Review: Brotherhood of the Wolf (4K UHD)
4K UHD Blu-ray: Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
Based on a folk tale of the beast of Gévaudan about the mysterious killings that took place in France in the 1700s, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a one-of-a-kind film that really defies genre.Part Sherlock Holmes mystery, part historical fantasy, it tells the story of the hunt for a beast that’s terrorising the area of Gévaudan in France where locals are being ripped apart.
King Louis XV of France sends naturalist Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), and his Iroquois Indian friend Mani (Marc Dacascos) to the area to investigate and hopefully capture this beast.
The story is very French, they take their cinema extremely seriously, and even though this is a ‘mystical’ fantasy, it’s done with a straight face, and it works.
Mani is at one with nature, even when he’s Kung Fu-ing his way through a gang of killers, while Vincent Cassel, who plays Jean-François de Morangias, is straight faced as the good (or is he the bad) guy? Then we have the sublime Monica Bellucci as Sylvia, a prostitute who is straight out of a comic book. You’d be mistaken to think this WAS a comic book adaptation, as so many elements of it – secret religious societies, mutant creatures in armour and a bonkers plot that defies all genres point us to that direction.
This new 4k release by Studiocanal is beautiful, and for some reason (perhaps I’m more accustomed to longer films now) I enjoyed Brotherhood of the Wolf a LOT more than I did back in the day, while the plethora of extras added to my enjoyment even more.
Beautiful to look at and FUN to watch.
INCLUDED WITH THE DVD (1 Disc):
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:
The Fight
The Crow
Fronsac and Sardis
The Frozen Lake
The House Tessier
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:
The Fight
The Crow
Fronsac and Sardis
The Frozen Lake
The House Tessier
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:
The Extras
The Studies of Fronsac
Mise-en-scène
Emilie and the music
Thomas & Apcher
Jérémie Rénier and the horses
Special effects
Make-up
Review by Tina from discs kindly supplied by Studiocanal via Fetch Publicity.