The legend of the Beast of Gavaudan is brought to the big screen with a few standard changes in the historical facts for artist entertainment value.
In the 1760’s a beast has been stalking the country side of French province of Gavaudan and has killed up to 113 people. Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his companion the Iroquois Mani (Mark Dacascos), who knows kung fu, have arrived at the request of the King of France to look into the beast. De Fronsac is the royal taxidermist and believes that there is a logical and scientific explanation for all the deaths. Together with Marquis d’Apcher (Jérémie Renier) they search for the beast. The local folks seem to think that the beast is a monstrous wolf but de Fronsac doesn’t buy it. The more they search the more things get complicated.
Vincent Cassel co-stars as a one-armed hunter and Monica Bellucci plays the sexy woman of mystery. The beast seems to have master and is part of a bigger plot by a mysterious group. It seems that the King of France is disliked because he embraces philosophers and of course in the 1700’s the modern embrace of science over religion is heresy.
Stylish directed by Christophe Gans who also made the creepy Silent Hill movie, the film mixes several genres but it works. It’s a horror movie. It’s a historical crime scene investigation. It’s a political drama. And it’s a kung fu action film. And it’s damn good.
