Watchers (1988 film)

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Watchers

Directed by	Jon Hess
Produced by	Damian Lee David Mitchell
Written by	Dean R. Koontz(novel) Paul Haggis (screenplay)
Starring	Corey Haim Michael Ironside Barbara Williams Lala Sloatman
Music by	Joel Goldsmith
Distributed by	Centaur Films
Release date(s)	1988
Running time	90 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Watchers is a 1988 Canadian horror film, starring Corey Haim, Michael Ironside, Barbara Williams and Lala Sloatman. It is based on the novel Watchers by Dean R. Koontz.

1 Plot summary
2 Reception
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

An explosion occurs in a classified biological research laboratory, resulting in an intense fire. The 'OXCOM' and a dog escape the inferno. The OXCOM chases the golden retriever through the surrounding woods. The dog, considerably faster than the unknown chaser, runs into a property and hides in a barn. In the barn, Travis Cornell, played by Corey Haim is with a girl, Tracey, played by Lala Sloatman. Travis, thinking it is Traceys father, leaves to go home. Confronting her father, Tracey screams as she discovers the beast, her father rushes in, but is attacked. Travis soon notices a dog in the back of his car, meanwhile a military/police force is sweeping the area for the escapees. By this time, Travis and the dog have started to bond and he has realized that it is not your average canine, Travis, although knows that his mother would disapprove and sets up a bed for the dog in his basement.

The next morning, Travis' mother informs him that there has been an accident and that Tracey is in the hospital. Travis and his mother rush to the hospital but are stopped by two NSO officers that are denying them visiting rights. Travis, frustrated, pushes past them into Tracey's room, only to find it completely empty. The men claim that she has been transferred to a better location. Travis is puzzled as to why one of the men was armed. At home, Travis' mother finds the dog and is not pleased about it, but when Travis shows the level of intelligence that the dog possesses, she allows him to keep it. Travis bathes the dog, and notices that GH3 is printed on the dog's ear, concluding it is a research dog, which must explain its superior intellect.

An NSO agent, played by Michael Ironside stops by Travis' house, asking various questions, the dog, seems to hide from the man. The dog, tracks Travis down, to his computer study room at school, where he types 'D ANG ER N S O'. Travis is awarded detention time for bringing the pet to school. Another three murders occur in the woods. The OXCOM has traced the dog to the school, where he kills two members of staff, the second, is able to inform police that something terrible is happening at the school. Two policemen arrive, including the already suspicious sheriff, only the sheriff makes it out alive - his fellow female officer being killed. When the sheriff confronts the NSO officer, the man is forced to tell him the truth regarding the killer - but not there, they move to a quieter location away from the press. He reveals that it was a scientific project gone wrong and that the OXCOM is chasing the dog - its target and kills anything it comes across or that has been in contact with the dog. After revealing this information, he murders the town's sheriff.

A family friend who is fixing the washing machine reveals that a man was here earlier asking if they owned a dog. Travis, realizing the NSO is after him and the dog, sneaks out of the house and is about to drive away, before his mother stops him and tells him that they are in it together. As they go back inside, their friend has been murdered; Travis and his mother run upstairs with the dog, locking his bedroom door behind him. The beast begins to breakdown the door. The mother climbs onto the adjacent rooftop, as Travis grabs a hunting gun, he tells his mother to start the truck, jumping out the window himself, as well as the dog who hits the ground, he fires, then collects the injured dog and the three drive to a vet. The vet, noticing the code on the dog’s ear, calls up the authorities to report that he has the dog. Travis easily catches on to what is happening. The mother creates a diversion the next morning, allowing Travis and the dog to escape the NSO agents. Travis takes the dog to his father's old cabin in the woods. His mother demands the NSO agents to let her visit Tracey, who sees there is nothing wrong with her, but sees that she has been heavily sedated, and that the room appears to have no medical equipment.

The agents take her and Tracey to the cabin, where Travis throws a home-made Molotov cocktail at the NSO agents, allowing the two women to run into the cabin, Johnson, fires upon them to which his fellow NSO agent disputes and refuses to let him kill them. Johnson then kills his NSO partner. In a tussle with Johnson, Travis is stabbed in the leg with his own knife, before the dog ravages Johnson' face, allowing Travis to stab him in the neck, Johnson, a madman, claims that they will die anyway. Armed with home made weapons, the team readies themselves for the beast. When it arrives, Travis is able to get a few shots in before it throws the dog into the truck windscreen then retreating into the woods. He chases it, finding it resting, looking rather peaceful, Travis cannot find it in himself to shoot him again. The beast attacks him, a struggle takes place, before Travis can gather his gun and finish off the beast. The party gathers, and Travis with his mother, girlfriend Tracey and dog head off in the beaten up truck whilst the cabin blazes in the background.

[edit] Reception

The film received mixed review, notably being criticised for not being loyal to the book. A large amount of changes occurred in the film adaptation which had a significant effect, notably that Travis was originally a man not a boy and the intelligence of the beast being absent in the film.

[edit] Trivia

Actor Corey Haim and producer Damien Lee would again team up in 1994's National Lampoon's Last Resort and the 1998 television movie Merlin.
Corey Haim and Lala Sloatman would both feature in Dream a Little Dream a year later
There have been three sequels; 1990, 1994 and 1998.
Paul Haggis wrote the first draft of the script. Before the movie was greenlit, the Writers' Guild went on strike. Haggis refused to do further work, so the producer, Damien Lee, re-wrote the script. Haggis, who disliked the final script, applied his pseudonym, "Bill Freed", and insisted Lee take credit/blame as co-writer.
The film grossed $940,173 in the United States
Was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada