Peter Benchley's The Beast - Good Bad Flicks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ย. 2024
- GoodBadFlicks goes into some new territory looking at the made for TV mini-series The Beast. Directed by Jeff Bleckner.
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Movies, games, and the occasional editorial.
From A-Z list films, video games, and other overlooked goodness.
Schedule -
Monday - 1 PM EST New Main Show Episode
Friday - Unscripted reviews of movies currently in theaters and VOD
Also occasional episodes of Good Bad Games and other assorted stuff at random times.
As someone with a huge fascination with giant squid, I _adored_ this film as a kid. I re-watched it with my friend a few years ago. It certainly doesn't stand the test of time... But I still have fond memories.
Also, this film is just Jaws, beat for beat, only _what if we replace the shark with a giant squid?_
Sorry, I didn't watch till the end...
As someone who is obsessed with deep sea films, i'm shocked i haven't seen it!
@@forallthestupidshit3550 If you haven't seen it, check out Deep Rising! I think the entire film is free on TH-cam and it's such a great, fun deep sea monster film with a fantastic ending.
If you haven't seen it, go in blind and you'll have blast!
I absolutely loved this movie as a kid, in part because of how awesome the practical effects were for the squid and how well they hold up after all these years. Too bad TV doesn't have shows like this on; God how I miss the grand mini-series!
Especially the Stephen King mini-series.
@@Tisply25 Yes!!! Storm of The Century, The Stand, excellent productions.
Remember reading the book but missed the miniseries
Haha! Yes!
"All the boys I like keep getting eaten by squids!"
Tale as old as time....
#relatable
It really is a beauty and The Beast
She was promised to it, he just don't play games.
@@justindenney-hall5875 oh no, I don't think it's an 'Or' in this particular case.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I remember watching this when it first aired in 96. I was hyped by the commercials. I liked it but it definitely didn't live up to the hype but it's better than your typical jaws esque film.
The MST3K reference at 10:10 was hilarious!! "toy boat. toy boat. toy boat. toy boat." lmao
Great video. I loved The Beast when it first aired, not long after reading the book. I still go back and watch it on occasion. The special effects are still impressive for 1996.
Man, I LOVED this on TV back then.
My grandma made me watch this so many times back in the day and I have the book
I first stumbled on this hidden gem as one of the stories featured in the Reader's Digest collection books. I was all "Oh shit... Another horror story by the author of Jaws, but this time featuring a giant squid? I'm in!"
It's a shame more people don't know about this book and by extention this mini series.
Its not even in print in anymore😕
@@Backinblackbunny009 Then I guess I'm one of the lucky few to own a copy
When the book was new I saw it displayed on one of those stands with the enlarged cover art. I saw that somewhere during the course of a long and boring trip to a neighboring town when I was eight. I still have a vivid memory of thinking about that tentacle with spiked suckers while riding in my dad's pickup with the Grateful Dead playing.
I remember seeing this miniseries a long time ago as a child and being scared by the giant squid, but I had no idea what the title was. Solid review as always.
It was this or tentacles
1:06 my favorite line and delivery of all time. The look of anger and disgust on Hogan's face is priceless.
Creature! I have been trying to remember the name of this for Years!! Thank you. My Soul can rest peacfully now.
"How long was sex?" Cecil 2018
5 inches
It should be *strongly* recommended that if anyone is interested in The Beast on DVD (I don't know if there is a Blu Ray) that they get the 2 Disc edition which covers the entire miniseries and not make the same mistake I did and get the single disc, which cuts out a "boat"load (ha ha) of scenes. I threw it in the dumpster and corrected the error of my ways. The edit, by the way, focuses more on Dana Dalton and the deaths of her crushes and less on father Whip and Marcus. The latter of which is what I liked about the miniseries the most. I always been a fan of William Petersen since Manhunter and To Live and Die in LA (and then later, Long Gone and, of course, CSI) and Karen Silias.
I disagree about your jab at The Shining miniseries though. I liked the King/Garris version better than Kubrick's take, and I enjoyed Kubrick's film.
I liked Cousins and the scene in the movie Petersen did with Bob Hoskins where Petersen's character has to be told being called obtuse is an insult.
Wasnt there a dream scene of the squid grabbing dalton and bringing him into the water? For some reason I remember that but dont know if my mind made it up....
Also isn't there an underwater scene after the mama squid sinks the boat, it finds the drunk guy in the boat and pulls him out?
