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Watchers (1988)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 8/21

Watchers1
8/21: Sometimes, a film can be saved by just one actor, and it's Corey Haim for Watchers.

I had been thinking why it happened this way, and the answer is: his magnetic personality. At the beginning, the story is hard to follow, but after sticking with it to the end and then going back to the beginning for the chat between the NSO agent (Michael Ironside) and his superior, what they were talking about suddenly makes sense.

Granted, it's a run-of-the-mill horror picture that features a bigfoot monster (OXCOM) chasing after a dog while killing many people along the way. This may not be clearly understood at first, but the purpose of the dog is to be friendly with the intended people so they'll adopt him.

Then, the OXCOM goes after the people, killing them all and also the dog; at least, that's the theory, but once the dog is dead, the mission is over, regardless whether the people live or die, hence the failure of the experiment. After the lab bombing, the leftovers are an OXCOM and a dog that sets up the main premise. I'm not sure if the NSO agent was the third experimental unit, but I think he was kidding.

Well, Watchers isn't consistently good; most of the same action can be found in plenty of B flicks. Surprisingly, Corey Haim rises above it and gives a decent performance, making me care about what happens to his character and the dog he befriends. Michael Ironside of Scanners fame plays a familiar villain and thus does well again.

Because the film is an all-Canadian production, it's natural enough to cast two native-born actors: Corey Haim and Jason Priestley whose face is shown for the first time compared to The Boy Who Could Fly. Who would've guessed in two years the latter achieved fame as Brandon Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 while the former completely fell apart?

All in all, Corey Haim was nearing the end of his usefulness before the 80's had become the 90's, and Watchers is the last film to showcase his natural talent.