Man's Best Friend (1993)

Man’s Best Friend is the kind of high-concept, early-’90s creature thriller that knows exactly how to turn a familiar “pet gone wrong” premise into a polished, fast-paced good time, with just enough sci-fi seasoning to make its bite feel fresh. John Lafia keeps the tone playfully nasty—part horror, part dark comedy—so the movie moves like a slick tabloid nightmare, anchored by Ally Sheedy’s likable, game performance and Lance Henriksen’s wonderfully icy menace. It’s entertaining in that crowd-pleasing way where every scene seems designed to top the last, without bogging down in lectures or lab-coat jargon. Fair warning: the violence is meaner than the title suggests and some animal-related moments are rough, but if you’re in the mood for a brisk, tongue-in-cheek thriller with sharp teeth, it delivers.

Man’s Best Friend is clearly trying to mash up a “cute pet” hook with mad-science creature-feature thrills and a wink of dark comedy, and on paper that’s a fun B-movie pitch. The problem is it plays out exactly how you expect, with thin characters and a lot of noise standing in for real suspense or smart satire, so if you need sharp writing or believable motivations, you’ll be checking your watch. It’s also nastier than some viewers bargain for: the animal-on-human violence is frequent and mean-spirited, and there are a couple of moments involving animals that many people will find upsetting rather than entertaining. If you’re in the mood for early-90s schlock with a few gnarly effects and a reliably sleazy Lance Henriksen villain, you might get a guilty kick out of it; if you love dogs or want a clever sci-fi thriller, skip it.