I agree with you for most part but the scene where the mother squid laments the death of the baby and flails her arms around in the air at the pen was rightfully cut. But loads of other good stuff should not have been!
@DarrenJSeeley I agree. I prefer the full uncut version of the miniseries myself. Even though I've encountered some critics who prefer the cut version, I've always loved the full uncut version ever since I first saw it on NBC in '96. For what is basically a sea monster melodrama, The Beast miniseries certainly contains a lot of impressive dialogue and performances, as well as things I can't help but poke fun at. William Petersen certainly adds a lot of gravitas into his role. More than most actors would in a miniseries of this type.
@@lilchadaldrich Having watched an old recording of the original miniseries when it first premiered on NBC, and having watched the uncut DVD release, unfortunately no such scenes exist. It would've been awesome to have Whip Dalton having a surrealist nightmare scene where he is confronting the squid, and I think William Petersen could've pulled it off. While there is a scene where the mama squid is seen with Lucas' boat after sinking it, there's no scene where she pulls him out. The scene is just her tearing and smashing the boat with her tentacles, because she associates that boat with her child's death. Even after killing and eating Lucas offscreen, she just wants to let her anger out on that boat.
i am a simple man... when i see Scooter reference i press- like
One of the best creature features i saw in the 90s.Intense,great cast,and decent fx.
Holy crap ...the guy playing Chowder is someone I used to work with at a Backpackers in Alice Springs!
I knew he was a actor but I had no clue he was in this .
Nice guy , only worked with him a month or so but we did go out and get drunk one night.
Who knew.....?
I see Grissom retired from forensic work to live on the beach... good for him, he deserves the quiet life.
LOL the dog part. Squid squid squid
God, I love this movie!
Something I love about this film is the practical effects.
Oh my God I almost forgot about this movie even though it's one of my favorite movies thank you so much for doing an episode on it!
The reason the Squid is attacking:
Someone dropped a friggin' yacht on her.
I always loved the atmosphere in this. The Architeuthis effects are surprisingly great for a TV film!
The Beast is one of my favorite miniseries. It's also one of my top giant squid films. My other favorite giant squid films include Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Reap the Wild Wind. It's also one of the best Benchley adaptations, even if it alters the story significantly. (But then again, the Jaws film is very different from the novel as well). The interesting thing about The Beast is that it's basically a fusion of a Lifetime melodrama and a sea monster thriller. Even though it contains so many things that would be perfect to make fun of in an MST3K episode, the writing is generally pretty good, and most of the actors put a surprisingly amount of weight into their performances. Even William Petersen makes his character believable. Karen Silas is a strong, formidable babe, who's also very believable.
Having said that, I think some of your jokes were perfect. I especially thought the Torgo music and the MST3K references were very apt. I would long to do a MST3K fan episode that made fun of the uncut version of The Beast, but I would make fun of it out love. I'm glad that you liked The Beast for the same reasons I did.
What I especially like about The Beast is its giant squid puppet. It's beautiful, scary, and tremendous. Not since 20,000 Leagues did filmmakers put so much effort into creating a giant squid model. The last squid that appeared on film before The Beast was Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and that film is REALLY bad.
As a side note, the giant squid in The Beast, though it is inspired by Architeuthis dux, is more of species of its own league. Considering that it borrows traits from the Humboldt squid, is really large, has claws in its suckers, and is really much more vindictive than what we've seen giant squid to really be like, I'd rather the squid be called an Architeuthis benchleyi rather than a dux.
I would long to see the original novel Beast adapted into another movie, because there's so much potential in another adaptation of Beast. There's stuff in the book that's worth adapting, though there's also a lot of material in the book that I can't help making fun of.
On another note, it is interesting that Peter Benchley, though I love his sea monster books, tends to write oceanic thrillers than combine social sensationalism with melodrama. I tend to be fascinated by sea monster stories that tend to exaggerate the worst aspects of people when they're faced by horrors they've never encountered before. I love some of the writers out there who succeeded Benchley in their own oceanic thrillers, like Michael Crichton with Sphere or Steve Alten with the Meg/Trench series. I think there needs to be more giant squid thrillers, and with a greater push in quality and writing.
Cephalopod51 another great giant squid/kraken flick is Deep Rising.
