Beast
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: May 11, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMay 10, 2018
Bathed in a shadowy beauty and slippery psychological atmosphere, “Beast” soars on Ms. Buckley’s increasingly animalistic performance. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteMay 23, 2018
The relationship has the air of a reckless teen romance, but this is no Romeo and Juliet story. This is more like Snow White running off with one of the huntsmen. Although fairy tales abide by a strict sense of good vs. evil, what we have here is a configuration that’s a bit more muddled. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 31, 2018
Beast is hard to watch at times, from its graphic crime-scene photos to the pitiless way a rabbit is dispatched. But as cryptic as it aims to be, it’s not hard to follow. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared MobarakJun 1, 2018
Buckley and Flynn keep us on our toes, their darkened malice turning to teary-eyed contrition until we’re left hopeless as far as figuring out which is more real. Read full review
83
IndieWireJude DryMay 11, 2018
Beast walks the line between taut psychological thriller and doomed genre romance, smartly remaining laser-focused on Moll and her fraying sanity. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMay 10, 2018
Pearce takes his time laying out his sleeping-with-the-enemy tale, but his stinginess with plot lends the film an vice-tightening air of mystery that suits it. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMay 17, 2018
On the whole it’s a remarkably controlled exercise. It’s to the film’s credit that Moll is the center of attention from start to finish, and not even a romantically damaged bad boy can steal the spotlight from her barely contained wildfire of emotions. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMay 17, 2018
Immaculately composed yet skittish, edgy and surprising, this impressive debut by writer-director Michael Pearce emanates a chill that will have you hugging your sides. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 12, 2018
Its control of tone can be a little uncertain, particularly during the ambitious epilogue – and I wish it had allowed itself a little more freakiness in its most savage moments. But at its best, it could be Bergerac reimagined by Nicolas Roeg, with its tangled character psychologies and great shudders of dread that seem to ring through the soil underfoot. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 10, 2018
Pearce, in his feature directing debut, proves himself a solid craftsman, with a gift for giving even derivative story elements a nerve-jangling tweak. He also has a shivery way with ambiguity, a knack for toying with our expectations and turning the power of suggestion to his advantage. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 10, 2018
This film, a formidably accomplished debut feature by Michael Pearce, takes us down familiar paths into a darkness all its own. Read full review
80
CineVueChristopher MachellApr 25, 2018
Beast is rough around the edges but as a feature debut marks out its director as one of the most intriguing new talents in British filmmaking. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeApr 25, 2018
Jessie Buckley is a force of nature in the lead role of this sinewy psychological thriller. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeApr 25, 2018
Upgrading a sleeping-with-the-enemy premise familiar from countless B-thrillers with a faintly mythic aura and cool psychosexual shading, Beast also sustains a fresh, frank feminine perspective through Jessie Buckley’s remarkable lead performance. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinApr 25, 2018
British thriller Beast takes a fistful of tired old tropes — like a hunt for a serial killer, and the ‘ol Joe Eszterhas-style is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-baddie tease — and manages to fashion something fresh, fierce and quite striking from them. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 25, 2018
[Pearce] gives us a carefully crafted dramatic setup, an intriguingly curated selection of suspects for the crime and all of it building to a fascinating, finely balanced ambiguity in the movie’s climactic stages. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinApr 23, 2018
A strong debut from director Michael Pearce, with a gripping performance by newcomer Jessie Buckley. So much more than just another serial-killer movie. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpMay 19, 2018
Beast plays with enough restraint to sustain our doubts for most of its duration, its gentle and often lovely filmmaking lulling us toward false certainties about its underlying inhumanity. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMay 17, 2018
Suffice it to say, there is a good deal for Buckley to do, and she does it. In a year of memorable and unnerving female characters, she makes Moll stand out. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMay 11, 2018
One of the strengths of the film, also written by Pearce, is how much it is willing to withhold, without descending into "Gotcha!" manipulation. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 7, 2018
Beast is at its best when Buckley is at her most undaunted, showing us Moll at her most extreme — when she lies down by moonlight, for instance, in the shallow hole where a murder victim was found, beside a potato field. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 25, 2018
This psychodrama didn’t go exactly where I expected it would. It didn’t go anywhere particularly interesting either. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJun 14, 2018
The charming Johnny Flynn ultimately struggles to find the right tone for the boyfriend, not helped by a director who hasn’t quite mastered the rhythm required for his surprise ending. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 16, 2018
Beast sounds like a straightforward erotic mystery thriller, but that atmosphere is at times overshadowed by Pearce’s exploration of British classism, bullying and bigotry. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMay 7, 2018
The narrative has a gambit that steers Beast into the terrain of a horror film, offsetting the sentimentality of the audience-flattering romance. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 9, 2018
Revisiting Beast may prove more satisfying than just visiting once. The first time through, the film simply proves too successful at capturing the listless ennui it’s depicting. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 9, 2018
There’s such a thing as being too damn ambiguous. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisMay 16, 2018
Even if it has B-movie trappings and the tension wanes in the second half, it’s a stylish psychodrama. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthApr 25, 2018
Beast takes a storytelling gamble, presenting itself as a psychological whodunit, before pivoting toward a more genre oriented plot. The risk doesn’t quite pay off, undercutting its thematic potential for thrills that aren’t quite that effective. Read full review
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