Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

jefuab "The Beast", based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name, is a film about a giant squid terrorising a small fishing community.This is a fantastic film with a convincing, to scale, 60ft squid. The music creates an atmosphere of terror, the cast are all on form and, being nearly three hours long, is very detailed.William Petersen is great to watch as the film's hero Whip Dalton, as is Karen Sillas as the film's heroin Lt. Kathryn Marcus. Charles Martin Smith plays his slimy little billionaire well, and thee rest of the cast do very good jobs.I've been fascinated by this film since I was a kid and it's still not lost its appeal. Watch this film, and read the book if you can.

Aaron1375 This movie really lets you in on a little secret...other than "Jaws", there is really nothing original about Peter Benchely's work. He basically uses the same plot elements in everything he writes the only thing he does differently is substituting sea creatures in for the shark from the hit "Jaws". This one though was somewhat fun to watch, a lot better than the horrid "Creature" that would come out a couple of years later. Why he titled this book "Beast" and not "Giant Squid" is beyond me, well maybe not. The latter just sounds stupid. Well that is what this movie is about, a super giant squid. Granted there is a bit of a twist in the middle of this one, but nothing to great of note if you have seen the movie "Jaws 3-D". The story is almost the same as "Jaws" except fishing and fisherman play a more prominent role and the beach is not used as much. Still, it has the typical mayor that will have his event or whatever no matter what evidence comes up to support closure or stopping of the event. My guess is Peter had a really bad run in with a mayor at some point in his lifetime. Still, there is enough to keep you entertained once. I would not really track down this movie to see it again.

maximilian-kohler This movie has all you need or want!!The story is simple, a small sea town is terrorized by a huge giant squid! After a few people get killed, the man of the town goes and hunts down the beast. Like in many other movies! But instate of another stupid shark, you have something more mystical in this movie: a giant squid! Thats a real spooky thing! In general you have a good story, that is exciting, not bad acting, a love story, action, killings and much more! The special affects aren't that bad for a TV Movie! So just lie back and enjoy 3 hours of terror!Go and what " Grizzly" too!

vip_ebriega My Take: Enjoyable, made-for-TV monster movie.After watching "Jaws" and "The Beast", I could conclude that Peter Benchley should be proud when his novels translated well when filmed. I've heard many bad reviews about this movie, mainly because it was loosely based on Benchley's bestseller. But, hey, this is a movie. Not everything has to go by the book. Directors and screenwriters have to add a couple of twists from the novels. okay, a lot of twists, but this has been a case in many Hollywood movies, and some turn up to be very good, why can't this? The plot is quite like the plot for sci-fi monster movies, a hungry creature makes snacks out of unwary victims, and a good guy tries to stop it, while a money-hungry guy tries to capture it and put it on display. But still, that kind of plot is what makes this kind of films really good, and "The Beast" uses it effectively.The performances are fine. William L. Petersen (from "C.S.I." fame) is okay as a the hero Whip Dalton (the surname was Darling in the novel). Charles Martin Smith is fine as the profit-hungry town owner Schuyler Graves (the Liam St.John character from the novel). Creature effects were great and Don Davis' score is terrific.So I would still recommend it, although not as good as "Jaws" was, it is still a very effective B-style sci-fi sea-monster movie.TV movie rating: **** out of 5.