It sounds like a bad pun to say the audience was howling with laughter by the end of "Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups)," but that's what happened.

What starts out as a freakish mystery about two men hunting a predatory beast in 18th century France devolves into a mishmash parody of kickboxing, ludicrous occult shenanigans and flaccid romance.

The French-language thriller by director Christophe Gans draws the first third of its story from real events, when nearly 100 people were killed horribly by some unknown creature in the 1760s.

That beast, most likely a wolf, was rumored to have supernatural powers, and the legend is France's version of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.

Arriving to lead the investigation are Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), a royal naturalist and taxidermist, and his assistant Mani (Mark Dacascos), an American Indian he met while exploring "New France."

Early scenes of the pair leading explorations into the wilderness to track the creature and compiling descriptions from survivors of attacks is genuinely creepy, with credit going to cinematographer Dan Lautsten for the movie's eerie luminance.

Then "Brotherhood of the Wolf" starts chasing its own tail.

Fronsac and Mani, we learn, are somehow expert martial artists who pause while kicking the life out of hordes of bad guys to preen and shake their flowing hair like models in a Vidal Sassoon commercial.

Whenever our heroes strike someone, it sounds like they're punching and kicking a sack of potato chips with a boom microphone inside. This film features some of the crispiest, crunchiest villains in the history of cinema.

When Mani strips down to a loincloth and chases after the beast with a tomahawk, even Tonto would shake his head in humiliation.

Peculiar fights seem to start for no reason. One moment Mani looks at some ruffians, the next they're pummeling each other. Once those guys are defeated, several others with deadlier weapons join the fracas, just like in a video game.

Meanwhile, Monica Bellucci (the Italian star of 2000's "Malena") turns up as a vampish prostitute who looks stunning when she's not sneering and slicing people with hidden knives — which is most of the time.

In the film's climax, we learn the true nature of the beast in a satisfying twist that's wasted here. The filmmakers seem to have been aiming at a poignant satire about the perils of religious fundamentalism. Instead, "Brotherhood of the Wolf" is proof that a good premise does not always guarantee a good movie.

"Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups)" is rated R for strong horror violence and gore and both male and female nudity. Running time: 142 min.