Brotherhood of the Wolf/Le Pacte des Loups (2001) - Impressive elements in ludicrous French period monster actioner

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Some very curious, face-covering coats on this poster for Christophe Gans' Brotherhood of the Wolf may provoke involuntary smiles and laughs

In 18th century France a nobleman and a native American are sent by the king to a bleak countryside to investigate the mysterious killings of hundreds by a beast there...

 

Brotherhood of the Wolf is written by Stéphane Cabel (Le Concile de Pierre (2006)) and co-writer/director Christophe Gans (Crying Freeman (1995)). It is loosely based on a series of actual 18th century killings and the legend of the beast of Gévaudan. The original French title translates to 'the pact of the wolves'.

Monica Bellucci (Under Suspicion (2000)) looks enticing in black, and adds quality on her own here, and the film also has a good-looking monster and generally handsome production values. The rest is a round of very pompous nonsense and to me, more detrimentally, a hugely dull waste of resources. 

Brotherhood of the Wolf vacillates between historical melodrama and state-of-the-art, fast-edited action scenes. It is an overlong mess.

 

Related post:

 

Christophe Gans: Silent Hill (2006) - Gans' senseless, unfrightening adaptation

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 29 mil. $

Box office: 70.7 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.43 times its cost)

[Brotherhood of the Wolf was released 31 January (Switzerland, France) and runs 142 minutes. Shooting took place in France around March 2000. The film opened #28 to a 100k $ first weekend in 37 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 404 theaters (different weeks), grossing 11.2 mil. $ (15.8 % of the total gross), becoming the 6th highest-grossing French film there ever at the time. The marketing disguised the fact that it was not an English language film in order to attract bigger (young) crowds - with success. The film's biggest market was France with 24 mil. $ (33.9 %). It was also #1 for 2 weeks in Italy. The film won 1/4 César award nominations, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Gans returned with Silent Hill (2006). Samuel Le Bihan (La Place d'un Autre (1993)) returned in La Niut de Noces (2001, short), Pourquoi t'as Fait ça? (2001, short) and theatrically in He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not/À la Folie... Pas du Tout (2002); Mark Dacascos (Sanctuary (1998)) in Instinct to Kill (2001); and Bellucci in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra/Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002). Brotherhood of the Wolf is fresh at 73 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Brotherhood of the Wolf?

Silent Hill (2006) - Gans' senseless, unfrightening adaptation

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A mouthless girl with grey, ghostly eyes and a decaying paint face entreats you from this poster to see Christophe Gans' Silent Hill

A mother drives her adopted daughter to a ghost town called Silent Hill that the girl talks of in her sleep. This proves to be a place with some dark secrets.

Silent Hill is written by Roger Avary (Glitterati (2004)), based on Konami's same-titled 1999 Playstation game, and directed by Christophe Gans (Crying Freeman (1995)).
The film makes no sense to me: SPOILER Silent Hill is a parallel universe with monsters from environmental disasters (it seems?), and a religious demon cult. It is incredible to me that Avary, who had made the masterful Rules of Attraction (2002) shortly before, would fall into this CGI-fueled pit of a film.
Silent Hill does produce great discomfort for its viewers and also boasts some really sick inventions, but as for narrative stringency, building atmosphere and tension, and, most importantly, real scares; this is an empty drum.

Gans gives a 2-minute interview about the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 97.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.95 times its cost)
[Silent Hill premiered 20 April (Hollywood, California) and runs 125 minutes. Gans had reportedly lobbied to attain the film rights for 5 years, eventually getting them after sending an interview of himself explaining what he would do with the property. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in Manitoba, Canada from April - July 2005. Sony Pictures bought the US and Latin America distribution rights for 14 mil. $. The film opened #1 to a 20.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 46.9 mil. $ (47.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.7 mil. $ (6.9 %) and France with 5.8 mil. $ (5.9 %). The film made in excess of 22.1 mil. $ from North American home video sales of 1.3 mil. units in 4 weeks, which, if added into the calculation, would change its status to that of a minor flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Michael J. Bassett directed the sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), which got even worse reviews but was a box office success. Gans didn't return for 8 years before his Beauty and the Beast/La Belle et la Bête (2014). Radha Mitchell (The Crazies (2010)) returned in Pu-239 (2006). Silent Hill is rotten at 30 % with a 4.52/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Silent Hill?