It’s a horror film that went under the VOD radar in France after an advance presentation at the 2022 Gérardmer Fantasy Film Festival. Its arrival in the Netflix catalog gives it a second chance, and a good one!
French subscribers seem to have been won over by this gruesome period thriller as it climbed to third place with the best views. Directed by Sean Ellis (Cashback, Operation Anthropoid), Eight For Silver (Cursed Original Version) tells the story of the suffering of a 19th-century rural French village threatened by a werewolf.
The film more specifically follows the investigation of John McBride (Boyd Holbrook), a pathologist who examines the body of a fourteen-year-old boy found in the woods. Is this murder the work of a man or a beast?
Resources are available to John McBride, who is hosted by a wealthy landowner, Seamus Laurent (Alistair Petrie) and his wife, Isabelle (Kelly Reilly). A couple is in despair over the disappearance of the victim’s friend’s son. While Isabel finds solace in John, the latter is confronted with the horrors of his past as the investigation progresses.
A French fantasy legend inspired this horror film!
You should know that the movie Eight For Silver is inspired by a famous French fantasy legend: The Beast of Gevaudan. This name was given to one or more dogs that allegedly committed fatal attacks on humans in France between 1764 and 1767, mostly in the north of the former Gevaudan country.
The case grew a lot at the time and fueled many rumours, beliefs and curses spread by civilians but also by the press and newspapers that needed sales. The Beast of Gevaudan mobilized numerous troops after him, and the attacks miraculously stopped after the wolf-like dog was killed in 1967.
Historians agree that it was the work of wolves that became cannibals, even if some biologists, theorists and other essayists dispute the origin of these animals, or even the true animal or human nature of this “Beast of Gevaudan”.
This legend has repeatedly inspired fiction, especially in cinema, with Yves-André Hubert’s TV movie (1967) or Patrick Wolson’s TV movie (2002), as well as Christoph Gans’s Le Pacte des Loups (2001) and more recently, Eight for Silver.
The movie Eight For Silver is available on Netflix.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
