Film Review! Watchers (1988) Nearly Unwatchable!

Film Review: Watchers 1988

            I recall the Dean R. Koontz book being different in that the main characters where grown-ups and the movie version they made the protagonists are teenagers so they could cast the late Corey Haim in the film.  I’ll have to re-read the Koontz book, which I have not read in years but recall as being highly entertaining.  In the original the main character is not a teenager but an ex- Delta force member, having more of a survivalist kind of a vibe.

            The general premise involves two experiments that have escaped from a fire at a government biological warfare laboratory. One of them is a dog of human intelligence, the other is a Bigfoot- early man like creature with claws that has a kind of telepathic link to the dog.  The bigfoot creature hates the dog. Corey Haim’s girlfriends dad gets killed by the bigfoot type creature.  The government is evil in it, the nab Corey Haim’s girlfriend. 

            There are some serious mullet haircuts in this one. They do a lot of very cheesy super smart dog scenes in it.  In that sense it is a very calculated commercial film, although I do not recall the film being a huge success. The Koontz novel actually was.   Be forewarned on the film- there is an 80’s cheese factor to the film version not to be believed. The odd family-teen film elements in the film are not at all present in the original Koontz novel.  I have no idea why they did that with the movie script, perhaps they though that the intelligent dog lent itself towards a kind of boy-and-his-dog kind of film.  They made three sequels to this piece of shit film in the 90’s.  I think they might have been straight-to-video though.

            Do not get me wrong.  I am not discouraging you from watching terrible horror films especially if they are cheesed out and from the 80’s.  Rather, I heartily encourage you to delight in the unstoppably absurd 80’s cheesiness. 

            There is one scene in the film were the eyeball is popped out of the female cop’s skull.  I’m turning this piece of crap off.   I’m not sure I will turn it back on at any time.