Brotherhood of the Wolf

Director - Christophe Gans (Silent Hill, Necronomicon: Book of Dead)

Starring - Samuel Le Bihan (The Mountain Detective, Journey of No Return), Mark Dacascos (Drive, Double Dragon), and Jeremie Renier (Brotherhood of Tears, Tomorrow at Dawn)

Release Date - 2001

Genre - Action/Adventure

Tagline - "The year is 1766...the hunt for a killer has begun"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was in college I had an eclectic group of friends.  We all lived in the same building but we all came from different background and had different interests.  I was the only one of the group that liked horror but they all could appreciate a good film.  One of my friends at the time was a huge fan of critically acclaimed films.  He was always trying to get us to watch some movie he found that won a bunch of awards but I never really had an interest in them.  I guess I was a shitty friend.  Anyway, when we would all get together and drink we would often spin movies.  I would notorious for playing Necroville, Black Dynamite, and O' Brother Where Art Thou? and he would spin random movies.  However, there was several occasions where he tried to show us Brotherhood of the Wolf.  I had sit down to watch it at least a dozen times but I never finished it because I would get too drunk and go off on drunken adventures.  When I saw that Scream Factory was releasing it on blu I figured now was the perfect time to finally give the film the attention it deserves.  

     The film follows Gregoire de Fronsac (Bihan) and his Native American companion Mani (Dacascos) who visit a small French town in the 18th century that is plagued by a series of murders.  The locals suspect it is a wolf or some sort of beast.  As the days turn the weeks they find themselves hunted and the beast is part of a much bigger cabal tied to the church.

     Brotherhood of the Wolf, aka Le Pact des Loups,  is a film that I was too young to appreciate at the time but holy fuck is it amazing.  It has a few hang ups that stops it from being perfect but god damn is it close.  It blends genres together to create something that resonates with everyone.  The acting in this one is great.  Dacascos delivers my favorite performance of his followed closely by Drive.  I absolutely loved his character and wish that the film would have dived a lot deeper into his back story.  Bihan is great as the man leading the charge against the beast.  He was very charismatic and does an amazing job during the action scenes.  The rest of the cast does a great job as well.  The characters are all great on screen and the cast delivers some memorable performances.  The story for this one has so much going on that it would be almost impossible to mention it all in one review.  We get church sects, incest, armored beasts, martial arts, sex scenes, racism, and so much more.  I really enjoyed the period piece of the story all the different genres it mashed together to deliver something very unique to the viewer.  With that being said, as much as I love the movie there is no need for it to be almost three hours long.  so much could be trimmed down from it.  Finally, the film has some impressive practical and make-up effects and no so impressive visual effects.   We get a few scenes with corpses mutilated by the beast that look absolutely stunning especially the body left in the bog.  However, the visual effects from the fight scene along with the beast were extremely dated.  The visuals may have been good for the time but now they look poor.  Overall, Brotherhood of the Wolf is an absolute must see for any movie fan regardless of their preferred genre.  This blu release from Scream Factory is absolutely gorgeous and the way I would recommend any fan to see it.  It's worth every cent and every minute.