Review: Watchers II (1990)
Directed by: Thierry Notz
Starring: Marc Singer, Timothy Marlowe, Tracy Scoggins
Written by: John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Music by: Rick Conrad
IMDb
Watchers II isn’t so much a sequel as a remake of the first film that apparently hews closer to Dean Koontz’s novel. In that way, it’s actually pretty successful. Corey Haim is replaced by Marc Singer, the Beastmaster, which is a mild improvement — though I definitely miss Kodo and Podo. This time, the main character is a military deserter who runs into the ultra-intelligent dog (this time, dubbed Einstein rather than Fur-Face), which was let loose from the laboratory by animal rights activists, who also accidentally release the creature that’s telepathically linked to the pooch. In this flick, the creature is called “The Outsider,” rather than OXCOM, and looks quite a bit better than in the original movie. Here, the Outsider is more slimy and frightening in appearance, like a caveman went through Seth Brundle’s telepod with a warthog and a barracuda. Watchers II also gives some indication that the Outsider doesn’t mean to be as nasty as it is, and there are several scenes showing the creature either ashamed of how gross it looks or displaying compassion of a sort. The dog is actually much less of a centerpiece this go-round and doesn’t really show off his smarts as much. Also, no Michael Ironside, and that is very unfortunate. The film makes some gentle attempts at developing its characters, but then quickly forgets about that shit in lieu of monster action, of which there is quite a bit. Though this is a far less gory affair than the first movie, it’s still fast-paced and moderately amusing. But, there are some weird-ass attempts at humor in a movie that’s largely not intended to be funny and those moments are pretty jarring. Also, the score is absurdly out of place most of the time, sounding more like the cues were lifted from the Iron Eagle franchise. My gripes for a movie of this sort are pretty minor, though, and while Watchers II is nowhere near approaching nuanced horror classic status, it’s a very watchable monster movie with an ending that very nearly brought a tear to my eye (I mean it!). As a sequel to a movie that had no business being sequeled, this is much better than it should be. Still, keep those expectations in check.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10