La bête

I first saw the movie in 1997 on TV. I loved the movie. Even though it is a made for TV movie, it was still awesome. They could have made some money in Theaters I'm sure. The Giant Squid is an amazing phenomena in its self. For all you movie lovers of Big Creatures or the unexplained... This ones for you. I would highly recommend watching. It's better than a lot of theatrical movies. Ever since I saw it, I am determined to one day get a big boat & go fishing for one of those Giant Squid. Who knows? It is an interesting movie. I didn't find it boring at all. With a little twist along the way... But you'll have to try & find it somewhere & watch it to find out. It is a hard movie to come across. Anyway, Andrew Hillier from St. John's NL, Canada gives it a Thumbs Up and a recommendation. Peace!

This film first aired on television when I was in middle school. They advertised it heavily and it turned out to be a really great film. It is a well produced television movie that will give you the creeps at certain points. One underwater scene near the beginning of the second half of the film will really get you going. This is the uncut version I am talking about.

There are several cuts of the film that are out there that are very incomplete. The version I have is the one that originally aired on t.v. If you are into things like jaws and King Kong, then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of this film. Some of the characters may be a bit corny but they are played well by some familiar character actors. William Petersen is especially good in the lead role. You really buy the weight he brings to the character. He seems like a genuinely good guy.

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.

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.

I don't agree with the other review at all I though even though they did mess with the story from the book if you forget about the book and concentrate on the movie itself its a pretty good movie.Sure it wasn't done on a high budget but its not cheesy and all in all the special effects are good.I think if you liked Jaws or any of its sequels you'd like this movie I certainly do.I thought it was a really good movie and I think that the squids look really good.I liked the fact that they kept them to a huge size but a size of squid the could exist.Its makes it seemed scarier to me.If you like monster movies or action movies like peter benchley's the deep I definitely think this is a movie for you.