Brotherhood of the Wolf
2001 [FRENCH]
Action / Adventure / Drama / Horror / Thriller

Plot summary
In 18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Luxurious period piece marvelously filmed with good production design , evocative cinematography ,and spectacular combats
Interestingly eccentric blend of horror, period piece and martial arts - but it loses a lot of steam towards the end
The Beast of Gevaudan roamed the region for three years in the mid-18th century, killing 80 - 100 people in this time range and prompting the king to call upon numerous hunters to track the beast and kill it.
To this day, the Beast is an unsolved mystery. Some claim it was a deranged wolf with a blood lust (since it rarely ate its victims and would instead crush their skulls with its jaw), while others believe it was an extinct species of hyena. Others believe the beast has been exaggerated over the years and it could have merely been an escaped lion. Then there are those who believe it was a trained creature working with a human counterpart - an early serial killer using an animal to help him kill.
The movie is interesting because, like Mark Pellington's "The Mothman Prophecies," it takes an engaging urban legend and instead of trying to find any direct answers or make it a film entirely _about_ the creature itself, it uses the backdrop as a means to explore other elements.
"Le pacte des loups" (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) takes the story of the Beast of Gevaudan and twists it around quite a bit. Some of it works well - the mix of period piece and action movie is a nice blend - but particularly towards the end, once it turns into an unbelievable Jet Li-style martial arts flick, it goes down an awkward path and ruins a lot of what it has already established. It's the one thing that pushes the genre-bender over the edge and it really does feel too bogged down by that point. Also, the revelations during the finale - involving the beast and the plot behind its motivations - are fairly weak.
However, the setup is fine, and the movie is an interesting oddity: a weird little mix of genres that offers a bit for everyone, even if its ending is a let-down.