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The Beast
Directed by	Jeff Bleckner
Produced by	Peter Benchley Dan Wigutow
Written by	Novel: Peter Benchley Teleplay: J.B. White
Starring	William Petersen Karen Sillas Charles Martin Smith Ronald Guttman
Release date(s)	April 28, 1996
Country	United States
Language	English

The Beast is a 1996 made for TV movie starring William Petersen, Karen Sillas and Charles Martin Smith. The movie is based on the 1991 novel Beast by Jaws author Peter Benchley. The film is about a giant squid that attacks and kills several people when its food supply becomes scarce and its offspring is killed.

Cast

• William Petersen - Whip Dalton
• Karen Sillas - Lt. Kathryn Marcus
• Charles Martin Smith - Schuyler Graves
• Ronald Guttman - Dr. Herbert Talley
• Missy Crider - Dana Dalton
• Sterling Macer, Jr. - Mike Newcombe
• Denis Arndt - Osborne Manning
• Adrienne-Joi Johnson - Nell Newcombe
• Larry Drake - Lucas Coven
• Murray Bartlett - Christopher Lane
• Laura Vazquez - Hadley

Plot

The film begins when a couple disappeared wile havin a romantic night out on a yacht. The next day, local fisherman Whip Dalton (William Petersen) finds the empty lifeboat from the missing yacht and inside is a large claw. Whip sends the claw to a university to be analyzed and it ends up in the hands of marine biologists Dr. Herbert Talley (Ronald Guttman), who comes to Grave’s Point claiming it is from the tentacle of an Architeuthis Dux. The island harbor master Schuyler Graves (Charles Martin Smith) tries to hire Whip to kill the squid, but he refuses so Graves sends out Lucas Coven (Larry Drake) instead. Coven succeeds in slaying the squid and the carcass is promptly sold by Graves to Sea World Texas owner Osborne Manning (Denis Arndt).

Dr. Talley then organizes a Submersible expedition to explore the squid’s habitat. But after analyzing the carcass of the dead squid, the scientists determine it is just a baby. The information comes too late and the adult squid attacks the submersible and everyone on board is killed. 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 officer Lt. Kathryn Marcus (Karen Sillas), Dr. Talley, and Manning. They plan to snare the squid, reel it in, and shoot it with darts full of cyanide. The plan succeeds and the squid appears dead. But when the ship’s engine breaks down, Manning reveals that he filled the darts with tranquilizer instead of cyanide so he could take the squid alive back to Sea World. Whip tries to cut the squid loose but it wakes up and attacks the ship. Talley, Graves, and Manning are killed. A coast guard helicopter arrives in time to pick up Kathryn and Whip. As he boards the chopper, Whip lights his boat on fire causing the extra fuel drums to explode and kills the giant squid. The helicopter flies them back to the shore where they reunite with Whip's daughter Dana (Missy Crider).

References

External links

• The Beast at the Internet Movie Database
• The Beast at Allmovie
• View the Trailer