A troubled young woman falls for a mysterious outsider who empowers her to escape from her oppressive family. When he comes under suspicion for a series of brutal murders she vigorously defends him and finds out what she is truly capable of.

Moll is a 20something tour guide in Jersey living in a reserved family home. She is almost molested by a party acquaintance at the beach when a stranger Pascal comes to her rescue. She is enamored with this stranger, who seems to harbor many secrets. People start to suspect Pascal when several corpses of molested young girls begin to appear around the island. Could he be the serial killer? Will Moll be his next victim? Beast is an eerily first feature by British writer-director Michael Pearce (who grew up in Jersey,) from unconventional p.o.v of Moll having a dark past. Shaped into a ‘model woman’ by her smothering mother, Moll is liberated by Pascal’s raw desires and is defiant against her suffocating family and its surroundings. She doesn’t really care if Pascal is responsible for the murders. Beast effectively draws the sinister potential of both lovers from the story’s ambiguity and leads to its shocking final. (Jongsuk Thomas NAM)