Watchers

Adaption of Dean Koontz's book is about a teenager (Corey Haim) who takes in a stray dog. However, the dog was part of a top secret government experiment and a monster linked to the dog genetically is out to get the dog killing anyone in it's way. I have never read the book which most people consider brilliant. This movie is not brilliant, but it is entertaining and has some good shock scenes. It remains exciting from start to finish, but if your a fan of the book I would recommand staying away from this movie.

Rated R; Brief Sexual Situation, Graphic Violence, and Profanity.

As horror movies go, I've seen worst, but given the fact that this movie is based on Dean R. Koontz,s terrific novel, the film comes off as a very sad attempt. If 'Watchers' was an original concept for a film, I might have enjoyed the movie a bit more. Unfortunately, it's hard to enjoy an average movie after reading a great book. Still in all, Watchers isn't so bad for a friday night thrill with some popcorn and friends!

Watchers. An excellent, humorous, and poignant novel. Watchers, the movie. Everything I just said, only opposite. Corey Haim plays Travis, who, in the novel, was a fourty year old man with a horrible curse. The curse is that anyone who seems to get close to him dies. Not only does the movie not touch on this (the major theme of the book), but it downplays all major themes of the novel. It doesn't even come close to anything that made the novel so wonderful, which is why Watchers, the "movie", is one you should miss.

I rented this movie because I thought (and still think) that the book was a masterpiece. The book is still on my top five novels ever list. So when I rented the film I expected it to fail in comparision. But not on this level. Travis is a Kid? I mean come ON. In the book the guy was ex-delta with plenty of tricks up his sleeve. In the movie he's a sixteen or so year old kid who seemed to be taught everything about traps and guns by the age of 10 when his dad died. I'm from the south and I don't know half the crap the kid was taught. Hell i was shooting guns at seven sure. 22s. BB guns. Not even a very entertaining movie. If you want to see a Dean Koontz book that made a good movie watch Phantoms.

*****/10

If you went into watching this movie thinking it was going to be an exacting adaptation of the great novel, well, you apparently haven't learned your lesson. Because this is almost never the case, especially movies from this era.

I will judge it for what it is: a B-horror starring an early Corey Haim, still in his prime. There is plenty to like about the film, including some of the gore and terror sequences. Corey Haim's acting is still spot on and sharp (on of his last), and the movie does flow very well. It is an easy film to digest. There are frights aplenty, if you are prone to it. If you are a critical horror fan, you'll find the gore to be well-done, and the film amusing - so long as you don't judge it by the standards of the book.

Having said all that, there are some down sides to it: Some highly inane, and poorly written dialog at times. Also, the film itself, could stand to be spruced up. They could've also tightened up some of the editing.

As far as B-horror fare goes, I recommend it.