Man's Best Friend is a simple monster movie. A reporter called Laurie (Ally Sheedy) and her assistant are called up by a scientist at EMAX (a company doing experiments on endangered species) who will let them in to witness the experiments. Before they are able to get there the scientist is killed by an unseen creature before it is tranquilised by an unseen figure.
Getting to the laboratory the reporter and her assistant/camerawoman find their contact isn't there so decide to break in.They uncover evidence of horrific experiments and then a Tibetan Mastiff dog called Max who they let out of his cage. They are then discovered by security and escape. The head of the company Dr Jarett (played by genre legend Lance Henriksen) finds the dog who growls at him and escapes. He heads into the reporters car and she takes him home. They stop at a convenience store where she is attacked by a mugger and the dog saves her by killing the mugger.
Later the dog menaces the reporters boyfriend Perry. Jarett meanwhile has reported the dog stolen and explains he is an experiment for the army. He has the intelligence of a man and can be used as an asset by himself in the field. He also has the genetics of a chameleon to blend in, a snake to consume prey and a jaguar to climb amongst others. Unfortunately this has also driven him insane and he must stay on medication or he will have a psychotic break and become a killing machine.
Getting to the laboratory the reporter and her assistant/camerawoman find their contact isn't there so decide to break in.They uncover evidence of horrific experiments and then a Tibetan Mastiff dog called Max who they let out of his cage. They are then discovered by security and escape. The head of the company Dr Jarett (played by genre legend Lance Henriksen) finds the dog who growls at him and escapes. He heads into the reporters car and she takes him home. They stop at a convenience store where she is attacked by a mugger and the dog saves her by killing the mugger.
Later the dog menaces the reporters boyfriend Perry. Jarett meanwhile has reported the dog stolen and explains he is an experiment for the army. He has the intelligence of a man and can be used as an asset by himself in the field. He also has the genetics of a chameleon to blend in, a snake to consume prey and a jaguar to climb amongst others. Unfortunately this has also driven him insane and he must stay on medication or he will have a psychotic break and become a killing machine.
Max starts to become more aggressive. A neighbourhood kid takes him for a walk and he kills and eats a cat in a tree (after taking interest in a local female Collie dog!), he bites through the brake cables of the boyfriends car, and kills a mailman. Eventually the Perry convinces Laurie to rehome him after he kills and eats her parrot and he gets her a puppy in return. She rehomes Max at a junkyard with a seemingly nice owner. As soon as she leaves Max growls at him and he knocks him out with a shovel.
When he comes to he attacks and kills the junkyard owner. Jarett finds the assistant and demands to know where Laurie and Max are. Max comes back and finds the puppy in the house. He sneaks in and lies in wait. He attacks Perry but doesn't kill him. Instead he drags him into the bedroom and pees on his face (which steams like acid!). By now Max is in a full on psycho condition and attacks Laurie and the young boy who defends her and then runs off when the police and Jarett arrive. The police tell Laurie not to go anywhere as they believe Max will come back to her and they set up surveillance in the house.
The cop hears a noise and goes to investigate. He enters the crawlspace under the house and finds the body of the mailman and is then killed by Max. Laurie tries to run away with the puppy and is grabbed by Jarett and forced into his car. He tells her because she rejected him Max will now try to kill her like he did to him. Max chases the car and causes it to crash. Laurie gets out and runs to EMAX.
Max stalks Laurie through EMAX and it becomes clear he is now blind in one eye. When they come face to face Laurie puts down the scalpel she is holding and Max comes to her and licks her hand. Jarett then appears and starts shooting at Max. He tells Laurie to get away from Max and when she doesn't he aims the shotgun at her. Max goes into a rage and attacks Jarett in order to protect Laurie. His final act is to force Jarett through a glass window where he gets electrocuted after the puppy chews through the wiring.
The end of the film sees the collie from earlier with a litter of puppies including a smaller version of Max who growls at his siblings.
