Barnes & Noble

Take the dread and gore of a horror flick, add the flash and fury of Hong Kong action, dress it up in 18th-century French costumes, and the result is Brotherhood of the Wolf, a wildly original action film with a wicked bite. The story concerns a legend about a werewolf-like beast feeding on French countrymen and the crack team of specialists -- a naturalist (Samuel Le Bihan) and his kung fu-kicking Native American companion, (Marc Dacascos) -- who are ordered to find the elusive monster and end the bloodshed. As if the wolf weren't enough trouble, an alluring prostitute (Monica Bellucci) may prove to be involved, as may be a count's scary son (Vincent Cassel), who frowns upon his sister's (Emilie Dequenne) affair with our lone-ranger naturalist. Brotherhood easily rises above its genre siblings Blade and Resident Evil, not so much for its melodramatic story and bone-crunching action as for its genre-bending style and unrepentant flair. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon before it, the film takes aim at some old Hollywood myths: that good action flicks require major explosions, that good foreign-language films are all obscure, and that good costume dramas are all dull. Indeed, Brotherhood of the Wolf disproves all three. Tony Nigro

All Movie Guide

French legend has it that a creature known as the Beast of Gevaudan -- a huge, wolf-like monster -- was responsible for the violent deaths of over 100 persons in the mid-18th century, and this horror fantasy blends the lore of this fabled beast with a story of two men who set out to capture it. After a number of mutilated corpses begin appearing across the French countryside, naturalist Chevalier Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is dispatched by the King to find and capture the animal responsible for the killings. Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian from Canada and an experienced hand in the wilds, is hired to assist de Fronsac in his work. Gregoire's assignment earns him the acquaintance of Marianne de Morangias (Emilie Dequenne), the lovely daughter of the idly wealthy Count de Morangias (Jean Yanne), but Gregoire receives a much chillier welcome from her brother Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), who, despite having lost an arm to a lion in Africa, is quite the huntsman himself. As Gregoire and Mani arrive in the village of Gevaudan, they're drawn to a local house of prostitution, where the animalistic allure and supernatural powers of Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) prove to have a profound effect on the naive Gregoire. Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the special-effects expertise for the creation of the Beast of Gevaudan. Mark Deming

Chicago Sun-Times

The Brotherhood of the Wolf plays like an explosion at the genre factory. Roger Ebert

Variety

A little Sergio Leone here, a little Sleepy Hollow there, a grand helping of late royal-era Gaul with its wigs and finery, and, uh, martial arts-style confrontations galore are all deftly melded in Brotherhood of the Wolf. Lisa Nesselson

New York Post

May be the most purely entertaining foreign-language crossover since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lou Lumenick

Product Details

• UPC: 824255050159
• Source: TVA FILMS
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français
• Time: 2:32:00
• Sales Rank: 42,915

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