History Film / TheBeast

* BlackBestFriend: Mike to Whip

* BrainsEvilBrawnGood: Hero Whip Darling is a brawny fisherman, while the villainous Schuyler Graves is a classic bespectacled nerd—at one point, Darling even sneers at him about his "Harvard education" as though this is something to be ashamed of. Darling also sneers at him about how "you're still the same creepy little kid you always were", indicating that Darling bullied him back during their school days and has no remorse over doing so, or worse yet, protected him from bullies and now regrets doing so. All of which is presented as perfectly okay, especially since Graves proves himself to be more and more of a jerk as the movie progresses.

* RecycledPremise: ''The Beast'' is essentially a re-hash of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Based on a Creator/PeterBenchley novel? Check. Giant marine predator terrorising a small maritime town? Check. CorruptCorporateExecutive? Check. Capturing the animal you think is responsible only for it to be a baby? Check. An expert obsessed with catching the creature? Check. Climactic final battle at sea with the creature? Check. There's even talk of the squid being out for [[Film/JawsTheRevenge revenge]].

* IdiotBall: Manning [[spoiler:fills the harpoons with a sedative instead of cyanide, in order to bring the squid back to his ocean park in Texas.]]

* RecycledPremise: ''The Beast'' is essentially a re-hash of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Based on a Creator/PeterBenchley novel? Check. Giant marine predator terrorising a small maritime town? Check. CorruptCorporateExecutive? Check. Climactic final battle at sea with the creature? Check. There's even talk of the squid being out for [[Film/JawsTheRevenge revenge]].

** Inverted, ironically, with Kathryn, who survives even though ''both'' of the characters she's comprised of are killed in the book.

* GiantSquid

* HonorBeforeReason: Whip refuses to take a young couple to dive the dangerous ''Admiral Burnham'' wreck, even when they offer him $1000.

A 1996 made for TV-movie adaptation of PeterBenchley's book, ''Literature/{{Beast}}''. The film makes some radical changes from the book, while maintaining its basic plot: a giant squid is terrorizing a community and must be stopped.

* ShoutOut: At least one TV critic likened the above-mentioned scene with the dog to the one in {{Jaws}}. The difference being that this time, the canine survived.

* BrainsEvilBrawnGood: Hero Whip Darling is a brawny fisherman, while Schuyler Graves is a classic bespectacled nerd—at one point, Darling even sneers at him about his "Harvard education" as though this is something to be ashamed of. Darling also sneers at him about how "you're still the same creepy little kid you always were", indicating that Darling bullied him back during their school days and has no remorse over doing so, or worse yet, protected him from bullies and now regrets doing so. All of which is presented as perfectly okay.

* DirtyCoward: To save his own political career and keep his ass off the line, Graves tries (and fails) at every opportunity to back out of the final showdown.

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The beginning of the novel spends a ''lot'' of time discussing the nearly-20 year marriage of the couple out sailing. Presumably to make the reader really feel the loss when they're killed by the creature/

** Karen to Marcus in the book. And later, a young woman named Stephanie, who he hits it off with. Adding insult to injury, it seems he might finally be ready to let go of Karen and embark on a relationship with Stephanie, only for her to get killed by the squid.

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters

* KickTheDog: A dog winds up in the water and encounter the squid. The trope is averted in this instance, however. The dog manages to escape, with his unknowing family wondering why he's all wet and hiding under the car.

* TheLostLenore: Whip's wife, who loved to dive, died at sea at the Admiral Burnham wreck, which is why he so adamantly refuses to take two young divers there even though they offer a substantial payment.

* ShoutOut: At least one TV critic likened the abovementioned scene with the dog to the one in {{Jaws}}. The difference being that this time, the canine survived.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Graves' assistant Jameson. Near the beginning when Whip finds the life raft from the opening's victims and Schuyler uses his port authority to confiscate it, he lets Whip maul the hell out it with large grapnel hooks.
--> '''Jameson:'''Of course... I don't know the state it was in when you found it, or what kind of damage it sustained in your efforts to retrieve it.

A 1996 made for TV-movie adaptation of Peter Benchley's book, ''Literature/{{Beast}}''. The film makes some radical changes from the book, while maintaining its basic plot: a giant squid is terrorizing a community and must be stopped.

Starring William Petersen.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Graves' assistant Jameson. Near the beginning when Whip finds the life raft from the opening's victims and Shuyler uses his port authority to confiscate it, he lets Whip maul the hell out it with large grapnel hooks.
--> '''Jameson:'''Well... I don't know how damaged it was ''before'' you got a hold of it.

A 1996 made for TV-movie adaptation of Peter Benchley's book, ''{{Beast}}''. The film makes some radical changes from the book, while maintaining its basic plot: a giant squid is terrorizing a community and must be stopped.

A 1996 made for TV-movie adaptation of Peter Benchley's book, ''{{Beast}}''. The film makes some radical changes from the book, while maintaining its basic plot: a giant squid is terrorising a community and must be stopped.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The mother squid in the second half goes on a rampage after the death of it's child.