Peter Benchley's The Beast

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04/09/2020 Peter Benchley swaps flake for calamari in this watchable TV mini-series event. The Beast is a flat-packed psychopathic animal thriller even idiots can assemble; unexplained events leave an ethnically homogenous coastal town in terror, loathsome officials are in denial, all the dumbest people get it in the first act, and the humble hero does his life's work in one evening. This may sound drab, but much like cheap Scandinavian furniture made from sawdust it is also aesthetically pleasing and functional. William Petersen is charming and believable as a sullen fisherman but mama squid steals the show. See more 11/15/2012 This is one example of how Hollywood can get an animal wrong. My favorite animals get a bad reputation from films like this. Giant squids were not seen alive by humans until 2004 and they as adults stay in the deep sea naturally. But I do admit that ther eis worse such as Jaws and what it causedf to happen to Great Whites for example. See more 12/08/2011 While this movie is decent, it is one of the poorest adaptations of a novel that I can think of. Benchley's novel is an extremely well written (if not a tad unoriginal) and slowly building story that echo's back to his masterpiece, 'Jaws'. This is a made for TV movie, so its hard to expect too much. The script, acting, effects, and overall direction are not particularly overwhelming. Taking these limitations into account however, we still get a decently made and entertaining movie. Alot of cheap plot devices (the baby squid fiasco, the Petersen/Sillas romantic tension, over exaggerated climax, etc) all stray far from the source material and don't add much to the final product. Still beats the snot out of pretty much any Sci-Fi original and 90% of other made for TV films. See more 10/03/2011 While this movie is decent, it is one of the poorest adaptations of a novel that I can think of. Benchley's novel is an extremely well written (if not a tad unoriginal) and slowly building story that echo's back to his masterpiece, 'Jaws'. This is a made for TV movie, so its hard to expect too much. The script, acting, effects, and overall direction are not particularly overwhelming. Taking these limitations into account however, we still get a decently made and entertaining movie. Alot of cheap plot devices (the baby squid fiasco, the Petersen/Sillas romantic tension, over exaggerated climax, etc) all stray far from the source material and don't add much to the final product. Still beats the snot out of pretty much any Sci-Fi original and 90% of other made for TV films. See more 04/10/2011 A giant squid... so lame. See more 08/18/2010 While this movie is decent, it is one of the poorest adaptations of a novel that I can think of. Benchley's novel is an extremely well written (if not a tad unoriginal) and slowly building story that echo's back to his masterpeice, 'Jaws'. This is a made for TV movie, so its hard to expect too much. The script, acting, effects, and overall direction are not particularly overwhelming. Taking these limitations into account however, we still get a decently made and entertaining movie. Alot of cheap plot devices (the baby squid fiasco, the Petersen/Sillas romantic tention, over exagerated climax, etc) all stray far from the source material and don't add much to the final product. Still beats the snot out of pretty much any Sci-fi original and 90% of other made for TV films. See more Read all reviews

Peter Benchley's The Beast

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