Watchers(1988)

SHORT VERSION:
While hiding out with Furface from the OXCOM and the Bannadyne agents Lem and Cliff as his family’s cabin in Totem Creek, Travis asks Furface if they can escape the OXCOM. Furface barks twice for “no,” so Travis decides – much to Furface’s reluctance – that they are going to have to take a stand against the beast right here and now. He thus goes to an outdoor supply store and buys a bunch of shells for the shotgun he brought along with him, as well as some motion detectors and materials to make homemade weapons with.

That night, Lem and Cliff arrive outside the cabin with Travis’ mother Nora, and his girlfriend, Tracey, whom they captured on separate occasions and found out through the former where Travis was. Travis tosses a Molotov cocktail at the agents, and the explosion enables Nora and Tracey to get free of them and run into the cabin, and Travis fires his shotgun at the men before heading inside as well. This prompts Lem to return fire, and a shocked Cliff stops him and asks him why he is trying to kill a woman and two children. Lem replies that he cannot – and will not – let any of them leave here alive, then reveals to Cliff that he is the Francis Project’s hitherto-unknown third experiment: A killer devoid of conscience. He then shoots and kills Cliff.

Travis comes back outside and uses another Molotov cocktail to blow up the agents’ truck before suddenly getting attacked by Lem, but Nora ends up killing Lem with two shotgun blasts. Moments later, the OXCOM arrives, and Travis ends up tossing a Molotov cocktail at it which causes the whole cabin to catch fire. Shortly after the OXCOM threatens Nora’s life and badly injures Furface, Travis shoots it twice with the shotgun, causing it to retreat into the woods. He pursues it, finds it, and fights it a little more before killing it with a few more shots.

He then returns to Nora, Tracey, and Furface, and Nora informs him that Furface is still alive, but they must get him to a veterinarian. He and the others put Furface in their truck and then drive off into the night while the cabin continues to burn.

LONG VERSION:
As we learn over the course of the film, the intelligent dog (given the name Furface by Travis [Corey Haim]) and the OXCOM (short for Outside Experimental Combat Mammal) are research animals that are part of the Francis Project, created by Bannadyne Laboratories for the N.S.O. (National Security Organization) to help wage wars on the nation’s enemies and reduce the need to risk the lives of human soldiers. The dog is meant to serve as a homing device for the OXCOM; the dog would find enemy camps and insinuate itself into them, after which the OXCOM – using a one-way telepathic link to the dog – would track down the dog to its location and mercilessly kill all of the enemies. Furface and the OXCOM are also like brothers, for they share the same genetic material used in their creations, along with a third experiment that was made (more on that later). However, the project has produced no successful results thus far because all seven OXCOMs have proven to be mentally defective, and the first six inevitably killed their dogs before they were ordered destroyed. The featured seventh OXCOM is the most advanced of the lot, but it is also the “bad seed” because it pathologically hates Furface for reasons that Bannadyne cannot fully determine, and it is obsessed with killing Furface and has already killed the dog’s two predecessors. During the OXCOM’s pursuit of Furface throughout the movie, it has been fulfilling its intended purpose by attacking and/or killing anyone that has had contact with the dog, both directly and indirectly.

One day, Travis’ mother, Nora (Barbara Williams), is paid a visit by family friend Hockney (Norman Browning). As they chat in the living room, Travis and Furface walk in, and Hockney mentions to Nora that, while he was fixing her dryer yesterday, an N.S.O. agent (which was Lem [Michael Ironside]) stopped by the house wanting to tell Travis something pertaining to his girlfriend Tracey (Lala Sloatman). Hockney also adds that the agent asked him if Travis had a dog, and then he brings up a few murders that occurred in town just last night and how they were killed by the same guy who killed Tracey’s father. Nora, Travis, and Furface get very nervous upon hearing all of this, especially Travis and Furface because they know those murders are linked to them (particularly the murder of Tracey’s father, which resulted in Tracey getting hospitalized but then later moved to an unknown location by Lem and his partner Cliff [Blu Mankuma]) due to them having met the victims before their deaths, and Travis excuses himself to go up to his bedroom. Once up there with Furface, Travis tells the dog that, everywhere they go, this murderer shows up, and he gets confirmation from Furface that the killer is after him and will be coming here next. He tells Furface that they need to leave to keep his mother safe.

He packs up some stuff and sneaks out with Furface, but when he tries to flee in his mother’s truck, Nora sees him and calls out to him to get him to stop. She asks him what is going on, and he explains that the guys who have taken Tracey from the hospital work for the N.S.O., and the thing that is killing everyone wants Furface. After he tells her that he is not giving up the dog nor is he going to turn himself in, Nora decides to help him deal with this problem. However, when they go back inside their house, they find that the OXCOM has snuck in and killed Hockney, and then they and Furface run upstairs from the beast when it begins to chase them. They lock themselves in Travis’ bedroom, and though the OXCOM breaks in shortly after, Travis grabs a shotgun from his closet before he escapes out the window with his mother and Furface. Though Furface sustains an injury from the OXCOM as he jumps out, Travis gets him into the truck, and they and Nora drive away. Later, as the police are investigating the crime scene, Lem shows up and meets Cliff there, and Cliff explains that one of the blood samples that was found was definitely canine, indicating that the dog has been hurt, so they might have a chance to find it before the OXCOM does.

