"I just want to be loved!" is the cri de coeur of the protagonist in Beauty Water, a bone-chilling, can’t-look-away animated thriller about the murderous lengths women will go to be attractive. All her life, Yae-ji’s looks have been the cause of endless bullying, depriving her of career, romance, friendship, even dignity. Imagine her excitement when she receives a mysterious skincare sample that transforms her overnight. Instagram fandom and modelling contracts follow, but beauty is an addiction that leads to a hell of unspeakable horrors.

In South Korea, a million plastic surgeries reportedly take place every year. This dark fable could be the most scathing outcry in Korean cinema against the patriarchal, body-shaming culture that dehumanizes women. It’s also a gripping mind-bender which fuses grotesque Cronenbergian body horror with the psychological malice and sleek visuals of Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho’s animated feature The King of Pigs.