This is a review of the 2018 Region B2 Blu-ray from Altitude Films. It is a very good product in all respects.

This 2017 British film was made with the assistance of Channel 4 and Bfi, it was nominated in the Best British Film category of the BAFTAs, and won the Best Debut BAFTA for Michael Pearce who directed and wrote the original screenplay, and producer Lauren Dark. It also did well at some of the less well-known Film Festivals. But it doesn’t appear to have really made a mark, which is a shame. This is an unusual and interesting British offering, a genuinely strange and rather scary story, atmospheric, well acted and expertly directed.

‘Beast’ is best classified as a psychological thriller, with elements of ‘Whodunnit’ and family drama. It is set on the scenic Channel Island of Jersey, but it is emphatically no travelogue. This is more the uptight, repressed, entitled Jersey that showed itself to the world during the enquiries into the Haut de la Garenne Children’s Home. It is a community of wealth, privilege and entitlement on the one hand, and of a poor working class that is despised and kept at arm’s length, on the other. And n’ere the twain shall meet!

The magnificent Geraldine James, who in her youth made her name as the rebellious and egalitarian Daphne, in the BBC’s ‘The Jewel in the Crown’(1984), here is the epitome of uncompromising, upper middle class disapproval and denial, as controlling mother, Hilary Huntingdon. Her daughter Moll is played by Jessie Buckley, an Irish actress who was seriously good ~ and very creepy ~ as the serial-killer nurse Oraetta Mayflower in the most recent HBO series of ‘Fargo’(2020). Here, as a very young-seeming 20-something, living a suffocating life on the island, and in her parental home, she is possibly even better. She plays a very troubled young woman, with a difficult past. It seems reasonable to ask whether that all came about because of her family circumstances. She is surrounded by chilly, entitled, selfish people. Love, meanwhile, seems to be unknown, but angst and criticism are a constant.

Into this toxic mix comes local boy Pascal Renouf, a Jerseyman born and bred. Not that this cuts any ice with Mrs Huntingdon, far from it. The film is rich with seriously embarrassing scenes, where the ghastly Huntingdons, especially Moll’s self-satisfied sister Polly (Shannon Tarbet), make it clear that their quotients for empathy and egalitarianism are in minus figures. Polly’s announcement, where she hi-jacks Moll’s birthday party, and her snobby intervention at the Country Club, are masterpieces of their type.

This is a film which keeps us guessing right to the end. At it’s heart is a very nasty crime mystery, but that is never allowed to commandeer our attention. It’s just there, on the edge of our vision. This is a film which suggests that we may none of us be quite what we seem. And very clever it is too, deserving just a fraction less than 5 Stars.

Great film with a good twisting plot.

Good movie. Glad I watched it. A few beasts in that movie for sure. The mother - looks like a controlling malignant narcissist, family dynamic also narcissistic by the looks of it - scapegoat, golden child, etc. Flynn - easy on the eye as always ha. Worth watching to find out who the killer is.

Having literally just watched this film, I had to write a review. What sticks with me most post-watch, is the style of the film. The way it's shot is so effective; close up face shots, skin, earth, the blurring in and out of scenes. It's bleak, but in a really real way. The protagonist is a woman from an upper-middle class Bristish household which is so stuffily claustrophobic, no wonder she is the black sheep... and what a black sheep- once we find out about "what she's done", we get a fuller picture of why the family treat her the way they do. Even though, such an anally retentive bunch of snobs would surely drive anyone to commit all sorts of violent acts- preferably against the family themselves! The protagonist meets an enigmatic stranger, who really really really doesn't fit in to her family, who openly shun him to his face. It's a shame that the description of the film gives away so much about the enigmatic man, because had I watched it without reading the synopsis, I don't think I'd have necessarily put all the pieces together. The protagonist is drawn to the man and subsequently away from her horrendous family, and even knowing about the man (from the synopsis) you can empathise with the protagonist because, afterall, he's gorgeous! And he's offering her a much more real kind of life (ignoring his past...). I loved the ending aswell, did not expect that! I feel like this is the kind of film that could get overlooked because it's so strange. It's one for people who don't require loads of special effects and action to keep them hooked. This film is for people that want to know what goes on inside people. It's about darkness and light and every shade inbetween. So yeah, pretty good...!

Sunday afternoon viewing - I'm told it was simply spectacular, outstanding acting, production values to envy Hollywood and a plot/storyline that had you guessing to the end.

Can't wait for the next instalment!

Dark, mysterious and satisfying

Good film. Dark plot.

This film has kept me thinking for 2 days, without any spoilers its a fairy tale, a romance, but with so many twists and turns. I love Jonny Flynn, very versatile actor showing his skill. I will say I was very uncomfortable watching this film, which is its aim I think. Very well acted and thought out, keep you guessing all the way through. A must watch