Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
January 27, 2025 7:55 AM - Subscribe
In 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
(En Francais: Le Pact Des Loups)
I must confess that I am shocked this isn't on the Purple already!
Last night Shepherd and I re-watched this as I've been listening to a podcast episode about Le Bete du Gevaudan, one of my personal favourite mysteries of history.
I had forgotten how stylized the film was! Slo-mo fights, the occasional Dutch angle, etc.
Yes, Mark Dascascos is playing a First Nations man without being First Nations himself. (I will give him mad props for learning fluent French in order to be in this movie.) Monica Bellucci is what I remember identifying as Naked Papal Assassin. (Ugh, she is so bee-you-tee-ful, for real.) Vincent Cassel is loathsome and villainous.)
I have an affection for this movie and quite like it. I saw it when it was released with a friend of mine who is longer with us. Holly took me along to see a lot of cooler indie genre movies back in the day. She was great. Anyway, this is one of the first ones she took me to.
(En Francais: Le Pact Des Loups)
I must confess that I am shocked this isn't on the Purple already!
Last night Shepherd and I re-watched this as I've been listening to a podcast episode about Le Bete du Gevaudan, one of my personal favourite mysteries of history.
I had forgotten how stylized the film was! Slo-mo fights, the occasional Dutch angle, etc.
Yes, Mark Dascascos is playing a First Nations man without being First Nations himself. (I will give him mad props for learning fluent French in order to be in this movie.) Monica Bellucci is what I remember identifying as Naked Papal Assassin. (Ugh, she is so bee-you-tee-ful, for real.) Vincent Cassel is loathsome and villainous.)
I have an affection for this movie and quite like it. I saw it when it was released with a friend of mine who is longer with us. Holly took me along to see a lot of cooler indie genre movies back in the day. She was great. Anyway, this is one of the first ones she took me to.
This is the movie with the whip sword, right?
posted by Eddie Mars at 8:20 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
posted by Eddie Mars at 8:20 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
Recently restored in a great 4K version. Dizzyingly wacky. It's always perplexed me that Christophe Gans wound up just doing Silent Hill adaptations -- this felt like the start of an amazing genre career.
posted by Bryant at 8:23 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
posted by Bryant at 8:23 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
This movie slaps. Also stabs. Kicks.
A very good time with martial arts plus French backdrops and werewolves.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:41 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
A very good time with martial arts plus French backdrops and werewolves.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:41 AM on January 27 [4 favorites]
Love this movie. Ebert had the best review.
Review.
"“The Brotherhood of the Wolf” plays like an explosion at the genre factory. When the smoke clears, a rough beast lurches forth, its parts cobbled together from a dozen movies. The film involves quasi-werewolves, French aristocrats, secret societies, Iroquois Indians, martial arts, occult ceremonies, sacred mushrooms, swashbuckling, incestuous longings, political subversion, animal spirits, slasher scenes and bordellos, and although it does not end with the words “based on a true story,” it is."
posted by KaizenSoze at 8:53 AM on January 27 [7 favorites]
Review.
"“The Brotherhood of the Wolf” plays like an explosion at the genre factory. When the smoke clears, a rough beast lurches forth, its parts cobbled together from a dozen movies. The film involves quasi-werewolves, French aristocrats, secret societies, Iroquois Indians, martial arts, occult ceremonies, sacred mushrooms, swashbuckling, incestuous longings, political subversion, animal spirits, slasher scenes and bordellos, and although it does not end with the words “based on a true story,” it is."
posted by KaizenSoze at 8:53 AM on January 27 [7 favorites]
It's a lot of fun! I did memory-hole the incest SA towards the end (we could have done without that, thx).