My rating: I give this film a healthy 7/10. The story was good but far fetched. It had an involving plot and the acting was good. It was let down my some poor visual effects though (the dog eating the cat especially!!). And the corny Puppy Love song that plays in the film ruins the tension people!! The gore factor was a bit hit and miss. When the scientist is killed at the beginning you don't see much and when Max drags her away you see obvious red paint instead of blood. Yet when Max is stalking Laurie he is covered in very realistic looking blood. The tone varies a fair bit but is generally good.
The film really comes into its own though when it is dark. It is far more menacing with the dog hunting Laurie through EMAX or with the cop under the house. I did enjoy the idea of the psychotic break as you start to wonder when the break will happen and then they ruin it by the computer telling you it will be no more than 5 hours and it could already have started so you don't know whether he saved Laurie from the mugger out of love or he just really wanted to kill something! All in all though a reasonably good movie.
General rating: 5/10 as there are no real shocks or scares and it has retread old ground without really adding anything new.
If you like this: watch Cujo based on the Stephen King book. This movie is a master class in the monster dog category but does take a while to properly get going. If it is the genetic experiment aspect that gets you then go for Watchers, based on the novel by Dean Koontz, which features an intelligent genetically altered dog who leads an unstable mutant into battle.
When he comes to he attacks and kills the junkyard owner. Jarett finds the assistant and demands to know where Laurie and Max are. Max comes back and finds the puppy in the house. He sneaks in and lies in wait. He attacks Perry but doesn't kill him. Instead he drags him into the bedroom and pees on his face (which steams like acid!). By now Max is in a full on psycho condition and attacks Laurie and the young boy who defends her and then runs off when the police and Jarett arrive. The police tell Laurie not to go anywhere as they believe Max will come back to her and they set up surveillance in the house.
The cop hears a noise and goes to investigate. He enters the crawlspace under the house and finds the body of the mailman and is then killed by Max. Laurie tries to run away with the puppy and is grabbed by Jarett and forced into his car. He tells her because she rejected him Max will now try to kill her like he did to him. Max chases the car and causes it to crash. Laurie gets out and runs to EMAX.
Max stalks Laurie through EMAX and it becomes clear he is now blind in one eye. When they come face to face Laurie puts down the scalpel she is holding and Max comes to her and licks her hand. Jarett then appears and starts shooting at Max. He tells Laurie to get away from Max and when she doesn't he aims the shotgun at her. Max goes into a rage and attacks Jarett in order to protect Laurie. His final act is to force Jarett through a glass window where he gets electrocuted after the puppy chews through the wiring.
The end of the film sees the collie from earlier with a litter of puppies including a smaller version of Max who growls at his siblings.
My rating: I give this film a healthy 7/10. The story was good but far fetched. It had an involving plot and the acting was good. It was let down my some poor visual effects though (the dog eating the cat especially!!). And the corny Puppy Love song that plays in the film ruins the tension people!! The gore factor was a bit hit and miss. When the scientist is killed at the beginning you don't see much and when Max drags her away you see obvious red paint instead of blood. Yet when Max is stalking Laurie he is covered in very realistic looking blood. The tone varies a fair bit but is generally good.
The film really comes into its own though when it is dark. It is far more menacing with the dog hunting Laurie through EMAX or with the cop under the house. I did enjoy the idea of the psychotic break as you start to wonder when the break will happen and then they ruin it by the computer telling you it will be no more than 5 hours and it could already have started so you don't know whether he saved Laurie from the mugger out of love or he just really wanted to kill something! All in all though a reasonably good movie.
General rating: 5/10 as there are no real shocks or scares and it has retread old ground without really adding anything new.
If you like this: watch Cujo based on the Stephen King book. This movie is a master class in the monster dog category but does take a while to properly get going. If it is the genetic experiment aspect that gets you then go for Watchers, based on the novel by Dean Koontz, which features an intelligent genetically altered dog who leads an unstable mutant into battle.