Plot
The film begins when a couple disappear while having a romantic night out on a yacht near the Pacific Northwest resort community, Grave's Point. The next day, local fisherman Whip Dalton (William Petersen) finds the empty lifeboat from the missing yacht and finds a large claw stuck into the boat. Whip sends the claw to a university to be analyzed and it ends up in the hands of marine biologist Dr. Herbert Talley (Ronald Guttman), who comes to Grave’s Point claiming it is from the tentacle of a Giant squid. The island harbor master Schuyler Graves (Charles Martin Smith) tries to hire Whip to kill the squid, but he refuses, so Graves sends out Lucas Coven (Larry Drake) instead. Coven succeeds in slaying the squid and the carcass is promptly sold by Graves to Sea Land Texas owner Osborne Manning (Denis Arndt).
Dr. Talley then organizes a submersible expedition to explore the squid’s habitat. But after analyzing the carcass of the dead squid, the scientists determine it is just a baby. The information comes too late and the huge adult squid attacks the submersible and everyone on board is killed. Whip then agrees to go out and hunt the giant squid but only if he can use his boat and Graves goes with him. He is also accompanied by coast guard officer, Lt. Kathryn Marcus (Karen Sillas), Dr. Talley, and Manning. They plan to snare the squid, reel it in, and shoot it multiple times with darts full of cyanide. The plan succeeds and the squid appears dead. But when the ship’s engine breaks down, Manning reveals that he filled the darts with tranquilizer instead of cyanide so he could take the squid alive back to Sea Land. Whip tries to cut the squid loose, but it wakes up and attacks the ship. Talley, Graves, and Manning are killed. A coast guard helicopter arrives in time to pick up Kathryn and Whip. As he boards the chopper, Whip fends the squid off with an axe, chopping open several extra fuel drums and having Kathryn use a flare gun to light his boat on fire, causing an explosion that finally incinerates and kills the giant squid. The helicopter flies them back to the shore where they reunite with Whip's daughter Dana (Missy Crider).
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