For the brothel scenes, Shepherd remarked, "For a remote region of France, this area has a lot of courtesans. How are they staying open???"
posted by Kitteh at 8:55 AM on January 27 [5 favorites]
For the brothel scenes, Shepherd remarked, "For a remote region of France, this area has a lot of courtesans. How are they staying open???"
posted by Kitteh at 8:55 AM on January 27 [5 favorites]
So good! Part historical costume drama, part political conspiracy thriller, part martial arts movie (!), part monster movie (!!). And based on a true story! Damn!
posted by SPrintF at 9:06 AM on January 27 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 9:06 AM on January 27 [3 favorites]
Back in the day I would rent anything with Mark Dacascos in it sight unseen and quickly started playing the game of "which nationality is he playing in this one?" According to IMDB, he's "of Irish, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish & Filipino descent" and I've definitely seen him portray a Russian as well. I went to see this at the cinema in no small part because of him and he's predictably great in this as a support.
This is a movie that I rewatch every now and again and every time I'm surprised by how much movie there is and how seemingly impossible it is to keep the totality of it in my head. Like the Ebert review above mentions, it truly is an explosion at the genre factory. I want to love it but there are several segments that are inexplicably lifeless and inert for the absolutely bonkers story that it is. All of which keeps it as just adjacent to being a truly cherished cult classic.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:38 AM on January 27 [5 favorites]
This is a movie that I rewatch every now and again and every time I'm surprised by how much movie there is and how seemingly impossible it is to keep the totality of it in my head. Like the Ebert review above mentions, it truly is an explosion at the genre factory. I want to love it but there are several segments that are inexplicably lifeless and inert for the absolutely bonkers story that it is. All of which keeps it as just adjacent to being a truly cherished cult classic.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:38 AM on January 27 [5 favorites]
I want to love it but there are several segments that are inexplicably lifeless and inert for the absolutely bonkers story that it is.
I think this was sort of my reaction. I may have gone in with too high expectations based on the praise that surrounded its release. Albeit, maybe 23 years is enough time to warrant a rewatch.
posted by Atreides at 9:44 AM on January 27 [1 favorite]
I think this was sort of my reaction. I may have gone in with too high expectations based on the praise that surrounded its release. Albeit, maybe 23 years is enough time to warrant a rewatch.
posted by Atreides at 9:44 AM on January 27 [1 favorite]
I was really fond of this film when I saw it in the early 2000s. Christophe Gans had done a Crying Freeman adaptation prior to this one that my crowd had all watched on VCDs from our Toronto Chinatown excursions. I found it a bit on the long side but enjoyed it well enough. I had a lot of hopes that it would spawn a huge renaissance of French historical set cult films and yeah we saw a few over the next years but not as good as this one. One that comes to mind is Vidocq though it was released before Brotherhood of the Wolf in France but I saw it long afterwards. That film was from the director of the notorious Catwoman and has the honour of being the first film to be shot at 24fps digitally. We saw a few others come out over the next years but more than that I wanted to see more First Nations characters appear in films like this and that I would have to wait a long time for that to happen (maybe until Prey came out? Probably). He hasn't directed much over years, but Christophe Gans' filmed in Canada Silent Hill is worth a look.
Maybe someone can correct me but... Was this the Midnight Madness show at the Toronto Film Festival on 9/11? I seem to remember that but I could be conflating it. It definitely was at the 2001 TIFF and in my memory I associate the two events.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:50 AM on January 27
Maybe someone can correct me but... Was this the Midnight Madness show at the Toronto Film Festival on 9/11? I seem to remember that but I could be conflating it. It definitely was at the 2001 TIFF and in my memory I associate the two events.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:50 AM on January 27
I love this movie. Especially the visuals and costumes. I desperately want Mark Dascascos's oilskin coat in this.
posted by porpoise at 11:38 AM on January 27 [3 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 11:38 AM on January 27 [3 favorites]
I just want more pumpkins filled with orange goo.
posted by hototogisu at 1:52 PM on January 27 [3 favorites]
posted by hototogisu at 1:52 PM on January 27 [3 favorites]
Goofy fun. French film-making was certainly trying to get something out of its system in the 2000s.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:12 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:12 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]
This is one of my favorite movies ever. I've thought about putting it up here, but I didn't want to hear bad things, so I never bothered. After my friends and I saw it--where we constantly laughed out loud, giggled, and cheered--I said "I wanna go again!" and so we did. (And yeah, that was when we noticed some of the more inert scenes.) Despite the animal suffering (and, well, people suffering--that first killing in the beginning is really really hard to watch), I loved it.
