Eye of the Beast

No, this one won't win any awards, but its not too bad either. Anyone who watches this kind of film from time to time has seen much, MUCH worse movies, acting and general film making... The plot is a near identical rip from the 1996 TV miniseries 'The Beast' staring CSI's William Petersen and Charles Martin Smith. If you like that, you'll like this... only less.

I mean... it's not terrible. In fact it's better than one might expect. But some of the acting, plot contrivances, and the practical and computer generated effects leave a bit to be desired.

They actually used practical effects when they could. They could have been a lot better but... they're there.

And the movie feels really short.

I'll watch it again just to pass the time. And I've always loved giant squid. They're a lovely, terrifying animal.

If you accept the fact that this is a B-movie from the outset, this isn't too bad of a movie. The writing wasn't too badly stilted anywhere, the story is...well...a fairly predictable "sea monster" story, and the acting, while nothing to write home about, was certainly nothing to complain about. Of course, James van der Beek makes the movie a little easier to watch too. :)

My biggest complaint about the movie, other than the obvious low-budget quality, was the straight-forwardness of it. Establish the town, figure out the relationships, show monster to viewers, nobody believes monster exists, prove monster exists, deal with it, male and female leads fall in love and live happily ever after. Wow, now there's a story that hasn't been told about a million times before!

But in spite of its shortcomings, it was suitably entertaining for a Saturday afternoon where I had nothing better to do. I don't think I'd ever watch it again, but I'm not disappointed at having watched it a first time.

And this one seems to know just when to attack so that nobody knows it's out there. Just like all its relatives seem to.

A lot of influence from Jaws (a nice way to say they ripped off some plot devices from it), but there is a well developed story here. The plot centers not to so much on the creature itself, but the lives (and of course some deaths) of those who have encountered it. Witnesses to its existence are treated like an outcast nut cases, while fishing revenues drop mysteriously and steadily, and mutilated bodies wash up on beaches all over. A few characters are given more dimension than to be just screaming victims, but there is a tad too much talking. It's done to give exposition on the characters and the creature they're up against, but there were probably some better ways to do this.

The movie lets the monster remain an unseen foe until near the end, which succeeds at making it more threatening. The monster appears hokey when you do finally see it, although the acting of the people in a life-or-death struggle with the creature is convincing enough to offset this.

Overall, decent enough for rainy Saturday afternoon entertainment.

but somewhere in between.James Van Der Beek has come a long way since his Dawson's Creek days.he was actually very good here.he plays a scientist sent to a small fishing community to find out why the fish stocks have depleted.Alexandra Castillo is also good as the local only)law enforcement in the town.the movie itself is entertaining enough.there's not really much excitement though.for a creature feature,you don't see much of the creature.most of time,you are shown only a tentacle or two.there is one scene which shows the beast(a giant squid)but it's not a really clear view.for me,Eye of the Beast is somewhere in the middle,so i give it 5/10