Beast (15)

Part serial killer thriller, part psychological character study, Michael Pearce’s Jersey-set debut features a star-making turn from Jessie Buckley as a disturbed woman who sees a way to escape her stultifying Channel Island’s life by entering into a relationship with rugged loner Pascal (Johnny Flynn). Set against the backdrop of a multiple murder investigation, the film smartly keeps the procedural aspect in the background in order to dwell on an absorbing character study masquerading as an expertly structured guessing game.