Watchers

1988 "It started as a secret experiment... It ended up as a new breed of terror."
5.4| 1h31m| R| en| More Info
Released: 02 December 1988 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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A boy takes in a stray dog, later finding out that its an ultra-intelligent runaway from a genetic research lab. Unbeknownst to him, the dog is being stalked by another escaped creature thats not quite so friendly.

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Director

Jon Hess

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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Watchers Audience Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
dantonstl I remember watching this film as vividly as going to see Tommy Gunn in rocky Five. I remember the damn loud humming crickets, and the white dog...and he had been in a few films like silver Bullitt as well as another one RUDY maybe, no, i guess it was LUCAS.. so anyways... it was entertaining. i haven't seen it recently, and i did read the book. I liked them both. I don't think that i was like a lot older than when i saw the film to compare an obvious difference between these two films... plus Now after all, he passed away. and that kinda blows or is sad, but you could just think of him as zack galligan or something. gosh ten lines total. I forget about all that nonsense.
Scott LeBrun Unfortunately, if one enjoyed the Dean R. Koontz novel, reviews here indicate that as an adaptation the film is an abomination, with far too many changes from script to screen. If, however, one isn't familiar with the novel, they may take this for what it is: a fairly harmless, routine creature feature with acceptable pacing, a very likable dog, a typically appealing Corey Haim in the lead role, and a decent body count. Direction (by Jon Hess) and presentation overall is highly undistinguished, but (very) undemanding horror junkies may still be just amused enough to not turn it off.Haim plays Travis, a teenager who makes the acquaintance of a super intelligent golden retriever that stows away in the bed of his pick up truck one night. Dubbing the dog "Furface", he quickly realizes just how smart the dog is. Unfortunately, he finds that anybody who gets close to the dog gets targeted by a big hairy brutish animal, the result of the same kind of genetic testing that created the dog. Eventually, Travis takes it on the lam with his mother Nora (Barbara Williams), while being pursued by cold eyed, resilient government agent Lem (Michael Ironside, bad ass as always).So-so movie, executive produced by Roger Corman, that does get off to a good start and hit the ground running. It doesn't have a lot of suspense, or memorable kill scenes. The music is by Joel Goldsmith, eldest son of fellow composer Jerry Goldsmith, and his score does sound similar to what his dad did for "First Blood" a few years previous. The acting helps to keep things somewhat palatable; both Haim and Ironside do well. Some of the dialogue and moments are rather silly, however (such as when a frightened janitor phones the police).Certainly worse, and better, horror movies have been made, but this proves to be very mildly diverting, and quite forgettable in the end.Look for Jason Priestley as a teen on a bike.Five out of 10.
michael_wasson No one has ever argued that Koontz is the second coming of Shakespeare. But the man has put out some very entertaining and intriguing (albeit formulamatic) horror novels.Yet, when they decided to make Watchers (one of his more thoughtful and provoking title) did the writer of the screenplay say "Hey! Why don't we change the story and make it a teen slasher AND use it as a Coerey Haim vehicle!? I will tell you why! Because it made it suck!They changed the whole plot, setting and most of the story and basically forced the audience to watch teen pretty boy Haim, doe-eye his way through a performance.
The_Void I would consider myself a fan of Dean Koontz; having read a number of his novels and liked them all, but unfortunately I never got around to reading Watchers so I'm left with no choice but to rate this film on it's own merits rather than comparing it to the book that I haven't read. I went into this expecting something awful, and while I didn't exactly get a brilliant horror film; I am lead to believe that it's fans of the book that are rating it down because as a film in it's own right, Watchers is an entertaining and somewhat original little horror movie. The plot obviously takes some influence from Predator and begins with an explosion at a research lab. It's not long before a rancher is killed by some strange beast and the boyfriend of the dead man's daughter has picked up an ultra-intelligent runaway dog. A secret Government agency is soon on the case, as the murders continue. The boy continues to be fascinated by the dog's intelligence, but it somehow ties in with the murders and the agency is soon on his tail too.The script for this film was originally written by Paul Haggis, who later disowned it. I don't know why – the writing here is nowhere near as ridiculous as his 2004 hit Crash! Anyway, the main reason this film works is undoubtedly the dog, who aside from being rather cute, is also the best actor in the film. Corey Haim, hot off the success of The Lost Boys is the human lead and actually has a rather good chemistry with the dog, although it is a little bit ridiculous seeing him talk to it most of the way through the film. The plot is rather convoluted and as such the film is more than a little bit messy; but the ridiculousness of it all pulls it through during the more awkward moments. Michael Ironside also appears in the film and does well as the 'bad cop' side of the Government agents. The monster is, of course, one of the most interesting things about the film and the way it goes around killing people is always entertaining and gory; although unfortunately we don't get to see a lot of it and when we finally do it's rather disappointing - obviously the filmmakers had seen Bigfoot and the Hendersons! Still, this is the sort of film that can be easily enjoyed despite the numerous problems and I'd recommend to any undiscerning viewer of eighties horror.