I recently rewatched 20k Leagues and the underwater sequences still look fantastic, flick looked amazing in HD on my huge theater screen 👍
What the fuck is a "miniserieses?" It's just "mini series." Grammar is important.
@@Cephalopod51 Wrong. Just say one of your favorite mini-series. To say "mini series productions" is grammatically incorrect, as well as redundant. Grammar is important.
@@Cephalopod51 I know. Just reminding. I'm a stickler for grammar, well, major grammatical mistakes. They drive me crazy !!
I"m glad you covered this, I loved this movie in my early teens. Also, you made my day with a Rowsdower and Torgo reference in the same video!!!
6:40 That's some bad hat Harry
Bobin Kafa u get a bowl of soup with that hat
Love that reference
I was obsessed with this movie way back in 1996 i cant believe you covered it bravo!
Gil Grissom?!
I stayed up late as a kid to watch the first part of this, the problem was it on a school night, and it scared the heck out of me. I couldn't sleep after and had bad dreams about giant squid, lol. I only saw the second part because a neighbor taped it on VHS. The underwater sequences were very unnerving and frightening for the time.
The sub scene gave me a nightmare it's a frightening thought being in that thing with the squid trying to break through.
Oh man! I'm so excited to see coverage on this! I fucking adored this movie growing up, and would have been one of the major contributors to my thalassaphobia. Even now as a scuba diver, the ocean can still scare the shit out of the.
The town hall scene is utterly perfect. "In addition to its eight tentacles, this thing has two whips as long as this room and covered in suction cups the size of this notebook. In the center of each cup is a claw as big as my fist. Its beak is like an eagles, only 50 times bigger and can bite through steel. You better hope those whips kill you before you get to that beak."
I would of screamed my head off if I was in the sub with those tentacles at the window.
For what it's worth, they don't really get that big...as far as we know.
"Graves Point, Washington" is actually Patonga Beach in Australia. We have a family beach house up there - I remember seeing the Dalton house (which was a purpose built set) on the beach one year. The wharf is real though, and across the road from it is now a nice pub with a big outdoor dining area.
"...SCOOTER ?!?!?!" *duundundundunanauhuhuhhuh
HAHAHA awesome !
You had me at Scooter.
:)
I don't get it.
@@CelestialWoodway
how much is the fish?
Did you ever watch the movie Dagon? I would love to see a Good bad Flicks about it. I really liked it.
ah yes, that movie. the movie itself was kinda ridiculous, but I have to admit, the actress (Macarena Gomez) who played Uxia was fine as hell. talk about Octo-Sex!!!!
Was just thinking the same thing after seeing the boat intro.
One of the better Lovecraft adaptations despite the low budget.
It is a decent Lovecraft attempt dragged down by mediocre acting and visual effects. It has a lot of story beats taken from The Shadow Over Innsmouth, though it uses them to weave a new story. I would still prefer something that tries to be a bit more faithful to Lovecraft as a whole as opposed to using various elements to tell an all new story. Also, we don't need excessove gore to tell a Lovecraft story.
Never watched the beast, but I grew up watching peter benchley's creature, watched it several times when I was super young and loved the creature and how much it scared me, couldn't find it forever, would love to see an episode on it
Great Scooter reference btw
My name isn’t buddy, it’s Durrant .... Robert G Durrant!
Durant Durant? The singer?
@@bromodragone8405 he was making a darkman joke .
@@kingcatnip2614 oh
Ahh, the days of re-watching VHS tapes my parents recorded. I forgot about this movie!! Good pick! I'm sure I'm not the only one who would watch a Good Bad Flicks about Creature ;-)
I wasn't expecting so many people to want to see Creature. I will be remedying that soon-ish. :)
One of my favorite books as a kid. I would stare at the cover as kid for what felt like hours. Such a fun monster story
I remember liking this movie when it came out. Exactly as you said, noticeable issues but very well for the time period and as a made for TV movie.
I might still have this on VHS from when it was first broadcast. I was a William Petersen fan from Manhunter and To Live and Die in LA, but, like the last episode of Cheers, I haven't gotten around to watching this yet.
NBC
had a miniseries called
ASTEROID part 1 and part 2
it was pretty good
Gonna make a big claim and say this is one of the best ( i am talking top 5) monster movies made for TV ever.
The cast, the effects hell even the story despite its lack of "originality" is leaps and bounds above most things made since then i would go as far as saying this is the Jurassic park of made for TV monster movies.
