The Night of the Hunted

This movie is a psychological and sexy thriller starring one of the most beautiful women to have ever graced celluloid.... Brigitte Lahaie! Strangeness? Check! Skyscraper full of amnesia patients being experimented on? Check! Chase scenes/confusion/copious amounts of nudity/macguffins and deep twists/surprises? Check! Check! Check! Check! Check! Don't hesitate with these ltd releases by indicator/powerhouse films... Five Star All the Way!

Imagine a film set in a stark, clinically appointed urban apartment tower, populated by people that had been exposed to a nuclear disaster that is slowly erasing their memories and motor function, first reducing them to pure id and eventually leaving them as nothing but breathing husks. Imagine they’re trapped in this tower against their will by doctors looking for a cure at any cost, doctors who coldly euthanize them once they’re a liability. Imagine a film for which David Cronenberg did all the pre-production, then handed it off to Jean Rollin to film over nine days with the budget of a porno and you’re probably imagining Night of the Hunted. That last sentence is only half-true: Cronenberg had nothing to do with this (though there are major Shivers vibes throughout), but Rollin was indeed hired to direct a porn film and used the minuscule budget/time instead to riff on the emptiness of life without his favorite things: memory and nostalgia. In that way, this is a very unique entry in his filmography, because the concept, by its nature, keeps him from doting on his usual topics. Though Night of the Hunted ultimately feels undeveloped, hindered by its incredibly tight budget and production schedule, it’s still fascinating to see how an aesthete with a tendency toward the gothic interprets metropolitan frigidity through such a cerebral concept. Rollin once again casts Brigitte Lahaie as the lead, and she’s absolutely striking, carrying the film despite its sparse dialog and plotting. I was a little distracted by how much Vincent Gardère looks like David Naughton — however, no appearances from spectral best friends that are horribly mutilated. But I digress. Like many of Rollin’s films, I found myself unsure how much I liked it in the immediate aftermath, only to find later that its elemental allure had seeped into my brain folds. What initially seemed like a pleasant but trifling and kind of inertia-less detour now strikes me as a rich meditation on what could possibly remain of our humanity without our memories. Though Rollin is no stranger to endings that stick with you, Night of the Hunted features perhaps his most poignant, beautiful, and hopeful.

A Jean Rollin later film and classic starring one of my favorite Rollin girls Brigitte Lahaie with a mysterious sci fi plot, cold city setting, great cinematography & acid jazz score also has Lahaie's best sex scene! Watching these movies on blu ray is like watching them for the first time, high rewatchability if your into cool cinematography, french jazz & Brigitte Lahaie with amnesia escapeing from a ghostly hospital, which might be the cause of her memory failure highly recommended if you're into it

Not only was this movie w its twits n turns, what is the mystery of the black tower? Who wer those doctors? What was wrong w them n the first place? All these n more r answer n jean's twisted way, not to mention brigitte nude!!! N the two deleted sex scenes makes it a crime not to own If ur a jean rollin fan as I am, i would get this movie, jus to b a part of his legacy As well as... Demoniacs Fascination R some of my highest rating for rollin's films, I bought this film, N u should TOO!!!

Imagine the terror of losing every shred of your memory. Every piece of your past is nothing but a ambiguous broken puzzle. There is no foundation for you to grasp on to and seek comfort in. Night of the Hunted is quite an unsettling case of lost identity. Director Jean Rollin pulls you into another mental realm, one that is devoid of all familiar conscious thought. This is quite a diversion from his typical stuff. It's still a low budget affair equipped with minimalist sets and beautiful porn star actresses. Graphic nudity and bloody madness also get arbitrarily inserted, but are minimal and fairly inconsequential to the plot. This is more just a psychological jaunt. It feels like a cross between Memento and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A group of people are unwillingly confined to a tower. Lab rats, yee-haw! Due to a radiation leak, their brains are rotting away as they lose their memories and motor functions. As their mental capacity continues to diminish, their loneliness and anxiety becomes insurmountable. They all desperately form false memories in order to cope and connect with other people. There also is of course a sinister doctor watching closely and determined to safeguard their horrible fate. Night of the Hunted is not some brainless gorefest. We are forced to watch a group of disoriented people from a somewhat detatched perspective. It is difficult to fully connect with their hopeless predicament and grasp the true horror of their situation. Thumbs up!

Great Highly Recommended!

I didn’t like it

The director Jean Rollin makes rather off beat films, a little strange using very beautiful women.