The Night of the Hunted, 1980 Film (Review & Photo Gallery)
This post is an overview of a beautiful and sad Jean Rollin's film
The Night of the Hunted. I've seen almost all of his films (if not
counting X-rated ones), and The Night of the Hunted is among my
favorite ones (my all-time favorite is
Fascination I wrote about here). The film stands out from the majority of Jean Rollin's movies:
interestingly, it's not about vampires.
Plot Summary
This French drama directed by a mastermind of
"Eurotrash" cult classic cinema—Jean Rollin, and originally titled "La nuit des traquées", is
one of the most effective solutions to drag yourself into sadness for 1.5
hours of watch time and probably for a couple of days after.
In a nutshell, it's a sad, tragic, and bizarre story about a young woman Elizabeth and her friends suffering from total amnesia and trying to escape from a mysterious asylum.
The film is playing a merciless but enjoyable game with viewers' emotions by exploiting their empathy and attraction towards the young, pretty, defenseless and scared women: gorgeous blonde Elizabeth (Brigitte Lahaie—a star of French porn in 70s-80s), shy and weak brunette Catherine (Catherine Greiner, also known as Cathy Stewart—a pornstar too) and a perky redhead Véronique (Dominique Journet—not a porn star, as far as I know).
In a nutshell, it's a sad, tragic, and bizarre story about a young woman Elizabeth and her friends suffering from total amnesia and trying to escape from a mysterious asylum.
The film is playing a merciless but enjoyable game with viewers' emotions by exploiting their empathy and attraction towards the young, pretty, defenseless and scared women: gorgeous blonde Elizabeth (Brigitte Lahaie—a star of French porn in 70s-80s), shy and weak brunette Catherine (Catherine Greiner, also known as Cathy Stewart—a pornstar too) and a perky redhead Véronique (Dominique Journet—not a porn star, as far as I know).
Exploitation Elements
Of course you will see all of them naked, which makes for being attracted
and compassionate to these pretty characters even more. In low budget 70s
exploitation movies nude scenes were always a requirement. Often against
the director's will, but helping films sell and attract more
viewers.
Speaking about the exploitation elements: apart from plain nudity you
will also find here some bloody violence, gun fights, a heterosexual love
storyline and a few sex scenes. Many details lack logic. For example, a
half of gun shots are ridiculously purposeless. But such silliness is the
trademark of Jean Rollin, and I find it even cute. He always cared more
about romanticism rather than logic (gun shots aren't something romantic
at the first glance, but they are a part of the romantic tragedy).
Conclusion
An ideal storyline is not what matters in such kind of a film. Its main
purpose is to drag you into an enigmatic atmosphere and evoke emotions.
I recommend The Night of the Hunted to those who are in the mood to spend a lonely night feeling very sad.
I recommend The Night of the Hunted to those who are in the mood to spend a lonely night feeling very sad.
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I love this film and all of Jean Rollin's personal projects. On the DVD commentary, he is quite scathing about this film (a very modest man), but I highly rate it - especially the melancholy/haunting finale. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember him being scathing, but yes, he looks modest. I remember him saying that he was offered by a producer to shot a porn film, and he counteroffered to shot a real film for the same budget, and here is the result.
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