But I've watched it many times, even made fan vids for it. I just adore the amazing costumes, set designs, production values, and of course the stunning cinematography, all in service to this batshit crazy movie. I've never been able to track down the quote from EW about it that said something like "the best French historical martial arts horror movie" --their line was much better and incredibly funny, but for years I would try to lure people in to watch it with me by using the quote, and they always bit because it's just so...intriguing. For a long time, it was hard to get hold of it without it being a dubbed version; I'm so glad they have a good copy now (not that I was worried for myself, I bought it the instant it became available).
I too would see anything with Mark Dacascos at the time, and I was devastated when Mani died. I still feel devastated when he dies! The scene where they're hunting the monster and he flips his hair...I squeal with delight every time. But man, talk about a true classic slash relationship there between him and Fronsac. That's the stuff elder slash fans lived for.
The image of Fronsac and Marianne riding through the woods lives rent-free in my head and when I'm on my deathbed I'll probably have that floating through my mind, or the scene where Monica Belluci walks toward the jail and they layer dissolve it as she moves.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 5:39 PM on January 27 [8 favorites]
But I've watched it many times, even made fan vids for it. I just adore the amazing costumes, set designs, production values, and of course the stunning cinematography, all in service to this batshit crazy movie. I've never been able to track down the quote from EW about it that said something like "the best French historical martial arts horror movie" --their line was much better and incredibly funny, but for years I would try to lure people in to watch it with me by using the quote, and they always bit because it's just so...intriguing. For a long time, it was hard to get hold of it without it being a dubbed version; I'm so glad they have a good copy now (not that I was worried for myself, I bought it the instant it became available).
I too would see anything with Mark Dacascos at the time, and I was devastated when Mani died. I still feel devastated when he dies! The scene where they're hunting the monster and he flips his hair...I squeal with delight every time. But man, talk about a true classic slash relationship there between him and Fronsac. That's the stuff elder slash fans lived for.
The image of Fronsac and Marianne riding through the woods lives rent-free in my head and when I'm on my deathbed I'll probably have that floating through my mind, or the scene where Monica Belluci walks toward the jail and they layer dissolve it as she moves.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 5:39 PM on January 27 [8 favorites]
Oh this movie is the best. It's tone is something I don't see quite enough and I loved the director creating the weird offspring of Dangerous Liaisons and The Matrix having a French folklore film-child.
I wish this was one that our local theater would replay once in a while. I saw it at some megaplex that had the worst possible dubbed version, but watching it later with subs really made it shine.
Jean-François de Morangias was my "hear me out" for a long time after I saw this movie.
Kitteh- I always read your comments/posts on fanfare and I think you're my movie/tv cosmic sibling. Thank you so much for reminding me it's time for a rewatch of this one!
posted by haplesschild at 8:28 PM on January 27 [4 favorites]
I wish this was one that our local theater would replay once in a while. I saw it at some megaplex that had the worst possible dubbed version, but watching it later with subs really made it shine.
Jean-François de Morangias was my "hear me out" for a long time after I saw this movie.
Kitteh- I always read your comments/posts on fanfare and I think you're my movie/tv cosmic sibling. Thank you so much for reminding me it's time for a rewatch of this one!
posted by haplesschild at 8:28 PM on January 27 [4 favorites]
I just want more pumpkins filled with orange goo.
Yes I was shouting at the screen "where do the French get juicy pumpkins"
I really enjoyed revisiting this with Kitteh. One of the things I like about is that it is, in the end, a shaggy dog (lion?) story, where there are tangents on tangents and little whorls and curlicues all over the characters and plot.
Mani makes me wince -- not Dacascos, who is awesome -- but I give it a problematic pass, knowing as a fan of bédé that the French have a long, weird relationship with their understanding of the Americas and Indigenous people. It's still problematic, for sure, but completely pulled out of a singular cultural pocket.
