Watchers II

WATCHERS 2 is a pretty lame sequel. The first cheap WATCHERS was mostly watchable, but this is garbage. The creature is from THE TERROR WITHIN, and the cast includes Marc Singer.

Avoid this rank imitation of Dean Koontz's original novel.

Two years after the Corey Haim starring vehicle "Watchers", Roger Corman would produce another adaptation of Dean R. Kootnz's best-selling novel. This b-grade sequel is a sober retread changing or adding plot devices and losing the suburban setting for something urban, but probably being a little more faithful to the book as this screenplay would try to delve a bit more deeper in to this top secret experiment of genetic engineering. Here we even get an explanation (nothing special, but it is a reason) to why this creature takes out the eyes of its victim. The hybrid creature known as the Outsider is given human like instincts, but it just can't control what it was engineered to do… track down the super-intelligent dog it shares a physic link with and eliminated all who have been in contact with it. Quite slow-burn and carefully structured, but still providing the grisly shocks throughout this fugitive-on-the-run / creature-on-the-rampage theme. Instead of trying for cheap jolts, it tends to rely on its shady atmospherics (as its spends a lot time in darkly lit areas), edgy suspense (like the sewer sequence) and moody storytelling, where in doing so it doesn't feel quite as silly and dumb-down as its predecessor. Although the man in an unconvincing rubber freak of nature suit, does get a fair bit of screen time. The director doesn't really try to hide the creation either. Technically sound direction with a steady tempo if somewhat a dragged out climax. This time we have Marc Singer and Tracy Scoggins in the leads and they are quite likable. Jonathan Farwell is adequate as the unstable scientist who led the project. Also showing up in a minor turn is Mary Woronov.

"Can't teach an old dog new tricks. Cant ya?"

More like the novel than the original, but still unsatisfying. Had its parts that where fun, but still kinda corny. Quality was dark and couldn't see what was going 80% of the time. But still I liked it.

Original seemed to be more satisfying, but if your looking for a more novel like movie of Watchers - Watch it. 6/10 Because it wasn't boring, and I enjoyed a few more scenes. Yeah, watch it. Hey, it was better than the Koontz adaptation of Phantoms and Hideaway.

IMDb won't let me place this unless its longer.

Fine. I do own this on DVD, so it's not too bad. But if you want a REALLY GOOD Koontz adaptation see DEMON SEED. Now thats excellent. WATCH IT!!!!!

I still remember how I was curious to know how they could do a sequel to WATCHERS when I saw this movie on a shelf of the video-store. The curiosity grown when I looked at the back of the cover and saw a gore scene not included in the cassette (which has no real bloody shots). Plus, the movie was forbidden for people under 18 - where the first one (here in Italy) was for all audiences. But what I saw wasn't that good I thought. This is not a remake of the original directed by Hess, but a second adaptation of the novel by Koontz (a quiet good horror novel, btw), more close to it (except for the character's names) than the previous. But it's still very far from the book. Besides some changes (this time there's only a scientist who tracks the beast), the main problem is that the monster's look is very far from being scary and the director had the bad idea to show it completely and very early in the story. In Hess' version, instead, we don't clearly see it and even if this is obtained through simple methods (POVs. shaky camera works, long shots in the fog), it works quiet well. Here Notz tries a little bit to create suspense (the creature's shadow on a wall wasn't that bad), but stops quiet early, preferring to show a guy in a cheesy suit who moves like an idiot. As the previous, the most incredible performance is delivered by the dog - and I mean it in a good way.

I still wonder where that gore shot was supposed to be inserted in..

The first Watchers movie, which got a limited Stateside theatrical release, found whatever minor success it attained on home video in the rental utopia that was the late 1980s. It apparently made enough money to tempt Roger Corman into a Direct To Video follow up 2 years later.

Interestingly, well ok, not really, but unusually, Watchers II is actually not a sequel, but essentially a remake of the original. Apparently it's more faithful to the Dean Koontz source material, not being a Corey Haim vehicle, but not having read it I couldn't say for sure.

A top secret government experiment to create the perfect killing machine leads to a hyper intelligent golden retriever, designed to infiltrate enemy bases, and 'the outsider' a genetically modified, humanoid monster psychically linked to the dog that will follow him and kill everyone he's been in contact with in his quest to destroy him. Via shenanigans both escape in a lab accident and the dog is taken in by a helpful stranger who teams up with a helpful and sexy scientist who worked on the project to try and defeat the Outsider and save the dog

I've left that a bit vague because I'm gonna copy and paste it for review in future sequels. The helpful stranger in this case Paul Ferguson (Marc Singer) a soldier on his way to trial by military police whose transport is derailed by the outsider during its escape and the deaths of his fellow soldiers being blamed on him. This beautiful scientist in this entry is Tracy Scoggins.

This is very much DTV material, in terms of acting, direction and effects. Hell, even the cover art is a lame photo that I get the feeling was shot on the last day of filming. Singer and Scoggins are solid enough leads at this level, albeit it makes you wonder if the dog's ability to communicate with Singer is less because it's super intelligent and more because he's the Beastmaster. The dog is the star of the show, which is something of a series staple.

The monster suit is far from the best I've ever seen, though also not even in the bottom 10 rubber monsters you'll find in a Corman movie. Unfortunately the design, particularly of its head, it's awful, and I'm not even sure what they were going for. I've seen others say it's the same suit from The Terror Within (a film also directed by Thierry Notz) which I'm not convinced is the case. It's definitely similar but to be honest I remember that looking better.

Watchers II really isn't very good, but also isn't terrible either. Before watching it, or even reading this I'm sure you'll be well aware if there's any chance of you enjoying a DTV sequel to a Roger Corman movie based on a Dean Koontz novel, and as such view accordingly. It's a watchable (harhar) cheesy horror flick you're unlikely to have any inclination to see a second time.