Also Known As: Peter Benchley's The Beast
Directed by Jeff Bleckner
The Beast take another creature from the deep and turns it loose against humanity. This time, however, it is a creature even
more mysterious than the great white shark. The elusive Architeuthis dux, or giant squid, remains an unknown quantity despite
all the efforts of modern scientists to study it.
Graves Point, Washington is a dying community. Trap fishing has depleted fish populations, resulting in loss of business
and loss of income. There's a small tourist industry--numerous ship wrecks lie nearby to attract experienced divers--but it
isn't enough to support the entire fishing industry. There are those that would turn the entire community into a bunch of
trinket-sellers. There are those that would continue with the illegal practice of trap fishing. And there are those that would
strive--desperately, almost--to remain true fisherman. However, nature and fate have a different plan in store.
Whip Dalton, played by William L. Petersen, lives with his daughter, Dana (Missy Crider) in Graves Point as their family
has done for several generations back. No less hurt by the depleted fishing industry, the Daltons continue to strive in the
face of their troubles for a stable life. Whip's boat, the Privateer, is their lifeblood: besides fishing, Whip sometimes
takes on charters from divers wishing to explore the sunken wrecks nearby. Despite their financial problems, Whip is unwilling
to begin trap fishing, a practice that others ridicule him for, since it means a further drop towards bankruptcy and poverty.
Then, something comes along to stir up everyone's lives. An urgent May Day and an emergency signal calls in a Coast Guard
chopper, resulting in the discovery of a rubber raft...with no one in it. There are no clues to what happened to the raft's
occupants, except a slimy substance that stinks of ammonia and a wicked-looking hook-shaped claw almost as large as a man's
hand. Whip doesn't know what it is, so he sends it to the Portland Zoo for identification. They, in turn, send it on to Dr.
Herbert Talley (Ronald Guttman), who identifies it for what it truly is: the claw from a sucker of the Architeuthis dux, the
oceanic giant squid.
At first no one is willing to believe it. Then, Lucas Coven (Larry Drake) sees something in the water that absolutely
terrifies him. Something long and eel-like wraps itself around Whip's anchor as he tries to pull it up after a day of diving
with interested Coast Guard Lieutenant Kathryn Marcus (Karen Sillas). The carcass of a young sperm whale washes up on the
beach, completely torn to pieces. Finally, two young divers trying to reach a deep wreck die...forcing everyone to believe.
Plans are made to destroy the squid, but events take a terrifying turn.
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