I cannot get over the decades-long scheme around Jean-Francois' arm, though. He comes back from the Dark Continent and the mad priest is like "hey, I have a great idea, why don't we hide your right arm, like, forever, not for any particular reason, but at some point it might be cool to surprise somebody with your mutant incest arm," and JF is like "cool cool, sounds like a plan" and the two of them immediately start feverishly working on custom corsets.
posted by Shepherd at 3:29 AM on January 28 [5 favorites]
Yes I was shouting at the screen "where do the French get juicy pumpkins"
I really enjoyed revisiting this with Kitteh. One of the things I like about is that it is, in the end, a shaggy dog (lion?) story, where there are tangents on tangents and little whorls and curlicues all over the characters and plot.
Mani makes me wince -- not Dacascos, who is awesome -- but I give it a problematic pass, knowing as a fan of bédé that the French have a long, weird relationship with their understanding of the Americas and Indigenous people. It's still problematic, for sure, but completely pulled out of a singular cultural pocket.
I cannot get over the decades-long scheme around Jean-Francois' arm, though. He comes back from the Dark Continent and the mad priest is like "hey, I have a great idea, why don't we hide your right arm, like, forever, not for any particular reason, but at some point it might be cool to surprise somebody with your mutant incest arm," and JF is like "cool cool, sounds like a plan" and the two of them immediately start feverishly working on custom corsets.
posted by Shepherd at 3:29 AM on January 28 [5 favorites]
The aesthetics and premise of this movie (men wearing tri-corner hats hunting werewolves with rule-of-cool weapons) heavily inspired FromSoftware's 2015 PS4 game Bloodborne, which is one of my all-time favorites.
(Thanks for pointing out the recent remaster, it's time to revisit this one.)
posted by neckro23 at 8:05 AM on January 28
(Thanks for pointing out the recent remaster, it's time to revisit this one.)
posted by neckro23 at 8:05 AM on January 28
completely pulled out of a singular cultural pocket
I always blame Rousseau and the French's love for Kondiaronk and particularly his depiction in New Voyages to North America for that. Though there's not a lot of martial arts in that book.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:15 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]
I always blame Rousseau and the French's love for Kondiaronk and particularly his depiction in New Voyages to North America for that. Though there's not a lot of martial arts in that book.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:15 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]
It's weird how memory-holed this is; the third Ginger Snaps movie (itself memory-holed!) is basically just a parody of Brotherhood of the Wolf, so obviously the calculus back then was that enough people had seen it to justify a whole ass other movie that was just a big bounce from it.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:10 AM on January 28 [2 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:10 AM on January 28 [2 favorites]
Every now and then you see a movie that just seems like every single thing the filmmaker thought might be cool makes it into the final version with full commitment. That almost always means it is a mess, but once in a while that also means that the end result is cool as hell.
I am thrilled to see this bonkers movie getting so much love. It's just so much of everything that its details slip out of my head every ~5 years or so and I have to watch it again to remind myself that it exists and is indeed like that. Feels fresh and fun every time.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:25 AM on January 28 [6 favorites]
I am thrilled to see this bonkers movie getting so much love. It's just so much of everything that its details slip out of my head every ~5 years or so and I have to watch it again to remind myself that it exists and is indeed like that. Feels fresh and fun every time.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:25 AM on January 28 [6 favorites]
I love this. Dacascos makes it for me.
posted by biffa at 3:44 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]
posted by biffa at 3:44 PM on January 29 [3 favorites]
Add me in
I've seen worse movies and better movies, but something about this one was especially "let's do it again"
I'm pretty sure I watched this a 2nd time less than a week from the 1st viewing, and it's fun to watch with others.
posted by ginger.beef at 6:35 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
I've seen worse movies and better movies, but something about this one was especially "let's do it again"
I'm pretty sure I watched this a 2nd time less than a week from the 1st viewing, and it's fun to watch with others.
posted by ginger.beef at 6:35 PM on January 31 [3 favorites]
Just watched it for the first time, on Tubi - unfortunately only the dubbed version was affordable for me. What a ride!
Vincent Cassel is always a terrific villain.
Poor kitty.
posted by edithkeeler at 6:47 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
Vincent Cassel is always a terrific villain.
Poor kitty.
posted by edithkeeler at 6:47 PM on February 7 [1 favorite]
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posted by Illusory contour at 8:07 AM on January 27 [2 favorites]