I agree !
Yep
Da-amn, I used to love those cheesy prime time movies. And this one in particular is one of my ultimate guilty pleasures.
"Inner rowsdower" - That ALONE will get you a thumbs up, sir.
"Sir" goes to the "Alien:Covenant" school of touching things! Also, ECU, where I work, is Ground Zero for Vocal Fry, U.S.A.! It is a nightmare, to say the least. [sigh] Love you Cecil for referencing 1996 Vocal Fry! Your videos are always the best! Thanks so much for always lightening my mood and making me laugh!
You are very welcome :)
Great review! Seen this as a kid in TV, good times, but you really need to review *Creature*
This movie was so freaking awesome! I'm gonna rewatch it right now!
Gaming Kick
yes he does!
ITS A BABY FOOKIN WHALE!
As a marine biology student that video absolutely killed me when it first hit the internet
that was perfect
"IT'S A BABY FOOKIN WHEEL MAN!"*
OH MY GAWD JAY! IT'S A FAHKIN TUNA BRO! OH MY GAWD!
2:56 "How do you sneak up with a boat?"
Same question I want to ask Ubisoft when they added ship stealth in Black Flag.
I was luckily enough to find the blu-ray at the local comic shop. Love this flick.
See, the 90s was just as crazy as any other decade in its own way. I remember it well, but now... Sheesh, it's starting to show its age! Damn, I'm old. :P Thanks for another great one, Cece! :)
I'd hop in a Delorean back to the 90s in a heartbeat
Except, we'd have to use a popular 90s supercar for the base machine. Like the Jaguar XJ220 maybe? :P en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_XJ220 But, a Delorean would work just fine in my book, too! ;)
:)
@@CybershamanX yeah Jag XJ220 or McLaren F1 for the wheels!!! Christ knows why they picked a Delorean in the 80s, I always thought they picked that car for its crap factor (the Delorean was a horrendous slow heavy bag of shite, although it looked pretty cool) but I don't think that was the case back then. Its hideous build quality wasn't as well known back then.
The 90s were a mental decade, especially in the UK. The very late 80s (88/89) were the start of rave culture and the chemical generation here. Ecstasy influenced TV, British films, clothes and obviously the music scene (The Prodigy were formed in my hometown) We had incredible dance music and the indie music scene kicked off big time. Video gaming kicked off huge with the Megadrive(Genesis) vs. the Super NES and later the Playstation launched. The 90s were the time of my life (I was 16 in 1990) with girls, cars, parties, good drugs, gaming, music and great movies!!!
I loved watching all those on TV as a kid . Then the next day at school we’d all talk about them . The Beast, The Tommyknockers, The Stand, The Langoliers(personal favorite), that shining remake sucked horribly though.
Me too. Can’t believe there’s a new version of The Stand coming in two weeks! I rather enjoyed the original series
The original miniseries of The Stand was quite good. That and Salem's Lot from 1979 are the best King adaptations for TV. I dont care if things are changed from book to movie, as The Shining proves that closely following a book, even a great book, can result in a mundane borefest of a movie.
@@chrisdooley6468 the new stand is horrible:(
Good reference, Cecil. There is no place for disgrace for you.
Thanks! That really is their best album. Every tune is great.
And even after all this time they are still touring, still tight as a drum.
Now we highly needed episode about Peter Benchley's Creature
This was the first movie my dad worked on, I remember him bringing home the latex tentacles
This video, Christ.
If I could somehow resubscribe I would five more times.
I finally had a minute to finish this episode and all I can say is that is exactly how you should make sandwiches
In my opinion this is your funniest video so far, editing was on point and every joke hit, keep up the good work
Thanks!
Yes. Indeed.
I actually remembered stumbling across this on TH-cam only seeing bits and pieces of it back in early 2010 probably February. By then I was already 9 years old. One thing that would’ve made this better if was the kraken from Deep Rising with the tentacles that swallows a person whole.
Love the channel! You changed my perspective on how one should see films and the fact most critics dont know what the hell they are talking about. Keep up the great work. P.s. Would love to see an exploring series on either "wishmaster" or "Tremors"
Thank you! Both Wishmaster and Tremors are on the list :)
"She's a lot less grumpy than the Hadley I know" 😂
I remember seeing this ages ago and couldn't remember what it was called, thanks!
