The Beast (1996)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Worst Film Ever

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

In 1996, NBC produced a mini-series based off of Peter Benchley's book "The Beast". I was in 1st grade at the time and like many other boys, was fascinated by dinosaurs, aliens, reptilians, and monsters. Needless to say, I fell in love with this show and years later, I still think it holds up rather well. For one thing, the Giant squid looks more realistic than any of the so called Syfy original movie monsters. You see, back in those days, filmmakers put effort into their monsters. Sadly, in many cases today, filmmakers have gotten lazy and have decided to do every last thing in CGI (which, don't get me wrong, looks great sometimes, but many times it does not). In addition, the production value over all is fantastic for a TV movie along with the actors. You have William Petersen before he became Gil Grissom on CSI (lets face it; he was a big cause for that show's success)playing the heroic fisherman,Larry Drake as a shady fisherman, Charles Martin Smith as the sleazy port master, and Karen Sillas as the tough but loving coast guard officer. Bottom line is they just don't make any mini-series anymore (except on HBO and others like it). So if you want to watch a very well done monster movie, I would highly recommend The Beast.PS: For those folks who were upset over the edited DVD version, a newly released two disc extended addition restores the movie to its former glory. I just ordered my copy from Amazon and they said the supplies were low. But fear not, they also said more were on the way.

This is not a Oscar winner by a long shot. It is pretty predictable. Good guys kill beast that is terrorizing a shoreline community. The hero is a widower named "Whip Dalton" played by William Petersen. Dalton has teenage daughter Dana, (Missy Crider). There is a love interest, Lt. Kathryn Marcus(Karen Silas) of The US Coast Guard. There is the usual bad guy Schuyler Graves(Charles Martin Smith) and his greedy cohorts, Dr. Herbert Talley(Ronald Guttman) and Osborne Manning(Denis Arndt). Crider gave a sincere portrayal of Dana and William Petersen was great as the ship's captain and was believable. One might even believe he belonged there.I think the saving grace of this movie is the chemistry between the actors. Petersen and Crider fit perfectly as father and daughter. Karen Silas portrayal of Lt. Marcus was flat made me grind my teeth as she spoke feminist rhetoric that a woman has to be twice as good as a man to get accepted, which may be true depending on who you talk to.The one thing I did notice was that the movie felt like it had no director and was left it's own devices.All in all this is a harmless movie that you can let your ten year old watch without supervision, though you might want to watch it as well.I did like this movie, but I'm still trying to decide if I want to buy it or not.

This movie really outshone "Jaws" in every department, except for hype. In retrospect, had this film been made first, during the early or mid 1970 decade, it would have gotten the respect it deserved. It had much better action, character, plot, and twists than "Jaws," which was a splendid movie in its own right. This movie is about a giant squid. There have been numerous giant squid movies that rate as bombs, but this one was interesting. The characters are all very credible and likable with one noticeable exception, but even in this case, the actor pulls out a remarkable performance to make him more believable. There is a combination of great casting, acting, and directing that make this enjoyable. There is plenty of excitement. And a lot of twists. Believe me, until the end, you will not predict anything that happens. It has no predictability. The characters are well defined. Much like "Jaws", it comes down to a crew assorted at the end. The end may be a bit "Hollywood", and run of the mill, but the rest of the movie makes it worthwhile.

Yeah, it's Jaws on a budget, but just pop the corn, sit back, and have a little fun. I have sat through some atrocious horror movies (some of those in the 1950's and 60's are just awful), but this one is quite good for it's genre. Go ahead and root for the calamari, if you must! But she is protecting herself and her child as any mother would do in the same situation. The scenery is gorgeous, too--all shot in Australia, I think. I am not big on his love interest...she is a bit bland, but I do like Dana, his character's daughter. She was very believable and quite sweet. (Has she been in anything else?) Whip Dalton is my kind of guy: earthy, but charming...besides, anything with Billy Petersen in it is worth watching.