Customer Reviews
Excellent film, but beware of missing scenes. - By: Mrs. J. Wainman, 21 May 2008 
Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups) is a truly excellent French film, mixing Horror, Martial Arts & Period Costume Drama. But be warned, there are at least 3 scenes missing from this Universal DVD, which are present in the Optimum Home Entertainment DVD release. In one of these missing scenes, Grégoire de Fronsac has a nightmare where Sylvia stands over his bed whilst he sleeps, ready to kill him with a dagger. This is one of my favourite scenes, & sadly missed from this DVD version. Also, there are scenes where the Army Lieutenant has a large dead Wolf made to look like a Monster through taxidermy, so he can fake official records & say the Beast is dead.
The back of the DVD case reads 2 hours 17 mins for run time, but my DVD player says 2 hour 13 mins. There is an English dubbed soundtrack available though, which some people may prefer to the native French with English subtitles.
quiet a disappointment - By: Mona Walid, 11 Dec 2007 
Not only, as mentioned above, the original track (french) is 2.0, but amazon report it as Run Time: 157 minutes, which, makes you think to the director cut version, & it is not, i wish amazon could start to be mroe precise to describe the product in order to make the right choice & not to waste money
French historical ninja action - By: DangermouseZilla, 08 Jun 2007 
The opening to this film was so promising. Gorgeous sweeping shots of the French countryside, pacey music, & clever directing.
These elements remain throughout the film & help make this beautiful looking film. The colour levels accentuate a lavish set, whilst the director makes the most of what nature has to offer outside.
The two heroes bring warmth & comedic camaraderie to this film, & their parts, as with alll the others - are well acted.
The way the film deals with the beast is teasingly naughty - little glimpses here, a little detail there, until you eventuallly see it in full splendour. When CGI effects are used, they aren't obvious & don't spoil the look of the film.
As the story progresses you learn that the beast is a human creation, born out of religious fanaticism. This was a nice change to the usual werewolf type films, but to be honest I wouldn't reallly class this as a werewolf film. Watch it & you'll see what I mean.
I would have given this film 5 stars if it wasn't for a couple of plot holes, the main one being [SPOILER WARNING!!!] that one of the main cast is killed & buried, only to appear later on without any real explanation!
Beastly - By: E. A Solinas, 13 Mar 2007 Imagine a fairy tale... but with grit, blood, stylized camerawork, & lots of French kung-fu.
That about sums up "Brotherhood of the Wolf," a gritty horror/martial-arts/erotic/action movie loosely based on the French legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, but with a chilling story woven around it. Christophe Gans could have given it a bit more character development, but it's a simple flaw in an otherwise horrifying, intense experience.
An enormous, savage wolflike beast is killing young women & children in the French countryside. And so royal naturalist Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) & his Native American sidekick Mani (Mark Dacascos) arrive to investigate, & find that the local authorities are incompetant, the Beast is larger than any wolf, & it's still savaging the locals.
Mani & Grégoire set about tracking down the beast, finding it to be too large & intelligent (and with metal fangs too). But something more sinister than animal attacks is going on -- Fronsac uncovers a mysterious, treasonous society connected to the Beast, & a mysterious courtesan (Monica Belucci) with hidden motives.
It may be based on a real incident, but "Brotherhood of the Wolf" soon takes off into its own storyline. And director Gans crams the whole thing with whatever he likes -- horror, action, political period drama, & some French martial arts. It's like an old fairy tale mutated into a live-action anime.
And Gans' direction style can include a little of everything too -- he handles rosy-skied romantic scenes with the same dexterity as raw sex scenes, rainy sludge & bloody chases. And he handles the camera just as well, although the style comes as a bit of a shock in a period film -- it zooms down cliffs & through underbrush, rapid-pans, & lingers on the fairy-tale landscapes of the French countryside.
One of the best examples of this is near the beginning, with Mani & Grégoire encountering a pair of gypsies being bullied, & Mani whipping the bullies with savate & a little la canne. It's a wild, dizzying scene, & thoroughly effective in showing these guys as a force to be reckoned with. But at the same time, Gans wraps the beginning & end in a sense of poignant regret.
If there's a flaw, it's that the plot & rich direction take up so much time that it's hard to wedge in some character development. Bihan fares pretty well as the inscrutable taxidermist, & over the course of the movie, you develop a liking for him & his girlfriend. But it would have been nice if the characters of Mani & Sylvia were explored a bit more than they were -- as it is, Belucci & Dacascos do amazing jobs with their characters.
This horror/action/period/French kung-fu flick breaks alll the rules, & it's alll the more enjoyable for it. A glorious action classic, & a must-see for cult film lovers.
Good - By: S. Stephenson, 05 Mar 2007 Nothing that will change your ideas of cinema, but definitely a good film. The combination of action, 'spiritualism', historical setting & quasi-Catholic cultiness lends a unique feel to the piece, & the plot is actuallly well thought out, despite historical inaccuracies & Native American ninjas....
ps. watch with subtitles
