Buy posters from this movie

Such was obviously the case with Corman's Carnosaur series. It's clearly true for the Watchers flicks too. These are cookie-cutter, mindless little horror movies - the sort that kids enjoy on cable before they grow brave enough to delve into the REAL horror films. Or the flicks that just act as fodder for the bored and/or stoned movie freaks who prowl Cinemax late at night while searching for something entirely mindless and ridiculous to enjoy.

That is a pretty much perfect description of Watchers 2. Based on the novel of the same title by Dean R. Koontz, Watchers 2 is an improvement of Empire Strikes Back proportions over its predecessor for one distinct reason: Part 2 doesn't have Corey Haim from Watchers in it. Sure, we're now stuck with Marc (The Beastmaster!) Singer - but Singer is Tom Hanks compared to Corey freakin' Haim.

The plot is, not at all surprisingly, exactly the same as in the original Watchers: Super Smart Doggie has a telepathic link with a genetically-created (and goopy) killing machine. The dog makes friends with the beastmaster and the pair hit the road; GoopMonster follows in hot pursuit, killing whichever kooky characters may get in the way. There's a lady "animal psychologist" who also gets involved, but none of the plot stuff really matters all that much. Basically we got one extremely clever golden retriever and a handful of poorly presented monster attacks. Oh, and a visit from the good ol' beastmaster.

What's most interesting about Watchers 2 ("most" being a relative term) is that it actually seems to follow much more closely to the Dean Koontz source material than did the original Haim-laden Watchers. It's still a painly chintzy and woodenly delivered little affair, but if you happen to be a fan of the novel, Part 2 is the one you'd probably dig the "most".

And it's an important distinction, because there are three other "Watchers" movies you might get stuck watching instead.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4208&reviewer=128
originally posted: 05/18/04 07:39:14
 printer-friendly format