Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001)

How I loved to watch these 18th Century dinner parties where conversation was a vital social skill. Saying what you meant by NOT saying it was in fashion amongst the gentry of provincial France.




In 1765 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, 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.

This one is based on a great mystery and some terrific characters. Sumptuous costumes and scenery, romance and death, fate and passion.


Émilie Dequenne is magical as Marianne, a woman ahead of her time who is every bit the equal of the magnificent men around her. Vincent Cassel is fantastic as the one armed Marquis who at first you hate but whose unique sense of honor wins you over.


And if you wanted sex there is a naked Monica Belluci.


I finally understand the expression "...smells like a french whorehouse"



Unfortunately the creature turns out to be a huge letdown especially with the unconvincing CGI monster that the movies reveals at the half and a half mark. It would have been better not to see the monster at all. When we only saw the results of the animals work and not the animal itself we had a better chance of bying into the whole mystery of the situation.

Once we learn what was going on the whole time the film degenerates into a bloodbath of revenge with many people dying in the same way over and over again. It got tiresome.

I see the direction they were going with this one. They wanted something cool and edgy with modern film techniques supporting a historical monster story. In the end everything seems overdone and overly ambitious. I am sure I would have loved this when it first came out but in the past decade it has suffered from many unfair comparisons to movies like 'The Matrix' with a similar complex level of wire work stunts.

6/10