Night Of The Hunted
AKA La Nuit Des Traquées
Directed By Jean Rollin
Released: 1980
Starring: Brigitte Lahaie, Vincent Gardère, Dominique Journet, and Bernard Papineau
Running Time: 95 minutes
Region: 0 PAL
DVD Released By Encore Films

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One stormy night, as Robert (played by Vincent Gardère) is driving home, a young woman named Elysabeth (Brigitte Lahaie) wanders into the road wearing nothing but a nightgown. When approached, Elysabeth says that she remembers nothing of how she got there and where she is coming from. Robert takes her in his car without noticing another woman, named Véronique (Dominique Journet), walking naked in the woods calling out to Elysabeth. The two spend the night together but in the morning, Robert leaves Elysabeth alone in his apartment against her protests. She is accosted by Dr. Francis (Bernard Papineau) who informs her that she needs to come back to the “Black Tower” (a mental health facility) where they can treat her memory loss. Elysabeth goes with the doctor with only Robert’s phone number but no recollection of who he is.

The “Black Tower” is inhabited by other patients with the exact same ailment who are in various stages of madness and sometimes even devolution. Elysabeth meets her roommate Catharine (Catherine Greiner), a woman whose forgetfulness is destroying her motor control. When Elysabeth leaves her alone to be reunited with her friend Véronique (who she can barely remember), Catharine commits suicide. Seeing this as the last straw Elysabeth vows to escape the “Black Tower” with Véronique. This is not an easy as the corrupt staff and increasingly violent patients are both out of control. Elysabeth decides to use violence as a means to get out hoping that Robert’s phone number will lead her to salvation.

Night Of The Hunted is Jean Rollin’s softcore Kafka horror film. Philippe Bréjean’s airy electronic score is incredibly strange and perfect for the film. The cinematography delivers an unbearable feeling of desolation by highlighting the sometimes claustrophobic and always sparse sets. There are a couple of bloody gore setpieces (eye violence!) to be found and there’s plenty of sex to remind the viewer that this is indeed a trashy horror film (artful aspirations aside).

One of the hottest women ever to appear on film, Brigitte Lahaie (Grapes Of Death), is amazing as Elysabeth, our absent-minded heroine. There are other good performances in this film as well (Dominique Journet and porn actress Catherine Greiner are both excellent) but for my money, it really is Lahaie’s show. She perfectly conveys the horror of her situation: an unending present with no past and (predictably) no future.

A hauntingly beautiful and wickedly depressing film (dig that downer ending) with a frustrating pace and minimalist sets, Night Of The Hunted is a terrible place for viewers interested in Jean Rollin to start. Impatient viewers will be driven quite insane by this film’s tendency to linger towards its violent finale. However, seasoned Rollin fans will undoubtedly find reasons to return several times over to this oddity. Night Of The Hunted? More like Night Of The Really Friggin’ Forgetful French People. Yeah!

DVD Stuff:

The print of Night Of The Hunted here isn’t exactly a revelation. The film is definitely easy on the eyes in its anamorphic widescreen but the print has seen better days. There are scratches and specks aplenty with some brief moments of discoloration. These problems aren’t too distracting but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is the best print available of Night Of The Hunted. The remastered (French only) audio sounds very clear and the subtitles available in English, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. are clear and easy to read.

Where this two disc set really sings is in the extras department. We have a trailer for the film, an interview with Brigitte Lahaie, an interview with actor Alain Plumey (at the Museum of Eroticism), an interview with producer Lionel Wallmann (Lips Of Blood), 2 commentary tracks (one with Lahaie and Jean Rollin and another with just Rollin), and a super duper picture gallery. And how could I forget to mention the alternate scenes? In order to appease the growing adult market, Rollin was forced to film these. While they are not in the XXX extremes, these alternates are certainly more risqué than what made the final cut of Night Of The Hunted.

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Links:

Get this DVD from Xploited Cinema.

Check out Encore Films for more info.