Kurt Sutter Sets Feature Directorial Debut, The Beast, at Netflix

After making his feature acting debut in the Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley-fronted sci-fi blockbuster Chaos Walking, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter has set his feature directorial debut at Netflix with the horror-thriller The Beast.

THIS BEAST, the feature directorial debut from SONS OF ANARCHY’s Kurt Sutter (@sutterink) is coming to Netflix.

Produced by @blumhouse and @jason_blum, the film is set in an 18th century English village besieged by a mysterious and elusive beast. Sutter will write & direct. pic.twitter.com/RMsxUEBIIO

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) March 8, 2021

Written and directed by Sutter, the film will center on an 18th century English village besieged by a mysterious and elusive beast, with dozens of innocents slaughtered and the mayhem being driven to puritanical heights by religious fanaticism. The impossible task of killing the beast falls to a lowly trapper who promises he can stop the carnage, but for him this hunt is not a professional mission, it’s a deeply personal one.

The story for the film was inspired by the 1760s French legend of The Beast of Gévaudan, in which a man-eating animal or animals terrorized the province for three years and was said to have been committed by a creature described as a wolf, dog or wolf-dog hybrid, with an estimated 610 attacks and 500 deaths. The beast was reportedly killed several times before the attacks finally ceased in the area.

“Bringing my disturbing, familial story sensibility into the Blumhouse world just seemed like something that had to happen,” Sutter said in a statement. “And this Beast is the perfect project for that marriage. And Netflix is the perfect venue for that bloody ceremony.”

Sutter will produce the film alongside Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions and Carla Hacken via her Paper Pictures production banner, while Blumhouse TV’s Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold are currently attached to executive produce.

“We’ve long been fans of Kurt and his unparalleled storytelling — that’s both visceral and packs an emotional punch,” Blum said in a statement. “We’re excited that Blumhouse is producing his first feature for Netflix.”

(Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)