Monday, October 24, 2022

White Shark by Peter Benchley

 

(pb; 1994; a.k.a. Peter Benchley’s Creature)

From the back cover

“At a small marina institute off the coast of Connecticut, only marine biologist Simon Chase realizes that a sixteen-foot pregnant Great White is feeding in the area. But even Simon doesn’t know a far deadlier creature is about to come out of the deep and threaten everything he cares for. A creature whose malevolence is unthinkable. Whose need to feed is insatiable. And whose relentless hunt for prey is unstoppable.”

 

Review

White Shark is a slick, fun, and fast-moving ocean-based thriller, with a gleefully B-movie elements (a mad Nazi doctor, a seemingly unstoppable and physically imposing monster, brief-but-effective gore), well-defined good guys and bad guys, and a tidy wrap-up that you’ll likely see coming but (maybe) appreciate anyway. Entertaining read by a great writer, this, worth picking up.

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The resulting two-episode TV miniseries, titled Creature, originally aired on ABC on May 17, 1998. Stuart Gillard directed it from a teleplay by Rockne S. O’Bannon.

Craig T. Nelson played Dr. Simon Chase. Kim Catrall played Dr. Amanda Mayson. Cress Williams played Tall Man.

Colm Feore played Adm. Aaron Richland. Michael Riley Burke played Adam Puckett. Giancarlo Esposito played Lt. Thomas Peniston/Werewolf. Peter Benchley cameoed as "Exec's Buddy".






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