Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

Directed by Cristophe Gans. Starring Samuel Le Bihan, Jérémie Renier, Vincent Cassel, Émilie Dequenne, Mark Dacascos, Monica Bellucci, Jean-François Stévenin, Jean Yanne, Édith Scob, Johan Leysen, Virginie Darmon. [R]

Overstuffed doesn’t even begin to describe it; this tale of a strange beast terrorizing a French province in the 18th century and the attempts to stop it is some mad hybrid of supernatural mystery, monster movie thriller, martial arts actioner, sweeping costume drama, occult horror, Native American mysticism, swashbuckling adventure, and probably a few other genres/sub-plots buried and forgotten before all is said and done. It’s hard to dislike a movie featuring an Iroquois delivering acrobatics and Capoeira-esque kicks, a villain wielding a whip-sword made of bones, and a Vatican spy posing as a brothel courtesan, but it’s also hard to take any of it seriously, even though it’s actually (loosely) based on a true story. Dan Lausten’s photography is often lush and atmospheric, and director Gans’ outrageous stylistic flourishes are used just sparingly enough to fall short of irritating, but all the busyness on display masks a fairly flashy-but-empty final product; reminiscent of Sleepy Hollow’s unnecessarily convoluted secrets, it’s difficult to care very much about anything or anyone after a while. Still, it’s extravagantly pumped-up and grotesquely unhinged fun most of the way.

72/100