The Hair of the Beast
The Hair of the Beast
| 01 October 2010 (USA)
The Hair of the Beast Trailers

Takes place in 1665 in New France at a time when a part of Canada was colonialized by France. Joseph Côté escapes from a prison in order to avoid death by hanging. Moreover, while some colonial soldiers are chasing him, Joseph takes the identity of a Jesuit and hides in the seigneury of Beaufort where most men are waiting for "daughters of the king." (French women who were sent to Canada in order to find a husband.) At night, Joseph finds out that there are werewolves that terrorize the village. Besides, things get complicated when he falls in love with Marie Labotte, a "daughter of the king" that no one wants to marry. All in all, by simply trying to protect his life and Marie's, Joseph will end up fighting against the werewolves.

Reviews
imdb4mea

This is not really a horror movie. If you are watching this because you are into frightening suspense horror with tons of blood and gore and mythology, than this is probably not for you.The werewolves could have easily been replaced with some non super natural cause, e.g. a real wolf or serial killers. That's not a bad thing, because this movie is not a mythology driven horror shocker, but more of a character driven road movie following an escaped criminal, who hides on some farm far out. And then the killing starts...What made me like this movie, it was never boring and the characters actually did somewhat plausibly things for people in rural Quebec in 1665. And did not do cliché "stupid" things, people in "real" horror movies do.The few special effects where better B-Movie quality and you should see this movie as a very good B-Movie.Spoiler ahead!My favorite line in the movie is about this (saw the German version)Nun (to girls, werewolf is about to attack): Pray! Pray!One of the girls: No! Grab something and throw yourselves on him!

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kosmasp

This is a light french horror movie. Spiked with humor throughout and a charismatic lead. It may not explain a lot (which can be considered either good or bad, depending on ones taste), but it does show a few things (though it is not too gory or anything of course). The suave way of the main character will either find you excited, happy and eager or numb altogether.I watched it at a Festival and really liked it. Not without its flaws of course, but as lightweight entertainment it does work very well. The story is easy to follow and might be predictable to anyone who's seen a few of those movies. If that doesn't put you off the fun, then enjoy

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gdesinis-948-812948

I've been a horror fan since childhood, and werewolves movies are so few so when a new title is out there, I try to watch it as soon as possible. But what a disappointment with this one. At the first ten minutes I realized that this wasn't a real horror movie, well, horror comedy is OK when you got the right tone, but here we got a mix of too much elements; comedy, suspense, fairy tale, horror?, folklore, and a very long etc. The problem is the mix, this movie goes nowhere, it doesn't have identity and the cocktail finally is way too tasteless. Not to mention the werewolves CGI that looks like play station 1. Well, at least it doesn't bore you, a few laughs over here and there, but I'll be waiting for a new "real" wolf man movie.

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yargmail

Joseph Côté is your typical "courreur des bois" (or wood runner), a scallywag who lives outside the boundaries of the law, the church, and social rules. We are introduced to him as he is about to get executed for innumerable petty crimes. Joseph escapes and manages to disguise himself by donning the garb of a dead Jesuit priest found in a ditch. Unknowingly, he has usurped the identity of Père Brindamour, a famous werewolf slayer. As he arrives in a village with the original intent of simply getting food and rest, he starts realizing that he's not the only visitor in the area as a werewolf kills one of his new acquaintances. People quickly look up to him, the unfortunate impostor, to rid the area of the beast (or beasts!).Believe it or not, I've quite enjoyed this movie over the remake of the Wolfman (2010). Sure, the effects are not as good (the werewolf will sometimes look like it's stuck in a cross-over between a video-game and a movie- but is still quite effective in any scene where he isn't seen in harsh light). This movie had at least one good jump scene that got most of the audience scream in surprise. And most of all, it's another wonderful blend of humor and horror put together. Those familiar with French-Canadian lore will notice the filmmakers tried to stay away from the religious explanation for the werewolf being (tradition has it that if someone hasn't gone to mass in 7 years, he becomes a werewolf), but they also did a nice job of steering away from the traditional Hollywood explanation too (though you might raise an eyebrow...)The acting is good, the atmosphere is creepy, the jokes work- the jumps as well. It's obviously not Oscar material, but it's still a fun romp in a new genre of movie never seen in Quebec before, a period-piece horror film. All in all, this movie should make it in the top ten of anybody's favourite werewolf movies.

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