I had the pleasure of consulting him on his original artistic direction for the original film,” says Bigueur. 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. We focused much of our efforts on the torch-lit scenes, working to recover as much detail in the shadows and making the blacks look deeper. However, there have been some notable lycanthropic tales between then and now, such as Neil Jordan’s haunting The Company of Wolves, the fun Jack Nicholson romp Wolf and the sleazy genius of Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (honestly, go treat yourself), but putting 2014s excellent Late Phases to one side, the 21st century has been relatively void of anything approaching the quality of the previous two decades when it comes to werewolves and their like.

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. Updated daily and in real-time, we track all high-def disc news and release dates, and review the latest disc titles. The box set introduces a brand new 4K restoration of the Director's Cut of Brotherhood of the Wolf, which can be seen in native 4K and 1080p, that was completed at Hiventy in France and endorsed by Christophe Gans. Lavishly filmed and thrillingly gripping, Christophe Gans’ film is an irresistible mix of period drama, blood-pumping action and chilling horror.The film tends to lean towards the latter, but it’s done with such gumption and incredible style that you can’t help but get swept up. Originally filmed in 35mm and scanned in a 2K 8-bit in the early 2000s, it quickly became apparent that the digital scans from 2000 wouldn’t be sufficient for remastering in 4K Dolby Vision . De Fronsac himself is shown to be a man of science and logic, whose experiences travelling the globe have left him with a broader scope by which to view the horrific events that have beset this area – he agrees that these are not the actions of a normal wolf (rabid or otherwise), but does not believe for a second that the explanation is in the least bit supernaturally founded. The key difference between the Theatrical and Director's Cuts is the motivation of the main protagonist in relation to the two main female characters who orbit him, however both cuts work, it's the UK hybrid cut which is, by comparison, far more frustrating as it includes the scenes excised for the French Theatrical release BUT removes all scenes relating to the royal huntsman, making several important arcs less coherent.

Commentary One - Christophe Gans recorded this archival audio commentary four years after he had completed Brotherhood of the Wolf and confessed that in that time his state of mind had changed a lot. Some of this might be attributed to the fact that the version I watched on this disc was the extended ‘director’s cut’. When you are lucky enough to work with a great cinematographer like Dan Laustsen, you know that you’ll have incredible, rich images that were shot well in the first place,” says Bigueur. Use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to agree or disagree that the title is similar to Brotherhood of the Wolf. You can probably tell from my comment above about Shout’s previous Blu-ray release that I was no fan of the transfer used there.

The documentary also contains plenty of raw footage from the shooting of the film, interviews, tests, and more.

After a genuinely rough-to-bad Blu-ray release, Scream Factory does right by fans and collectors with a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Collector’s Edition of Christophe Gans’ stylish period martial arts horror epic Brotherhood of the Wolf. The action scenes as mentioned are the highlights and the horror and gore are kept to a minimum, while the CGI monster has dated somewhat. Political intrigue meets high-stakes violence as the Grégoire and Mani investigate further and further. This unusual and exciting period murder mystery/horror/action film has had a new 4K remaster and is now released onto Blu-ray and 4K UHD by Studio Canal. STUDIOCANAL announce a stunning brand-new restoration of the thrilling 2001 cult classic BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF Director’s Cut by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Renier, Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci.

Gans is a wonderful chat, which should come as no surprise since he was such an outspoken film critic before becoming a filmmaker. French director Christophe Gans unleashed his first full feature, Crying Freeman, back in 1995, based on the popular manga of the same name. As Fronsac and Mani investigate the incidents around the area, they become inclined to believe that this ‘beast’ is far from the large wolf many claim it to be and it may, in fact, have a human owner controlling its actions.

Second place on the Blu-ray-only chart went to last week's champion, Walt Disney Home Entertainment's .The Theatrical Version of the film runs at approximately 139 minutes and omits several scenes, the more important ones involving Bellucci's character, Sylvia. From the opening beast attack to that thrilling first fight to the film’s final moments, this is a rich and active soundscape.