''The Beast'' is a 1996

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

starring

William Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

Karen Sillas Karen Sillas is an American stage and film actress. Early life The daughter of a Greek father and a Swedish mother, Sillas was born in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Acting Conservatory of the State University of New York at Purchase. Car ...

and

Charles Martin Smith Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television, based in British Columbia. He is known for his roles in ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), '' Never Cry Wo ...

. Aired in two parts as a miniseries, the movie is based on the 1991 novel '' Beast'' by ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

'' author

Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works ...

. The film is about a

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trac ...

that attacks and kills several people when its food supply becomes scarce and its offspring is killed. It was filmed primarily in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

Plot

The film begins with Howard Griffin and Elizabeth Griffin having a romantic night out on a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

near the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

resort community, Graves' Point. After a freak occurrence causes the yacht to sink, the two are forced to head for shore in a lifeboat, only to be attacked and eaten by an unseen creature hours later. The next day, local

fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or rec ...

Whip Dalton (

) finds the empty lifeboat and discovers a large claw stuck into the boat. Whip sends the claw to a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

to be analyzed and it ends up in the hands of

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

Dr. Herbert Talley (

Ronald Guttman Ronald Guttman (born 12 August 1952) is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer. Career Guttman was born in Uccle. He started appearing in French language productions in Europe in 1975, appearing in his first English-language film ...

), who comes to Grave's Point claiming it is from the

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work ma ...

of a

. The island harbor master Schuyler Graves (

) hires Lucas Coven (

Larry Drake Larry Richard Drake (February 21, 1950 – March 17, 2016) was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as Benny Stulwicz in '' L.A. Law'', for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards. He also appeared as Robert G. Durant in both ''Dark ...

) to kill the squid after both Whip's initial advice to leave it alone and several more deaths caused by the squid. Coven succeeds in slaying a squid and the carcass is promptly sold by Graves to Sea Land

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

owner Osborne Manning (

Denis Arndt Denis Arndt (born November 23, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Alex Priest in the play ''Heisenberg'' for which he earned a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. Life and career Denis Arndt served ...

). The unmanned sonar detects another, much larger squid which remains unnoticed by the islanders. When Whip and Talley are not allowed to see the squid to examine it, Dr. Talley organizes a submersible expedition to explore the squid's habitat. After analyzing the carcass of the dead squid, the scientists determine it is just a baby. The information comes too late, however, and the adult squid, the baby's mother, attacks the submersible, killing everyone on board. Whip angrily blames Graves for the incident, which also resulted in the death of Christopher, Talley's assistant and boyfriend of Dana (Missy Crider), Whip's daughter. Graves then blackmails Lucas, threatening to shut Lucas down for illegal trap fishing unless he resumes the hunt for the adult squid. Dr. Talley explains to Whip that the giant squid is killing out of vengeance for the death of her offspring rather than hunger, and is now even more dangerous as a result. Lucas resumes the hunt along with Whip's friend, Mike, and another crew member named Scranton (David Field). After enduring stormy weather they decide to head back to shore and continue the hunt the next day. The Squid attacks the boat before they make it to shore, devouring Scranton and knocking a cargo net on Mike, injuring him. It then attacks Lucas in the helm who fires a couple of shots with his gun at its tentacles. The squid then bites a hole in the hull. With water pouring in, it pulls the entire boat underwater, drowning Lucas. Whip, after learning that Mike went out to help Lucas comes to the rescue and, finding Mike holding onto a buoy, pulls him out of the water and takes him to the hospital. Whip then agrees to go out and hunt the giant squid but only if he can use his boat and Graves goes with him. He is also accompanied by

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

officer, Lt. Kathryn Marcus (

), Dr. Talley, and Manning. They plan to snare the squid, reel it in and shoot it multiple times with darts full of

cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...

. The plan succeeds and the squid appears dead. But when the ship's

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

breaks down, Manning reveals that he filled the darts with tranquilizer instead of cyanide so he could take the squid alive back to Sea Land. Graves tried to escape on a lifeboat as Whip cuts the squid loose just as it awakes. The squid soon chases down and kills Graves. Afterword's, it resumes the attack on Whip's boat, killing Manning and then jumping on the boat. It then grabs Talley and eats him. A coast guard helicopter arrives in time to pick up Kathryn and Whip. As he boards the helicopter, Whip fends the squid off with an

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

, chopping open several extra fuel drums and has Kathryn use a

flare gun A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (s ...

to set his boat on fire. The squid is unable to escape as an explosion blows up the squid's beak and lower body, killing it. The helicopter flies them back to the shore where they reunite with Dana.

Cast

as Whip Dalton *

as Lt. Kathryn Marcus *

as Schuyler Graves *

as Dr. Herbert Talley * Missy Crider as Dana Dalton * Sterling Macer Jr. as Mike Newcombe *

as Osborne Manning *

Adrienne-Joi Johnson Adrienne-Joi Johnson (born January 2, 1963) is an American actress, choreographer, fitness trainer, and life coach. Acting since 1987, Johnson has made many guest appearances on sitcoms, television dramas and music videos; she also has numerous ...

as Nell Newcombe *

as Lucas Coven *

Murray Bartlett Murray Bartlett (born 20 March 1971) is an Australian actor. His roles include Dominic "Dom" Basaluzzo in the HBO comedy-drama series '' Looking'', Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the Netflix revival of ''Tales of the City'', and Armond in the HBO ...

as Christopher Lane * Laura Vazquez as Hadley * Blake Kearney as The Sax Player

Differences from novel

This TV adaption based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name is mostly faithful to the source material; but some changes were made for the sake of film locations and pacing. In the novel, the squid has much younger offspring which do not make an appearance until the end of the novel, and the titular squid is killed by a sperm whale, not by an explosion as in the movie. Many storylines and characters are added or changed in the TV adaptation. For one thing, the book took place in Bermuda while the movie took place in a Pacific North West community resort called Grave's Point.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beast, The 1996 films 1996 horror films 1996 television films 1990s American television miniseries American natural horror films American television films Films scored by Don Davis (composer) Films about cephalopods Films about the United States Coast Guard Films based on American novels Films based on horror novels Films set in North America Films shot in Australia Films directed by Jeff Bleckner Films based on works by Peter Benchley Giant squid Australian action adventure films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films