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

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  (#13) There's An Annoying Rollerblading Kid

  Man's Best Friend came out in 1993, so you'd better believe there's an irritating kid in it who teaches the parrot to say "fartface," is on rollerblades pretty much every time we see him, and wears a flannel shirt everywhere he goes. The kid is also painted as having little to no moral compass. Not only does he seem to come and go as he pleases in Lori's house, but he also borrows Max and eggs the dog on to chase a neighborhood cat.

  The kids seem startled when Max climbs a tree and swallows the cat whole, but they also don't bother to tell anybody about it.
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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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  (#6) It Plays Into The Anti-Animal Testing Movement That Gained Momentum In The '90s 

  In the '90s, the debate over the pros and cons of animal testing was raging in America and around the world, and Man's Best Friend was far from the only horror movie to wade into the fray. In 1996, just three years after the film's release, various animal protection groups formed the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, while in 1998, Britain banned the use of animal testing in the manufacture of cosmetic products and ingredients.

  In the film, Ally Sheedy plays a journalist who intends to exploit this groundswell of interest in animal rights by doing an exposé on the inhumane practices of a genetics laboratory. Man's Best Friend shows cruel vivisections performed on animals and puts most of the pro-animal testing arguments in the mouth of Lance Henriksen's character, a morally dubious scientist with delusions of grandeur.
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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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  (#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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  (#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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