I had already read and enjoyed the novel when this miniseries came out, and l was impressed that it was pretty faithful to the written story in general terms. I mean, there were definitely many small changes in characters and details, but the overall story was pretty much there.
Not so when they did the Creature miniseries, which was good but was almost an entirely different story than the novel White Shark upon which it was based.
0:56 I literally said out loud that I hate you so much. LOL for the Titanic reference
Not sure which review had me dyin more The Beast or Avalanche 😂😂😂
I remember when this came out. I was teens. I enjoyed it. Read many of his books.
Dude pls do a Fear & loathing in Las Vegas. Only you can do it justice
pussygrabber do NOT bring bat country upon this channel!!!!
It was already a fantastic review but THEN you put in the 'toy boat' bit of MST3K.
My subtle snickering up until that point exploded in loud laughter! XD
Please never stop making awesome videos!!!
SmashTom same here Always with MST3K
Love all the jokes in this, made the video really funny. Excellent as usual!
Thank you!
Dope. The Scooter gag had me cracking up...!
The Hadley references! Well played.
That Dog barking "Squid" was great LOL Great Review!
Thanks!
No prob! :)
Please, Deadly Friend!!!!
love the scooter reference and all off the rest as well
Have you thought about revealing Peter Benchley's Creature ? Fantastic effects by Stan Winston.
Wish this was on TH-cam, or Amazon prime
Gah x.x just had to mention the poor pup in the Fly 2, which i had just watched your video on a couple days ago and today was watching vids on how the Thing was made..good times z.z
The Scooter joke had me dying
I read Benchley’s shark troubles a few years ago in which he has a chapter about a personal search for a giant squid that he and a friend did off the coast of Bermuda for several month by dragging couple hundred foot cables lined with large hooks and lots of bait with cameras attached to the cables to record anything that went for the bait
Great review. Thanks Cecil. Glad to see your subscriber count rising.
Thanks! It's getting there ^^
1:33 That's right you tell her Whip LOL!
2:51 R.I.P Larry Drake
Fun installment Cecil I remember catching this back in the day on Sci Fl Channel and being board to tears it just felt damn long the acting wasn't the problem just the pacing I felt the same way about ''Creature'' with Craig T.Nelson as well IMHO.
I love you work! I can't wait until you do "Space Hunter 3D: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone". Every actor in it went on the have a career, except the leading man?!?
Thanks! Spacehunter is coming (not sure when but its on the list)
So it is Jaws but with squid and not a shark?
considering the author is the same, yea.
the same can be said about "Peter Benchley's Creature", except that one WAS about a shark (albeit, a genetically-experimented one)
Roger Morris Not just a squid - a GIANT squid !
It's a Squid that wants the redhead for its main "squeeze". 🤓
Very much so.
If I ever get a yacht, I’m literally calling it that 0:21
Gotta love Grissom
Liked the Fear reference 👌🏻
12:32 If you ignore the fuel fumes that must have smelled delicious.
Loved the Manos joke, btw.
The book was actually really good, worth checking out if you like to read
Better than the novel Jaws.
You sir...are a bit more cooler that usual for that scooter reference
I'm discovering a larger portion of my audience than I realized were Scooter fans :)
Love these - great work :) Would love to see your commentaries on two of my favoritre post-acopalypse moves: The Blood of Heroes and Hell Comes to Frogtown.
Thanks! If given enough time I'll do all the post apocalyptic movies :)
3:57 what was that about 🤣
NBC hyped this turd to NO END! Those commercials were nonstop. Seinfeld, Frasier, and Wings were rituals in our house, so we saw them. A LOT!
Jeez...I think I actually remember watching this on TV when it originally aired.
I remember about 6 months or so after the mini series aired, Channel 7 (I think) (Australia) showed it again, but they had edited it down to under 2 hours. It was about as coherent as you might expect.
Saw this movie on tv when it come out. It was great movie.
Awww Scooter ... that band haunted our nightmares in the 90ies xD
Nothing but Flotsam and Jetsam? I loved seeing that band live! ;)
I would have loved to see them live in their heyday!
William Peterson did land the head role on the first CSI tv show.
I remember this vaguely. Ironically the thing that stands out is the line at the end ha ha ha.
dat scooter: maria i like it loud reference :)..didn't know it was that well known in murica^^
damn man i remember seeing this on tv when i was a kid
Now, do Peter Benchley's "Creature!" Great vid as always!
Thanks!