BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF ("Le Pacte des Loups") - R-RATED
/ French with English subtitles

Stars: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Hans Meyer, Jean Yanne
Director: Christophe Gans
Screenwriter: Stephane Cabel, Christophe Gans

This stylish French film has the audacity to mix genres and actually pull it off, albeit with a few missteps along the way. It's a horror-martial arts-costume drama and it's story comes from the French legend of the Beast of Gevaudan in which a mysterious creature actually killed dozens of villagers in the mid 1700s.

In the film, the King takes action to satisfy an aristocrat in the area by sending in a renowned naturalist to track and slay the beast. That would be Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), a clever and well-traveled scientist who brings along his Iroquois Indian aide Mani (Mark Dacascos), whom he met in the New World.

While investigating the unseen terror, Gregoire hobnobs with the local elite and falls in love with Marianne (Emilie Dequenne), the daughter of one of them as more gruesome killings ensue. Among those convinced that the beast is just an ordinary wolf is her brother, Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), a man with one arm who still has the capacity to shoot like an expert. He's even fashioned silver bullets to dispatch his prey. But the beast is wily; it eludes the hunters and only the innocent wolves of the region are slaughtered mercilessly which is a particularly troubling scene. Gregoire is against the killing and he and Jean-Francois become adversaries. A sultry gypsy woman named Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) keeps cropping up and instigating fights which gives Gregoire and Mani a chance to show off their impressive martial arts skills. Of course the choreographed fights hardly fit the period, but it doesn't much matter. It's fun.

Lotta says: The photography beautifully sets the creepy mood as it's filmed amidst bogs, vines and dense woods when the beast hunt is in play. The beast itself only appears in full form in the later stages of the film and it looks a little ridiculous as well as unlikely, even given the explanation at the end. The film has extensive gore and is too long but it plays well overall and the scenes involving the beast are crisply edited. Co-stars Le Bihan and Dacascos (a martial artist from Hawaii) are particularly charismatic; the fight scenes are well executed. Cassel is quite good as the human villain. And Dequenne is appealing as Gregoire's love interest. It's rated R for strong violence and gore and sexuality/nudity, including a rape scene by Jean Francois against his sister Marianne.