Judy Sanders, an employee of a genetic research facility named EMAX contacts television personality and animal activist Lori Tanner. She is planning to meet after work so she can show Lori the atrocities and animal cruelty that go on in EMAX's laboratories. As she returns to work, an animal assailant attacks and kills her before being sedated by EMAX owner Dr. Jarret. He is a scientist performing vivisection and genetic engineering. Later, Lori arrives at EMAX with her camerawoman Annie. They break into the laboratory, film the various animals that are being experimented on and free a Tibetan Mastiff named Max before escaping with him. Jarret immediately goes to the police and reports that his dog has been stolen. Later that night, a mugger steals Lori's purse. Max chases the thief, brutally kills him and retrieves the purse.

Unaware that Max killed the mugger, Lori develops a bond with him much to the disapproval of her boyfriend Perry. He insists Max must stay in the backyard. However, Max can understand human conversations and becomes protective of Lori. Jarret is questioned by the police about Max and reveals that Max is a genetically altered dog, spliced with the DNA of various other animals such as big cats, snakes, chameleons, and birds of prey, giving him enhanced strength, speed, and senses. Max is also prone to violent rages, and Jarret regularly gives him a drug to keep him relaxed, but he fears that the effects of the drug will soon wear off.

Max acts loyal, obedient, and lovable to Lori, but he wreaks havoc in the neighborhood when she is not around. Max scares a paperboy, devours a cat and a vulgar parakeet, chews through the brake lines in Perry's car, and kills a mailman. In addition, Max mates with a collie that belongs to Lori's young neighbor, Rudy.

Noticing Perry's animosity towards their new dog, Lori decides to find Max a new home. She takes him to a junkyard and leaves him with the owner Ray, who assures her that Max will be taken to a ranch in a few days. However, when Lori leaves, Ray chains Max to the wall and beats him with a shovel to end his barking. When Max pulls loose from his chain, Ray burns his face with a blow torch but is quickly overpowered and killed. Max, now scarred, makes his way back to Lori's house. The police, after discovering the dead mugger and having Jarret confirm that Max was the culprit, now intend to stop Max at any cost. By the time Max returns to Lori's house, Perry has replaced him with a new puppy named Spike. Max, feeling betrayed, burns Perry's face with acidic urine and attacks Lori before the police arrive, forcing Max to flee.

An ambulance takes Perry away, and the police demand Lori's help to catch Max. Later that night, Max returns and kills the officers watching the house. In an attempt to get him back, Jarret kidnaps Lori and Spike in hopes that Max will follow them to the EMAX building which he does. She first discovers him in the laboratory. Max relinquishes his aggressive, homicidal nature and begins to kiss Lori's hand. Jarret shoots Max with a shotgun before being knocked onto a large electrical cage, which kills him. Lori pets Max's head as he dies.

Three months later, Rudy's collie has given birth to puppies, most of which look like their mother, with the exception of a black puppy that resembles Max.

• Ally Sheedy as Lori Tanner, a TV personality who becomes Max's adoptive owner.
• Lance Henriksen as Dr. Jarret, a Mad scientist at EMAX who is Max's original owner and arch-nemesis.
• Robert Costanzo as Detective Frankie Kovacs, who investigates Max.
• Fredric Lehne as Perry, Lori's boyfriend and Max's arch-rival.
• John Cassini as Detective Emilio Bendetti, who investigates Max
• J. D. Daniels as Rudy, Lori's young next-door neighbor.
• William Sanderson as Ray, a junkyard owner.
• Trula M. Marcus as Annie, a camerawoman who works with Lori.
• Robin Frates as Judy Sanders, an employee at EMAX who is killed by Max.
• Bradley Pierce as Chet, Rudy's best friend.
• Rick Barker as Mailman
• Thomas Rosales, Jr. as Mugger, a man who robs Lori.
• Mickey Cassidy as Paperboy
• Cameron Arnett as Dog Catcher #1
• Adam Carl as Dog Catcher #2
• Frank Welker as Max 3000

This is a list of the "victims" in the movie.

• Judy Sanders: A worker at EMAX. She is murdered when Max attacks her from behind and rips her apart, only to be tranquilized by Dr. Jarret.
• Mugger: This man is seen attacking Lori Tanner and her friend Annie outside a market only to be chased by Max and killed by him off-screen. He is later seen in a dumpster.
• Boo: A cat owned by Mrs. Barclay, an elderly woman. Rudy and Chet hate the cat, so they sick Max on him. Max chases him up a tree, and climbs up after him due to possessing retractable claws like that of a jaguar. Max catches him and eats him whole.
• Heidi: A collie owned by Rudy. Max takes an instant shine to her, but she spurns him, sensing something seriously wrong with him. Max ends up raping her, and at the end, she gives birth to a litter of puppies which contains a hybrid. She is one of two of Max’s victims to survive in the film.
• Mailman: He sprays Max in the eyes with mace when he feels threatened by the dog, but Max just shakes it off and chases after him. Max kills him by biting him in the neck.
• Mr. Ed: Lori Tanner's pet parrot who speaks foul words. He meets his demise when Max viciously attacks him and eats him.
• Ray: A man who works at a junkyard. Lori gives Max away to him after he tells her that he'll take Max out to his ranch, where he'll live a good life. However, after Lori leaves, he hits Max in the head with a shovel and chains him up, intending to make him his guard dog. However, Max gets free, and though he burns the left side of Max's face with a blowtorch, he ends up getting killed by him.
• Perry: Lori Tanner's paramour who is displeasant of Max throughout the film. Max chewed through his brake line and almost made him die in a car crash, so in retaliation he tried to feed Max steak tartar laced with rat poison, but Max's heightened sense of smell detected it right away. He is nearly killed when Max uses his own acidic urine on his face. It is presumed he survived from Max’s attack, the second of his victims.
• Detective Frank Kovacs: One of two detectives who are determined to stop Max. When he finds the body of one of Max's victims (the Mailman), Max kills him in a surprise attack.
• Detective Emillio Benditti: The other of the two detectives determined to stop Max. He is killed by Max offscreen, having his throat viciously ripped.
• Dr. Jarret: The scientist who created Max. When he kills Max with a shotgun, he is pushed through a window and falls on top of a cage that has a live wire situated on it. Lori's new puppy Spike messes with an electrical outlet and plugs in the live wire, sending out powerful surges of electricity that kill him instantly.

Man's Best Friend was released in 1220 theaters on the Thanksgiving weekend of November 19, 1993. It opened at fifth place in the box office with $5 million.^[1]

Reception edit

Man's Best Friend currently has a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews.^[2] Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times, noted that while "cynical and shallow", the film was "polished in all aspects".^[3] Despite this, Ally Sheedy was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress. Film critic Leonard Maltin gave it a moderately positive two-and-a-half-star review, calling it "derivative, but fun."

• The Pack (1977 film)
• White Dog
• Cujo (film)
• The Breed (2006 film)
• Dogs (1976 film)

• Man's Best Friend at IMDb  
• Man's Best Friend at AllMovie  
• Man's Best Friend at Box Office Mojo