2001 was an interesting year for French (or French funded) films on the international market. Jena Pierre Jeunet’s film ‘Amelie’ met with critical acclaim, WWII film, ‘Enemy at the gates’ starring Jude law performed well at the box office and the adult drama ‘Intimacy’ had been controversial due to an an actual sex scene – the first to pass uncut in mainstream film in the UK. Brotherhood of the Wolf was different from all of those. A period action film with hits of horror purportedly based on a true story.
,Brotherhood of the Wolf is set during the reign of Louis XV in an isolated district of south-central France which is haunted by the “Beast of Gévaudan” which has savagely killed over 100 people, mostly women and children. As panic sweeps across the region, the King sends his finest military minds, the scientist and adventurer Grégoire de Fronsac and his martial-arts-trained Iroquois blood brother Mani to flush out the Beast and kill it…
Lavishly shot, director Christophe Gans’ film is a mix of drama, and horror whose cast included Samuel Le Bihan (Braquo), Jérémie Renier (In Bruges), Vincent Cassel (La Haine) and Monica Bellucci (Irreversible). It also featured a breakout performance from John Wick 3 martial arts star Mark Dacascos.
Its period setting inevitably made it a relatively expensive film to make costing $29m but the film performed well at the international box office earning over $70m- an impressive amount for what was a French language period horror film and went on to win a 2002 Cesar for costume designer Dominic Borg and the films DoP would later go on to be Oscar nominated for his work on Del Toro’s, ‘The Shape of Water’. Director Gans would go on to helm the 2006 video game adaptation Silent Hill (which he is currently working on a sequel to), and a live action French language version of Beauty and the Beast in 2014 which to date was his last film.
At two hours and twenty minutes it is overlong but there is an intriguing resolution to the origin of the beast and this new 4K UHD resolution of the film is a decent one with a number of bonus features that make this something of a must for fans of the film
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF Director’s Cut (2022 restoration)
Audio Commentary with Christophe Gans
Audio Commentary with Vincent Cassel & Samuel Le Bihan
New Trailer
INCLUDED WITH THE BLU-RAY (2 Discs):
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF Director’s Cut (2022 restoration)
Audio Commentary with Christophe Gans
Audio Commentary with Vincent Cassel & Samuel Le Bihan
New Trailer
NEW Interview with Christophe Gans & Jean-Baptiste Thoret
The Guts of the Beast
Behind the scenes
Deleted Scenes:
o The Fight
o The Crow
o Fronsac and Sardis
o The Frozen Lake
o The House Tessier
o Montage
La Legend: a programme on the origins of The Beast
Theatrical Trailer
Restored Original trailer
INCLUDED WITH THE 4K UHD (4 Discs):
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF Director’s Cut (2022 restoration)
Audio Commentary with Christophe Gans
Audio Commentary with Vincent Cassel & Samuel Le Bihan
New Trailer
NEW Interview with Christophe Gans & Jean-Baptiste Thoret
The Guts of the Beast
Behind the scenes
Deleted Scenes:
o The Fight
o The Crow
o Fronsac and Sardis
o The Frozen Lake
o The House Tessier
o Montage
La Legend: a programme on the origins of The Beast
Theatrical Trailer
Restored Original trailer
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (Theatrical Cut) unrestored
Interview with Christophe Gans by Jean-Pierre Jackson
Featurettes:
o The Extras
o The Studies of Fronsac
o Mise-en-scène
o Emilie and the music
o Thomas & Apcher
o Jérémie Rénier and the horses
o Special effects
o Make-up
related feature : Jean Pierre Jeunet’s ‘The City of Lost Children’
related feature : Renfield’ director Chris McKay talks Nicolas Cage as Dracula
Here’s the Brotherhood of the Wolf trailer…..
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF is released on 4KUHD, Blu-ray & DVD on 15th May
 films on the international market. Jena Pierre Jeunet’s film ‘Amelie’ met with...){kind=link}