Travis and Nora get Furface treated at an animal hospital, but they are all forced to flee when the veterinarian notices Bannadyne’s I.D. number tattooed inside Furface’s left ear and tries to call the lab to let them know that he is here. They rest at a motel for the night, but the next morning, Furface sees that Lem and Cliff have arrived outside the motel’s office looking for them and alerts Travis to it. Travis wakes his mother and fills her in on the situation, so she tells him to sneak out the bathroom window with Furface, get to their truck, and then drive to the family farmhouse up in Totem Creek while she stays behind to distract the agents. Travis does as she says, and while she is speaking to Lem and Cliff, she asks them what they have done with Tracey, and Cliff replies that they are protecting her. Lem tries to explain that the OXCOM will kill anyone who has been near the dog, but when Nora asks why, Lem asks if she will believe their story if they took her to see Tracey. Nora agrees to come along, and when they head outside, we see that Travis and Furface were able to escape successfully.

Travis and Furface make it to the cabin, and later, Travis asks Furface if they can escape the OXCOM. After Furface gives two barks for “no”, Travis says – much to Furface’s reluctance – that they are going to have to take a stand against the beast right here and now. Travis then goes to a local outdoor supply store and buys more shells for his shotgun, as well as some motion detectors and materials to make homemade weapons with. Meanwhile, Lem and Cliff take Nora to the hotel room they are headquartered in, where she finds Tracey lying sedated on the bed. However, after noticing that there is no medical equipment in the room other than an I.V. drip and seeing that Tracey is physically unharmed, Nora realizes that Lem and Cliff have been keeping Tracey drugged and imprisoned here, so when they ask her where Travis and the dog are, she refuses to tell them. Sometime after the men leave to tend to something, Nora tells the recovering Tracey where Travis has gone to, after which Cliff comes in with gun drawn while Lem reveals a hidden microphone near them to let them know that they heard every word that Nora just said. They then force the women to come with them to Totem Creek.

That night, Furface notices that one of the motion detectors has been tripped and warns Travis about it, and after arming himself, Travis looks outside and spots Lem and Cliff pulling up in their truck with Nora and Tracey. After the agents force the women to come out with them at gunpoint, Travis tosses a Molotov cocktail at the men, and the explosion enables Nora and Tracey to get free of them and run into the cabin. Travis then fires his shotgun at the agents before heading inside, prompting Lem to return fire, and a shocked Cliff stops Lem moments later and asks him why he is trying to kill a woman and two children. Lem replies that he cannot – and will not – let any of them leave here alive, then reveals to Cliff that he is the Francis Project’s third experiment: A killer devoid of conscience. He then shoots and kills Cliff.

Moments later, Travis exits the cabin and throws another Molotov cocktail at the agents’ truck and blows it up, but Lem then hits him with a surprise attack. After Lem nonfatally stabs Travis with his own hunting knife, Furface comes to Travis’ defense and knocks Lem to the ground, and as Lem is distracted with the dog, Travis takes the knife and drives it through Lem’s throat. Lem pulls it out and advances toward Travis with it, but before he can do anything to him, Nora appears and kills Lem with two shots from the shotgun. Nora and Tracey get Travis inside and dress his stab wound, but then Furface growls to warn them that the OXCOM has finally caught up with them, so they get their weapons together and lock the front door before retreating into the bedroom. The OXCOM throws Lem’s body through the window, and Travis fires a few shotgun shells out the window in return, but they hit nothing. He then hears the creature going around to the front of the house, so Travis has Nora light another Molotov cocktail before ordering her and Tracey to exit through the window and head for their truck, after which he opens the bedroom door and throws the Molotov cocktail at the OXCOM as it is tearing down the front door, setting the cabin on fire in the process. As Travis goes through the bedroom window himself and dashes towards the truck, the OXCOM gets out and attacks Nora, and when Furface comes to her aid, the OXCOM soon picks him up and slams him onto the truck’s windshield. Travis then appears and shoots the OXCOM a couple of times, causing it to retreat into the woods, and he pursues it until he finds it lying against a tree motionless. Travis lowers his shotgun, thinking that the creature is dead, but seconds after he turns his back on it, it reveals that it was just playing possum and attacks him. After a short fight, Travis manages to finish off the beast with a few more shots.

Travis returns to the cabin to the relief of Nora and Tracey, and Nora informs him that Furface is still alive, but they must get him to a veterinarian. They all get in their truck and drive off into the night while the cabin continues to burn.