The Beast (2021 film)

In a shack in the middle of nowhere isolated from society, a family consisting of a child and his crazed mother glimpse a chilling presence watching them from the horizon that edges closer every day.

• Inma Cuesta
• Roberto Álamo
• Asier Flores
• Alejandra Howard[1]

Spanish filmmaker David Casademunt initially conceived the original concept for the film in 2012 and began to develop the idea into a screenplay.[2] In September 2017, the film officially entered development as part of the Sitges Film Festival Pitchbox program, with Casademunt set to direct the project from his own screenplay.[3] Within the following year, the film received backing from Ventana Sur's Blood Window pitching program in Latin America and funding from The Madrid Film School in its first ever year, where Casademunt found the "final touch" needed to complete the screenplay.[4][5][2] The script was completed by August 2018, when the Toronto International Film Festival invited Casademunt to the festival's Filmmaker Lab for backing and financing. He described the selection as a "huge prize" and said that he would create a film that "could be loved by all audiences".[2]

In February 2020, Spanish production company Rodar y Rodar joined the film as the main producer. Marina Padró of Rodar y Rodar called Casademunt a "new promise of the Spanish cinema". Frequent collaborators Fran Menchón and Martí Lucas were credited as co-writers of the screenplay, and Casademunt described the feature as "a film about the demons we have inside [and] how these demons transform us into defective adults."[6] During a press conference in October 2020, it was announced that Netflix had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the project.[7] Inma Cuesta, Roberto Álamo, and Asier Flores were cast in main roles in February 2021.[8]

Principal photography began in early February 2021 and lasted until July 2021.[8][9] Filming predominantly took place in a moorland in the province of Teruel, as well as in the municipalities of Blancas and Villarquemado,[9] with the lagoons of Gallocanta and El Cañizar serving as shooting locations.[10]

The film is set for a world premiere on 11 October 2021 at the 54th Sitges Film Festival as part of the festival's official selection.[11][12]

The film is set to be released on Netflix worldwide on 6 January 2022.[13][14]

• The Beast at IMDb