Be wary of your local board game store: There’s a chance that it might just get you thrown into another land.
Just ask poor little Alan Parrish, who got sucked into Jumanji and only returned to our world decades later. Or maybe ask Danny and Walter, two boys who found out the hard way that playing Zathura would catapult their home into outer space.
Well, now you can add another title to your “avoid” list: Werewolves. In Family Pack, a poor French family plays this social deduction game together. It sends them all the way back to France circa 1497, where prowling werewolves hunt innocent peasants.
It’s not long before the family figures out that somehow, the game itself has sent them back in time. After all, each one of them seems to have gained the supernatural abilities of the card they were originally dealt. That’s why, for instance, family patriarch Jérôme (who got the “Seer” card) can read the minds of those around him. And the other five family members quickly discern what their own abilities are, too.
Of course, if the game sent them back in time, then perhaps it’ll return them if they beat the contest, which requires discovering and slaying the four werewolves lurking somewhere around town.
Easier said than done … especially when one of the family’s own may actually be a werewolf, too.
When the family goes back in time, its members arrive with powers related to the card they received at the beginning of the game. And Jérôme’s father, Gilbert, receives super strength and mental fortitude—a power which also takes away all traces of his dementia.
Recognizing what has happened, Jérôme and Gilbert have a heartfelt talk. Jérôme admits to Gilbert that he regrets not visiting more often, and Gilbert acknowledges the difficulty of watching a loved one’s cognitive abilities fade away. Jérôme commits to spending more time with Gilbert if they return to their present.
Every character uses his or her powers to protect others or alleviate their circumstances. Likewise, when things go south, the family is unwilling to abandon people to save themselves.
The powers that the family members receive tend to mirror their character or personality in some way. For instance, Clara is made invisible in contrast to her desire to be an influencer on social media, and Jérôme, who has trouble connecting with his family, is able to read their minds. The magical game is provided via someone named the “Man in the Wolfskin.”
People are executed because of the belief that they are witches, wizards or werewolves. Someone claims to have the power of Cupid.
People swear before God to be innocent of crimes. Women claim a man has the “voice of an angel.” Someone says that a man’s soul should “burn in hell for the rest of time.” A woman describes an area as “a bit like hell.” Jérôme sings a song, and one of the lines is, “All it takes is a spark and a word of love to get the demons and the gods to dance.”
Someone blasts a werewolf with magic and raises another character from the dead. The priests in the film are painted in a negative light. A priest crosses himself. A church is damaged. A priest says that marriage is an unbreakable sacrament and that divorcing is committing heresy.
Jérôme’s wife, Marie, recounts a time when she cheated on Jérôme by allowing another man to kiss her neck and feel under her blouse. Jérôme and Marie kiss a few times.
The group encounters Piero, a gay man. He explains that he hides his sexuality for fear of what punishment he may receive. He makes a couple of comments about his attraction to Jérôme, and he later paints a portrait depicting Jérôme’s face.
On a similar note, Marie claims that Théo “struggles with his identity.” Given that someone earlier misidentified Théo as a girl and because he is given a power that lets him transform into the appearances of different men and women, the movie is likely attempting to make a point regarding fluid gender identity.
When a man asks if Jérôme has seen his wife’s buns, Jérôme is taken aback before learning that she has baked bread. Someone claims that the objects inside of a jar are “squirrel balls.” Someone asks Jérôme if he has “scabs on his scrotum.” Marie makes fun of a couple men, alleging that the size of their genitals is smaller than they let on.
A man is decapitated during an execution. While we don’t see the event, we do witness the victim’s blood splatter onto Jérôme’s clothes. Others narrowly escape being burned at the stake. Arrows repeatedly strike an unfortunate man, though he recovers from the wounds.
A soldier strikes a werewolf with an arrow, killing it; it then reverts back into the now-corpse of a 17-year-old girl. Another young girl gets choked and slammed against a stone wall, killing her (though she is later brought back to life).
Gilbert, with his power of super strength, punches a knight across a field. He also uses his strength to kill a werewolf offscreen, and he returns with some blood staining his face. Théo likewise bleeds from a scratch across his face. People battle a werewolf in a claw-and-fist fight.
A few men advocate in favor of beating their wives. Some women talk about being beaten by their husbands. Someone in the distance screams in agony. A man is knocked unconscious after being hit on the head.
Marie tells women that, in the future, they’ll have the right to use their bodies however they want, which may be a reference to abortion.
“D–n” and “h—” are both used a few times. “B–tard,” “p-ssed” and “crap” are used once. God’s name is used in vain twice. (The language concerns listed here are all found in English subtitles.)
Someone claims Theo is on drugs. A character asks for a cup of wine.
Clara encounters rude comments and sneering looks due to her skin color. Théo’s powers necessitate him stealing from others.
When I was little, I really liked the original Jumanji and Zathura movies. In fact, I even had the Zathura: Adventure Is Waiting board game. Compared to the movie? Well, let’s just say there was more than a little disappointment when my house didn’t fly into space (probably because of its strong foundation). Based on the 4.5/10 rating on BoardGameGeek, many others felt the same as me.
But as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one intrigued by the concept of a board game that would whisk its players into a live-action game until they completed it—because the “genre” lives on in the 2024 French film Family Pack, which recently reached No. 5 on Netflix’s Top 10 most-watched movies in the U.S.
This modern release takes on social deduction games and is most notably inspired by The Werewolves of Millers Hollow, a French card game based on Mafia. And like many modern movies, it comes with some modern ideas, too.
Most notably, some scenes deal with homosexuality as well as others which hint at gender identity issues and abortion.
As far as violence goes, blood is kept to a minimum. However, some people do die, including a teenager and a child (though the latter is revived). And in terms of other issues, a few sexual quips are made referencing male genitalia and a sexual encounter.
Family Pack whisks its players into a game of social deduction, but some of its rules may not be ones viewers will want to abide by.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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