Creature (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Stuart Gillard

Writers (WGA):

Peter Benchley (novel)
Rockne S. O'Bannon (teleplay)

Release Date:

17 May 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

An amphibious shark-like monster terrorizes an abandoned secret military base and the people who live on the island it is located on...

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Island | Flamethrower | Two Part TV Movie | Admiral

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Craig T. Nelson	...	Dr. Simon Chase
Kim Cattrall	...	Dr. Amanda Mayson
Colm Feore	...	Adm. Aaron Richland
Toi Svane Stepp	...	Krystyn (as Toi Svane)
Michael Reilly Burke	...	Adam Puckett
Michael Michele	...	Tauna
Matthew Carey	...	Maxwell Bishop
Megalyn Echikunwoke	...	Elizabeth
Blu Mankuma	...	Rollie Gibson
John Aylward	...	Ben Madiera
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Lt. Thomas Peniston / Werewolf
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michel Aubertin	...	Kimo
James Coleman	...	Bobby Tobin
Antoni Corone	...	Exec (as Antoni Cornacchione)
Rob Daprocida	...	Seal Ochoa
Colin Lawrence	...	Communications Officer
Steve Makaj	...	SEAL Team Leader Taylor
Juliana Prospere	...	Robbi
Rick Ravanello	...	SEAL Team Member
Elvira Regis	...	Old Woman
Gary Reineke	...	Dr. Ernest Bishop
Kennedy Samuel	...	Nathan
Gandolph St. Clair	...	Dr. Bastien
Brian Steele	...	The Creature
Warren Takeuchi	...	SEAL Team Member
Jill Teed	...	SEAL Team Member Greg
Cress Williams	...	Tall Man

Also Known As:

Peter Benchley's Creature

Runtime:

240 min | 60 min (4 episodes) | Brazil:140 min (compact video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Sweden:15 | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

St Lucia

Company:

MGM Television

Trivia:

This movie was filmed partly on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the directors didn't pay enough attention to some of the local speaking "extras" who, in the scene with the young boy in the town of Soufriere, one of the locals curses a certain part of his mother’s reproductive anatomy in the local Creole dialect - Patois. Oops!!!

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lt. Richland first fires shots into the tank during the Creature attack, his gun is a Colt M1911A1. Later, when he fires some shots at Peniston's fleeing ship, his weapon is a Beretta M9.

Bad TV adaptation of a good book

The source material of this TV movie is a novel called White Shark. It was a failure when published since the public thought it was about a great white shark, instead of what it was, namely a crazed tale about a Nazi experiment re-awakened. The novel's plot played like the movie Shock Waves, but gorier and loopier. It was a great read thanks to Peter Benchley's storytelling ability. It was nothing if not a wonderful guilty pleasure that would have made a great movie had they filmed it straight...

...The problem was the producers couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to take a grade Z plot line that worked because of the authors skill, and change it so that it was a grade Z plot line in the hands of a grade Z writer and director. The result is a laughably bad over long movie that has a laughable but cool monster and little else. This is a movie to get drunk and make fun of. Its a so good its great film, or would be except its way way too long.