Watchers III (1994)

Sent to prison on trumped up charges, an American Army officer named "Paul Ferguson" (Wings Hauser) is given a chance to receive a full pardon if he agrees to undertake a top-secret assignment. Essentially, a genetically engineered monster known as "the Outsider" (Carlos Gonzales) has gone on a killing spree in the jungles of South America and a squad of convicts are sent in to engage the creature. What they don't know is that they are nothing more than dispensable test subjects sent in to gauge the ability of the government's creation. Fortunately for them, a genetically enhanced Labrador retriever is also in this vicinity and it knows the Outsider better than anybody. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film is basically a low-budget clone of the movie "Predator" but with a few items incorporated from "Watchers" and "Watchers II" to preserve its integrity. Unfortunately, the melding of "Predator" and "Watchers" doesn't really work nearly as well as it should due in large part to the low budget and poor acting overall. Even so, I didn't think it was terribly bad and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Here's another Corman produced adaptation of Dean R Koontz's novel. Was it impressive… well let's ask the intelligent canine for an answer. One bark for No. Two for yes. Three barks for you got to be kidding me. Really you don't need to be super smart to figure it out. While using the same background story as its predecessors (a top secret experiment spawning a super intelligent dog is used as a beacon for a monster known as the outsider in what is a combat weapon), "Watchers III" felt like an odd one out even though its focus was on the experiment at work being test on some expendable ex-military convicts in a South American jungle and the Ferguson character from the last sequel making an reappearance (although under a different actor). The premise had a lot to work off, but instead it decides to be an extra ordinary wannabe second rate predator rip-off with many sequences, actions and dialogues lifted from that film, but without the aplomb. I couldn't believe how hackneyed it was, as you could probably start drinking game from it. Wings Hauser is a sight for sore eyes, as it is his awesomeness that makes it bearable. Stereotypical characters come and go, to only be scratched up or decapitated by its hideously wonky looking man in a creature suit. It's a different design compared to the previous entries and it doesn't look all that great. Think of "Xtro 2" and there you go. Hell it even gets its own sort of vision ala "Predator". There are moments of violence and gore, but they are boringly staged with its clunky execution and its derivatively lacklustre climax paints that well enough. While the film is short-lived, it can't finish any sooner because of how soporific the plan in motion just happens to be. Feeble, low-rent monster-on-the-loose nonsense."I like to know what the hell is going on?"

Horror novelist Dean R. Koontz has expressed unhappiness about several cinematic adaptations of his novels (like with HIDEAWAY). Though I haven't heard what he thinks of what Roger Corman did with WATCHERS, I think it's pretty safe to assume that he's appalled, especially since Corman has used the rights to the novel to make several awful movies, including this one. Where to begin? Well, even though the end credits reveal this was filmed in South America, it sure doesn't look spectacular. The various jungle locations look bland and all alike. The story is pretty slow, with not that much jungle action and gore for the first half of the movie. When we *do* see the monster, it's a shockingly bad creation - just imagine the monsters you have seen in 1950s Corman movies, and you'll have a good idea as to how this unconvincing creation looks like. I guess some of the gore effects aren't bad, and it's always good to see Wings Hauser, but the movie ends up being overall a bad and boring imitation of PREDATOR. With PREDATOR freely available for rent or purchase, there's no reason to see this third-rate imitation.

Exec. Producer Roger Corman's third attempt at adapting Koontz's novel turns out to be more DIRTY DOZEN/PREDATOR and less Koontzian (did I just invent a word?). The Outsider and Einstein the Golden Retriever are dropped in the middle of a Central American jungle. When things go awry, the Government sends in military prisoner Ferguson (Wings Hauser) and a few cellmates to clean up their mess with the promise of a full pardon. But can they trust that sneaky Government? This is totally by the numbers movie making but it is short enough, gory, and features a good performance by b-movie vet Hauser to keep you interested. Hauser has such an intensity that he can make even dialogue scenes with a dog seem important. The rest of the cast just traipse around until they get their opportunity to be killed. Interestingly, the screenplay has a woman and native mute kid in the mix with the woman getting killed and the kid not doing anything. Strange. Even stranger, the evil Government (who truthfully sent Hauser there to be killed) never gets its comeuppance as all b-movies dictate. Instead, they get away with it, outside of losing The Outsider. I would love to hear Dean's thoughts on all of these sequels, if he has even seen them.