Central France, the mid-18th century (wake up at the back - it gets better). Despite numerous hunts, a mystical beast (told you so) is still making coq au vin out of the community.
Enter Royal envoy Samuel Le Bihan and kung fu Tonto Mark Dacascos, who swagger into an under-siege village only to find themselves unwelcome from twitchy yokels who prefer the familiarity of a slathering monster to prying outsiders. Seems in the so-called Age Of Reason, superstition's still king...
A fantastical elaboration on an already preposterous true story, Christophe Gans' crossover hit is fusion cinema pushed to its limit: chop-socky, monster movie, gothic horror, conspiracy flick, whodunnit, Western and romance. But Gans' B-movie nous makes it the junk-food blow-out of visual feasts. Length's a problem, as is some shoddy beastie CGI, but its freak-or-uniqueness ensures cult kudos.
DVD Extras:
Want to know more about The Beast Of Gévaudan? Tough: the one extra here amounts to 20 minutes of French naturalist Michel Louis - a kind of Slimfast Frank Butcher - plugging his book.
