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When I saw this movie I certainly did not think it was an award winning movie or all that good, but it was okay. It passed the time, had an interesting enough story, add some more gore and kills and it might have been a really good horror movie. Like I said in my summary though, I have heard from many people the book is better, but then when have you not heard that cry when a book is made into a movie. This one is about a boy who finds a dog, what could be more touching than that. In fact I would have to say a bit to much time in the film is used exploring their budding friendship rather than on the super creature that is now coming for said boy and dog. Which there is a creature of super power homing in on the boy and his dog, killing those that get in its way. The boy finally finds out about this and he and the dog and I think the mother go into a cabin and have a final showdown with said monster. You will not get to see said monster all that much and there could have been a few more kills or something, but for the most part I found the movie entertaining. I would compare it to another Corey Haim horror movie "Silver Bullet", both are horrors that need more horror, but both can be called okay...just kind of fluffy.

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.

I'm a great fan of Koontz, and thought this might be an adaptation worth watching. I admit that due to the complexity of most his books, with all its subtlety, it is difficult to make a perfect adaptation, but this movie just barely made as a mediocre production. In an effort to make the movie 'cute' instead of the full-fledged horror it should be, it concentrates so much on the dog and its antics, but leaves us to imagine the monster for the most part. Given that the monster is at least as smart and complex as the dog, to see it reduced to simply a killing machine was a waste. And I still prefer the book ending to the movie ending - at least it made more sense and left one feeling a bit sad at the monster's demise instead of gloating over it.

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.

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