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.

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

You can either take them or leave them, where the cheaply made straight to TV horror effort "Eye of the Beast" starring former teen idol James Van Der Beek turned out to be a neat, if unassuming b-production. It might somewhat get bogged down within the halfway mark and consist of some daftly cheesy clichés, but there's enough going on; you know tentacle action (you can't get enough of that), feuding fisherman, James Van Der Beek frowning a lot and to top that off 10 reasons are given to why fishing is a lot better sex. Quite convincing arguments too. The special effects for such a low-budget are well implemented, but actually there's very little (up until to the squid's glorious reveal) and the tentacles when they come into play are mainly prosthetic. It could have used a little more action and creativity in its attack sequences, but Van Der Beek and Alexandria Castillo are agreeable in their parts making it enjoyable to watch. Then there's the constant bickering (ecological messages) and dramas between the characters of this drably lit small ocean community to keep it moving, despite it's fairly laid-back pace. Mildly amusing, lazy afternoon entertainment.

"A giant squid in a lake"?

EYE OF THE BEAST might not be one of the more original monster movies but it is certainly one of the better films from SCI-FI channel's man eater series, because unlike a few other films that are part of this series it actually doesn't feel like a rush job such as VIPERS or a quickly thought up monster mess like YETI, this one really demonstrates some competent film making and decent effort behind it.

The storyline is a lot slower than your average monster movie, this one starts off with a very casual pace taking its time with character development instead of constant attacks every five minutes or so, the acting is also above par, accept for one actor who plays the character Jordy, he over acts a bit.

All in all, a good movie even though it offers nothing new in terms of originality and a worthy addition to the series and to its genre.

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.