Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Director's Cut) (1 4K UHD + 3 Discs) [Region A & B & C]

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I expected a big drop in quality because of how the effects were originally overlaid upon theatrical release, but I was very pleased with the stunning result here. Studiocanal's 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Brotherhood of the Wolf does not disappoint, with a gorgeous native 4K restoration lovingly undertaken, complete with Dolby Vision HDR, and a great Atmos upgrade too. It is worth remembering that the film had already benefited from digital colour grading at the time. The bonus features disc is the exact same BD-25 disc from 2021, just with a different piece of disc artwork. One, unimaginitively titled ‘Behind the Scenes’, is very much a fly-on-the-wall affair that charts the difficult production from start to finish.

Shot in over 16 locations - with precious little done in an actual studio - the feature absolutely embraces its natural flavouring, taking in those landscapes, the weather, the rain, the mud and the mood. And whenever there’s a drop in quality because of the original techniques used or the early CGI, it emboldens just how great the overall presentation looks.

During the reign of Louis XV, an isolated district of south-central France was haunted by the “Beast of Gévaudan” which savagely killed over 100 people, primarily women and children. The film’s flightiness across genres is evident of Gans talent, which I gather may be because of his deep understanding how each genre element he uses should look and feel. Likewise, the HDR tools in Resolve gave me greater control over the graded allowing more nuance in the storytelling. LFE input is welcome and unabashed, mostly beast-related, but also to be found in everything from galloping horses to those aforementioned gunshots.

However, it’s in some of the extra flourishes, largely in the editing, that the style hasn’t held up perfectly. An aged master has been used on all releases up until now, and I’m very eager to report that this is absolutely the best the film has ever looked. It’s a rollercoaster ride through some of the most colourful territories you could imagine – taking in not only the obvious sights of period France – complete with its extremes of lavish decadence and muddy squalor – but also the splendour of kinetic, well-choreographed, and, arguably, anachronistic martial arts (in several increasingly brutal extended sequences), via a detour of illicit sex (the director even traverses Monica Bellucci’s naked body in one of the most awesome – and ridiculous – scene changes in film history, that sees her curves fade into impossibly breast-like mountain peaks on a CG-crafted landscape) and of ostensibly supernatural horror.

Loosely based on a strew of mysterious murders that occurred in 18 th Century France, this ostensible period drama is infused with some truly magical ingredients which make it at once suspenseful horror, and then all-out action-thriller; smoothly gliding between romantic interplay and highly charged sexuality; founded on a strong backbone of political and religious intrigue, and significantly energised by some truly outstanding martial arts sequences, which perfectly blend in with the rest of it, in spite of the overt anachronism. A mysterious and deadly creature, resembling a giant wolf, is believed to be responsible for the carnage.

Needless to say, Silent Hilldidn’t drum up much good will for the Gallic film-critic-turned-filmmaker.

We will introduce you exclusively to Newpay finance products provided by NewDay Limited under this Introducer Appointed Representative arrangement. But what these men find, when finally confronted with the true nature of the beast, is more shocking than anyone could have anticipated. In a rural province of France, a mysterious creature is leaving a trail of mutilated corpses across the countryside, savagely killing scores of women and children.