Writer/director Christophe Gans' 2001 sophomore effort Brotherhood of the Wolf is as idiosyncratic an action flick as you're likely to find. A minor multiplex hit that found its legs on home video, Wolf is a willfully weird mash-up of period drama, gruesome horror, bone-crunching martial arts, spaghetti Western, bodice-ripping soap opera and thrilling whodunit, all served up in one improbably classy art-house package. Call it a blue-blooded blockbuster with brains and balls.

Supposedly drawn from real-life events, Wolf is set in 16th century France, in the Gevaudan province, where a mysterious creature is brutally slaying women and children and sending the populace into a panic. Enter royal naturalist Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his trusty companion Mani (Mark Dacascos), who's handy in a fight. Charged with bringing down the mysterious beast, the pair set about untangling myth, conspiracy and Mother Nature, all while finding time to make googly eyes at courtesans and French royalty. Told in flashback by one of the key players, Wolf stretches over a span of years, involving an array of high and low characters and like all good action-packed dramas, has more than a whiff of the mythic about it. All this summary, of course, is merely scratching the surface of this wild and woolly narrative.

Gans, working from a screenplay he co-wrote with Stephane Gabel, somehow manages to strike a balance between overheated soap operatics, murky political intrigue, whodunits worthy of Sherlock Holmes, softcore sex romps and gruesome sequences more often found in horror films. Brotherhood of the Wolf is an indulgent synthesis of nearly every type of fan-boy cinema imaginable and while the final third threatens to dissolve into insanity -- most would argue that it does, what with its slightly Apocalypse Now-fueled finale -- it's still one of the more bracingly entertaining action films of the last decade.

The cast, led by Le Bihan and Dacascos, is more than up to the challenge of riding Gans' lunatic creation; Vincent Cassel gives great slime as Jean-Francois de Morangias, a scheming royal, while Emilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Jean-Francois Stevenin and Hans Meyer all turn in solid work. Of course, no conversation about Brotherhood of the Wolf is complete without mention of Dan Laustsen's staggering cinematography; from bleak outcroppings of rock to torch-lit parties, Laustsen deftly evokes a grimy past with his beautifully composed images.

In theaters, I felt this Wolf ran on a bit too long and adding nine minutes to its run time only intensifies that feeling. Of course, with as left field a work as this, it's hard to know exactly where to cut, but there's a sense that Gans -- who still manages to cut out almost another hour of the film and offer it up as deleted scenes on this set -- simply couldn't bear to part with any more of this wondrously offbeat creation. Perhaps it's for the best -- I can't imagine a film like this being taken seriously in Hollywood's current cutthroat, focus group-driven atmosphere. Even though the film is not yet 10 years old, it's already a relic, an artifact from a time period when filmmakers were afforded just a touch more luxury to actually, y'know, be creative than they are now.

Brotherhood of the Wolf has only been released on DVD one other time in the U.S., in 2002. This two-disc set also marks the first time the director's cut (also known as the "international" cut, which runs about nine minutes longer than the theatrical) has been officially released in the States. In Canada, there was a much-vaunted three-disc set released in 2002 by TVA Distribution, which includes some of what's found here along with a DTS soundtrack and two audio commentaries, that is now out of print. More information on what made the cut for this set and what did not below.

The Video:

Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this anamorphic widescreen transfer mostly sparkles throughout, handling the numerous nighttime and dimly lit scenes with aplomb. Not having the previous region one discs available for comparison, I can't speak as to whether this latest release has a dramatically improved (or worsened) image. That said, the colors are vivid throughout, blacks are inky without becoming too noisy and the level of detail is expectantly crisp. An all-around great image.

Put simply, this French Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack kicks -- from the opening, rain-soaked fight sequence with Mani to the climactic, nighttime duel, the sound-field is alive with sounds of dialogue, score and terrifically visceral effects work. Squelching rain, splattering blood and emphatic shouts are all heard crisply, cleanly and with no discernible distortion. An optional English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is available, as are optional English, Spanish and French subtitles.

The biggest loss is the pair of commentary tracks from the Canadian set -- one from Gans and another from Le Bihan and Cassel -- along with that DTS track. Of course, placed alongside the original 2002 Universal release, this set is a considerable improvement, porting over a lot of the Canadian features for those unable to snag a copy of the now out-of-print set. Aside from the film, the first disc includes 40 minutes, 23 seconds of deleted scenes, with introduction from Gans, that are playable separately or all together. The excised footage is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. The film's theatrical trailer, presented in non-anamorphic widescreen, completes the disc.

The second disc houses the bulk of the bonus features, which kick off with not one, but two massive making-of documentaries: the one hour, 18 minute "The Guts of the Beast" (split into seven parts detailing everything from casting to digital effects, playable separately or all together and presented in fullscreen, subtitled in English) and the one hour, 17 minute "The Making of Brotherhood of the Wolf" (split into 13 parts detailing even more, like fight sequences and effects work, playable separately or all together and presented in fullscreen, subtitled in English). An interview featurette -- running 17 minutes, 25 seconds and presented in fullscreen -- with naturalist Michel Louis discussing the myth of the beast of Gevaudan is included, as are storyboards for 12 different sequences in the film.

Writer/director Christophe Gans' 2001 sophomore effort Brotherhood of the Wolf is as idiosyncratic an action flick as you're likely to find. A minor multiplex hit that found its legs on home video, Wolf is a willfully weird mash-up of period drama, gruesome horror, bone-crunching martial arts, spaghetti Western, bodice-ripping soap opera and thrilling whodunit, all served up in one improbably classy art-house package. While the film has been released previously in numerous DVD versions both in America and Canada, the most highly coveted one -- a three-disc Canadian set -- is currently out of print. For now, fans of this film will have to be content with this two-disc offering, which still manages to omit some essential features. Recommended.