Watchers II focuses on a secret genetic experiment named 'Project Aesop' that has thus far produced a super intelligent dog named Einstein & a monstrous deformed mutant creature (Tom Poser) who are both psychically connected with one another. During an unfortunate incident in the lab two NSA agents are killed by the creature, the top woman in the job Dr. Glatman (Mary Woronov) orders it's creator Dr. Malceno (Jonathan Farwell) to destroy it which is an idea he is not too keen on. Dr. Malceno devises a plan to move the creature to safety by creating a distraction so he lets animal rights activists into the lab to cause havoc but things don't go according to plan & the creature escapes as does the super intelligent dog Einstein. The creature wants Einstein but the dog is picked up by Paul Ferguson (Marc Singer) who doesn't know what he has gotten himself into. The creature will stop at nothing to get Einstein & starts a murderous campaign of terror to find the dog, Paul quickly becomes aware that he is being hunted by a monster & decides the best form of defence is attack...

Directed by Thierry Notz this is the second Watchers film in a series that now totals four films, the original Watchers (1988),this, Watchers III (1994) & finally Watchers Reborn (1998). I must say right now that I have not seen any other Watchers film so I cannot compare them, sorry. The script by Henry Dominic is based on a novel by Dean R. Koontz (haven't read it so I can't compare Watchers II to it either) is really silly, it's stupid, moronic & you can't quite believe what your seeing on screen but when all said & done I enjoyed it for what it was & at least it entertained me which is all I ask for when I watch a film, to be entertained. It moves along at a good pace & is never boring or dull & it's certainly that little bit different which I'm sure most people wouldn't argue with. Of course it goes without saying that Watchers II is far from a brilliant film either conceptually with it's super intelligent Golden Retriever who can understand English & type on a computer keyboard or the creation of a hostile creature for no good reason whatsoever, or technically as it's a pretty low budget affair & it shows. I loved the scene when the monster walked up to a couple of homeless wino's & started drinking with them! Watchers II takes itself very seriously which actually worked & made me smile on a few occasions at just how daft it was getting.

Director Notz does an OK job, some sequences are lit quite well, he keeps the film moving along & there's a decent low budget horror film vibe running through the thing. There isn't much blood or gore, someone is impaled on a hook, there's a decapitated head in a toilet, a clawed back & some splashes of blood & wounds but that's about it.

Watchers II must have had a pretty low budget as the monster suit itself is pretty poor, it's obviously just some guy stuck in a rubber suit & the head & mouth have no movement at all, it actually reminded me of the monster from Monster in the Closet (1987)... a bit. The acting was OK, V (1984) fans will recognise Singer & everyone plays their parts dead straight.

When broken down & analysed properly Watchers II is crap, of that there is no doubt. But for all that wrong with it, the duff looking monster & the absurd plot amongst other things I found it quite entertaining & it passed the time nicely enough. I can't recommend it I just can't but on a personal level I thought it was a worthwhile watch, the decision is yours.

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?"

Paul Ferguson(Marc Singer, whose likability and charm bring a respectability to this B-movie)is being taken to a suspension area for punching a superior when his MP's encounter a creature that had escaped and killed several animal rights' activists when the government decides to shutdown the andodyne program(more on this in a moment). Paul is helped to escape from his hand cuffs thanks in part to an intelligent golden retriever. Fleeing from the creature, Paul holes up temporarily with his ex-wife for the night. Paul is able to flee the residence thanks to his wife(Irene Miracle)driving him past police watching her home outside. With the dog in tow, Paul is able to swap his car with a man for a jalopy so that he will not be spotted. Tracy Scoggins(trying to hide her hotness underneath nerd-glasses)is an animal behaviorist named Barabara White who was trying to teach the golden retriever how to read letters in the alphabet. She is pretty much out of college and beginning her career & is green to exactly what the company she works for actually does. Andodyne is actually a military project where scientists(in this case a doctor named Steve Malceno played completely wooden by Jonathan Farwell)create beings from genetics which are in fact linked to canines. It is a new project and the creature that Malceno is over is the first experimental venture. It is explained that the canine would be used to "spot the enemy" and the beast would attack and destroy. Unfortunately, the experiment goes awry because the creature has an uncontrollable urge to kill. So everywhere the canine goes, the creature follows leaving a bunch of dead bodies in it's wake. Soon Paul will understand that the canine is much more than just some ordinary dog and will soon be lead to Barbara because she is the only one available to trust. Will Paul and Barabara be able to stop the thing and quiet it's rampage once and for all? The film also shows the obsession of Dr. Malceno to continue his research regardless how many this thing kills. The film has a rather low budget(produced by Roger Corman..need I say more?),and at times the creature really simply looks like a man in a rubber suit. Singer and Scoggins try, but this film suffers somewhat by revealing the creature awfully early into the film. The director does try to shade the monster and this often does work, but when light reflects on it the credibility of the creature takes a lashing. The dog's tricks are fun to watch and I liked Singer enough to at least enjoy the film. This film is perhaps the close you are about to get to the quality of the Koontz novel(the first one tries the approach of "less is more", but the unveiling of the creature was laughable;the "Watchers Reborn" has that "so bad it's good" quality, but is very mediocre;the third film in this series is merely a "Predator" rip-off),which is kind of sad. You kind of wish a Koontz novel could get a decent enough budgeted film, but maybe "Watchers 2" is about as quality as we'll ever see.