In 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
In 1764 something was stalking the mountains of central 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, a wolf? a hyena? or something supernatural? 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 terrorized France in the eighteenth 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 ...Written by
Anonymous
Apparently in the belief that no one outside France has any sense of history, the translators writing subtitles omitted a historical reference in old d'Apcher's memoir. The subtitles read, "The Revolution has swept the land," but in French he says, "The Revolution has become the Terror" (this may have been changed in some DVD versions). See more »
Goofs
The metal claw weapons wiggle when struck in some shots, revealing that rubber look-alikes have been substituted for those shots. See more »
Quotes
Gregoire De Fronsac:
[showing the dinner audience the trout with black hair]
Salmo truta dermopilla from Canada.
See more »
Alternate Versions
A third version of the film was released theatrically and on DVD in the UK. In this version all the scenes involving the Royal Hunter (Bauterne) are removed - his character is referred to, but never seen. This includes the removal of the following scenes:
The entire elaborate arrival of Bauterne is removed.
The scene with Bauterne in the bath telling the Chevalier that he is no longer required and then attempting to seduce an unwilling female servant.
The scene where Chevalier is ordered to use his skills to make an ordinary dead wolf killed by Bauterne look like the beast, and the following scenes where he does so.
The scenes where the fake 'beast' is presented to the Royal court and the ensuing discussion are all removed. Later DVD editions (2007 onwards) re-inserted these scenes.
Candle-lit interior cinematography, lush misty landscapes, strong characters, exquisite costumes, an authentic boudoir recreation of 18th century French society, a new kind of savage 'monster' and some of the finest stylized fight scenes ever laid down in a 'genre' film, place "Brotherhood of the Wolf" among the classiest horror adventure films of all time.
Great moments include the culminating rage of Samuel Le Bihan's gentlemanly character 'Fronsac' who explodes into a Conan-like fury as he meets out 'justice' to those that wronged his Iroquois-Mohawk 'blood brother' played by Marc Dacascos, Vincent Cassel suitably creepy as the decadent 'Morangias', sensuous Monica Belluci as the dangerous and vicious 'Sylvia', interesting historical plot-points, and a bond of friendship between an unlikely pair of frontier adventurers, make director Christopher Gans "Brotherhood of the Wolf" an original masterpiece of 'genre' film-making...
75 of 101 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Candle-lit interior cinematography, lush misty landscapes, strong characters, exquisite costumes, an authentic boudoir recreation of 18th century French society, a new kind of savage 'monster' and some of the finest stylized fight scenes ever laid down in a 'genre' film, place "Brotherhood of the Wolf" among the classiest horror adventure films of all time.
Great moments include the culminating rage of Samuel Le Bihan's gentlemanly character 'Fronsac' who explodes into a Conan-like fury as he meets out 'justice' to those that wronged his Iroquois-Mohawk 'blood brother' played by Marc Dacascos, Vincent Cassel suitably creepy as the decadent 'Morangias', sensuous Monica Belluci as the dangerous and vicious 'Sylvia', interesting historical plot-points, and a bond of friendship between an unlikely pair of frontier adventurers, make director Christopher Gans "Brotherhood of the Wolf" an original masterpiece of 'genre' film-making...