MAN'S BEST FRIEND

   Film (1993). New Line Cinema/Roven-Cavello Entertainment .Written and directed John Lafia; starring Ally Sheedy, Lance Henriksen, Robert Costanzo,John Cassini, Fredric Lehne. 87 mins. Colour.

   Routine sf/horror movie, with moments of black humour: Dr Jarret (Henriksen) has been performing animal experiments at the EMAX research lab, and has created a super killer guard dog through DNA splicing, some of the imported genes coming from other species. The mastiff-type dog, temporarily stable until a controlling drug wears off, is accidentally released by tv journalist Lori Tanner (Sheedy, a good performance), who adopts it, thinking it(correctly, in a way) an innocent victim. The high-IQ dog goes on to rape (another dog),multiple murder including killing Tanner's boyfriend by pissing acid onto his face and,implausibly, even camouflaging itself as a toolbox. Events escalate in the traditional manner of an exploitation movie, and the animal rights issue is raised but never really examined.Director/writer Lafia was previously best known for the extremely violent horror flick Child's Play 2 (1990). This is not as good in the horror-dog line as Cujo (1983) which was based on the Stephen KING novel, but MBF did well commercially.

   PN