Good movie but grossly overrated

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Canadian werewolf film with a historical setting, Quebec, New France, 1665, The Hair of the Beast tells the story of young man, the good-hearted petty thief type, caught in the middle of a creature hunt saga led by a specialist in lycanthropy, a priest, Father Brind'amour. When our anti-hero, the thief, gets mistaken as Brind'amour, a series of adventures start to unroll in the wild beautiful countryside of Quebec. The film goes back and forth between comedy and drama, and successfully manages to avoid being too trivial or too serious. There's a decent amount of blood and guts but most of the time the movie focuses on the lighter tones. It's nothing special but I enjoyed it, reminded me of Brotherhood of the Wolf but that one took itself too seriously, instead, The Hair of the Beast never ceases to discretely mock his protagonists, and intended or not, the werewolves themselves are actually looking like extra hairy overgrown pups. They're vicious alright, but the CGI effects fail to capture that aspect in their appearance. But it doesn't make a big difference in the economy of the film because they're actually fully revealed at the end and until then the occasional clawed paw or the mysterious shape quickly sweeping the foreground are enough elements to insert the necessary amount of tension. Though not at high standards, the film delivers a nicely woven creature tale set in a beautiful woodland in a time when horror figures of folk legends were actually feared and believed as real

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

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.

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.