Product Details

• Actors: Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Jeremie Renier
• Directors: Christophe Gans
• Format: Color, Widescreen, Subtitled, Import, DVD, NTSC
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Run Time: 152 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AXPPCU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,176 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

In 1765 something was stalking the mountains of south-western France. A 'beast' that pounced on humans and animals with terrible ferocity. Indeed they beast became so notorious that the King of France dispatched envoys to find out what was happening and to kill the creature. By the end, the Beast of Gevaudan had killed over 100 people, to this day, no one is entirely sure what it was, wolf? hyena? or something supernatural? Whatever it was, shepherds had the same life-expectancy as the red-suited guys in 'Star Trek'. The Beast is a popular myth in France, albeit one rooted firmly in reality; somewhat surprisingly it is little known to the outside world, and perhaps incredibly it has never been made into a movie. Until now... Based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorised France in the mid-XVIIIth century, the movie aims to tell first and explain afterwards. In the first part, a special envoy of the King of France, altogether biologist, explorer and philosopher, arrives in the Gevaudan region, in the mountainous central part of France. The Beast has been attacking women and children for months and nobody has quite been able to harm it or even take a good look at it. In the second part, our hero Chevalier de Fronsac will not only have to fight the Beast, but also ignorance, bigotry and conspiracy and will rely on two women, one an aristocrat, the other a prostitute, as well as the enigmatic Mani, an Iroquois he met in New-France (Canada).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, September 6, 2007

By 

M. Majury (Bellevue) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brotherhood of The Wolf (DVD)

I saw this when it came out on DVD and it was the french version with subtitles. I couldn't get over the film, so I had to buy it. Alas, I bought the version that was dubbed. And, it just didn't work for me. So, I mustered up my courage and found the french version with subtitles. This is a film that has everything: mystery, romance, martial arts, rich history, and frankly a lot of extremely good looking people, and of course one super creepy villian. If you like a roller-coaster movie, this is the one for you!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, August 30, 2008

By 

Joe Bradley "professional photographer" (Maui, HI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brotherhood of The Wolf (DVD)

At Christmastime, in 2004, my wife, daughter and I traveled to Maine to see old and good friends. I took with me my trusty Mac portable, on which I had developed the habit of watching movies, in the middle of the night, when I could not sleep. With a pair of earphones from my iPod I was a happy, if sleepy the next day, man. A local movie rental shop in the little town of Union had this movie, and being a fan of good horror movies, I rented it. I was totally captivated. Recently it occurred to me to track it down on amazon. It is an amazing film. The acting is superb. The action kept me happily awake all through the movie. It made me cry (not only do I cry during hopeful scenes in movies, where someone is kind to another, but for violence when it is very well done--such as recently with Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight (Batman)). If intelligent horror/fantasy/historical (loosely based)/erotic (somewhat)/martial arts movies are your thing, I recommend this one especially.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beast attacks, October 16, 2007

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brotherhood of The Wolf (DVD)

Imagine a fairy tale... but with grit, blood, stylized camerawork, and lots of French kung-fu (savate).

That about sums up "Brotherhood of the Wolf," an epic horror/martial-arts/erotic/action movie loosely based on the French legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, but with a chilling story woven around it. Christophe Gans could have given it a bit more character development, but it's a simple flaw in an otherwise terrifying, intense experience.

An enormous, savage wolflike beast is killing young women and children in the French countryside. And so royal naturalist Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Native American sidekick Mani (Mark Dacascos) arrive to investigate, and find that the local authorities are incompetant, the Beast is larger than any wolf, and it's still savaging the locals.

Mani and Grégoire set about tracking down the beast, finding it to be too large and intelligent (and with metal fangs too). But something more sinister than animal attacks is going on -- Fronsac uncovers a mysterious, treasonous society connected to the Beast, and a mysterious courtesan (Monica Belucci) with hidden motives.

It may be based on a real incident, but "Brotherhood of the Wolf" soon takes off into its own storyline. And director Gans crams the whole thing with whatever he likes -- horror, action, fantasy, political period drama, and some French martial arts. It's like an old fairy tale mutated into a live-action anime.

And Gans' direction style can include a little of everything too -- he handles rosy-skied romantic scenes with the same dexterity as raw sex scenes, rainy sludge and bloody chases. And he handles the camera just as well, although the style comes as a bit of a shock in a period film -- it zooms down cliffs and through underbrush, rapid-pans, and lingers on the fairy-tale landscapes of the French countryside.

One of the best examples of this is near the beginning, with Mani and Grégoire encountering a pair of gypsies being bullied, and Mani whipping the bullies with savate and a little la canne. It's a wild, dizzying scene, and thoroughly effective in showing these guys as a force to be reckoned with. But at the same time, Gans wraps the beginning and end in a sense of poignant regret.

If there's a flaw, it's that the plot and rich direction take up so much time that it's hard to wedge in some character development. Bihan fares pretty well as the inscrutable taxidermist, and over the course of the movie, you develop a liking for him and his girlfriend. But it would have been nice if the characters of Mani and Sylvia were explored a bit more than they were -- as it is, Belucci and Dacascos do amazing jobs with their characters.

This horror/action/period/French kung-fu flick breaks all the rules, and it's all the more enjoyable for it. A glorious action classic, and a must-see for cult film lovers.