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.
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.