves psychopathic and nightmarish as always. Corey Haim uses his typical 'rebellious 80's teenager' charisma to maximum results and the dog – Fur Face – is genius. Oh, "Watchers" also provides the opportunity to admire hunky boy Jason Priestley and watch him get slaughtered by Bigfoot before he became world famous as Brandon Walsh in "Beverly Hills 90210". Splendid 80's nostalgia!
Either way, "Watchers" is a shamelessly entertaining and virulent late 80's creature-feature with a pleasingly high body count, gruesome special effects, an irresistible charming 80's setting and ambiance, cool acting performances and one of the best use of an intelligent dog in a film ever. Travis Cornell lives, with his yummy mother, nearby a research facility where the government – in all secrecy of course – works on the ultimate warfare weapon. The weapon itself is a giant and nearly indestructible Bigfoot creature, but the breakthrough is that it is telepathically linked to a intelligent dog. The monster is programmed to track the animal down and kill everything on its path in between. The dog and the monster escape from the lab just before there's an explosion. The dog hitches a ride in Travis' truck and he decides to keep the animal when he notices its abnormally high intellect. The dog can type warnings on a computer and compose messages via a game of scrabble, for crying out loud! Meanwhile, the Oxcom monster leaves a trail of blood and mayhem throughout the area, and if that isn't worse enough yet, there's also the relentless government agent Michael Ironside. He's after Travis and his dog to cover up the failures. "Watchers" is fast-paced and exciting, with massacres that are delightfully gruesome. The Oxcom monster has the nasty habit of removing people's eyeballs, which leads to a handful of grisly images and eerie make-up effects. The acting performances are great. Barbara Williams is excellent as Travis' caring mother and Michael Ironside behaves psychopathic and nightmarish as always. Corey Haim uses his typical 'rebellious 80's teenager' charisma to maximum results and the dog – Fur Face – is genius. Oh, "Watchers" also provides the opportunity to admire hunky boy Jason Priestley and watch him get slaughtered by Bigfoot before he became world famous as Brandon Walsh in "Beverly Hills 90210". Splendid 80's nostalgia!