Random 'Man's Best Friend' Is A Charmingly Stupid '90s Horror Movi (14 items)

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  (#5) Max Is An Impossible Genetic Crossbreed Of Various Animals 

  If you watched many horror movies about genetic engineering in the '90s, you'll know that back then, most horror filmmakers seemed to be pretty sure that you could just dump the DNA of all kinds of animals together and you'd get whatever aspect of that animal you wanted. Want something with the ability to change colors like a chameleon? Just throw some chameleon DNA in there.

  The film lists several of the animals that went into Max's DNA (including, yes, a chameleon) and rattles off some of the powers that this unlikely combo gives him, including the ability to climb with "jaguar-like agility," change colors to blend in with his background, and more. It is implied that he has the DNA of tigers and bears (oh my), as well as other exotic animals.

  Weirdly, Max pretty much only ever uses these strange abilities in isolated set pieces that have nothing to do with the main story, such as when he climbs a tree to chase a cat or when he changes colors to startle some animal control officers.
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  (#14) A Clip From 'Man's Best Friend' Shows Up In The Movie 'Friday'

  In the cult film Friday, starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker, a character played by John Witherspoon is seen watching the part of Man's Best Friend where Max chases the postal worker on TV. "It's yo a**, Mr. Postman," Witherspoon says as Max goes over the fence after the mail carrier.

  Both films were released by New Line Cinema, which may have been how Friday was able to use a clip from Man's Best Friend just a couple of years after it came out.
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  (#2) The Opening Credits Play Over An Intense Montage Of Old-Timey Dog Pictures 

  Even before the film's cold open, we're treated to a montage of classical paintings featuring dogs - and sometimes other animals - that veer from normal to sinister as Joel Goldsmith's melodramatic score swells. Goldsmith later went on to compose the music for several of the Stargate TV series.

  By the time the credits end, however, the paintings have returned to "normal," and we close on an image of a little girl holding a puppy. This foreshadows not just the film's arc, but also its final scene.
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  (#7) The Filmmakers Went To Great Lengths For The Dog Stunts

  There are a lot of stunts involving animals in this movie, and the Humane Society has an extensive breakdown of just how they were all safely accomplished, using everything from puppets to highly trained dogs to optical illusions.

  When Max is swallowing the cat, for example, the cat is actually being pulled backward into a puppet head by its handler. The scene of Max climbing the tree is accomplished with camera trickery and Max walking along a horizontal log - the difference in texture between the log and the actual tree is apparent in the film. When Max jumps over police cars near the film's climax, it's a combo of a platform jump and some fake cars.
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  (#11) Lance Henriksen's Character Is A Bit Over The Top 

  Most of us who watched Man's Best Friend when it first came out probably did so mainly because of Lance Henriksen's name in the credits. He's one of the film's high points, playing a bizarrely over-the-top doctor who feels like several characters crammed into one. It seems as if the character took a lot of different turns in different drafts of the script that all got jammed together in the final version.

  He cajoles and berates the police to get them to take action to find his missing dog, then threatens to sue them when they do take action. Furthermore, he tells the police everything about Max and his experiments, even though what he's been doing is clearly against the law. In some moments, his character seems almost comical, with his fly-away blond hair and denim jacket, as he peers under his glasses to look at suspect photos. Other times, he shouts at police officers, dashes the contents of their desks to the floor, and takes the law into his own hands.
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  (#1) 'Man's Best Friend' Is Essentially 'Cujo' Meets 'Child’s Play' 

  Maybe this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given the pedigree of Man's Best Friend. Writer-director John Lafia is one of three writers credited on the screenplay for the original Child's Play, and he directed the first sequel just a few years before Man's Best Friend hit theaters. While the trailer implies more child-in-peril scenes than Man's Best Friend actually delivers, the genetically enhanced dog does go after the local paperboy and terrifies Lori's rollerblading neighbor kid, who apparently comes over and lets himself into her house whenever he wants.

  The dog in Cujo is a Saint Bernard, while Max 3000 is played by five Tibetan Mastiffs. In spite of the difference in breed, the two animals even look kind of similar. And, of course, there are also similarities between Man's Best Friend and Frankenstein, with Max having been created in a lab and ultimately turned on by his creator. However, Dr. Jarret's motives and feelings toward Max are certainly harder to plumb than Victor Frankenstein's ever were.

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