This Rollin movie takes us into a surreal world, the cold architecture of satellite cities, with touches of 70s sci-fi from Rollerball to Rainer Erler, but nevertheless with Rollin's usual sex and gore obsessions. Several actresses had previous experience in the hardcore genre and provide gratuitous nudity, while any gore-hound will remember the suicide scene when the woman kills herself by stabbing a pair of scissors through her eyes into the brain. No, this is not a movie for the faint-hearted, but by no means a simple exploitation flick either.
Let us take a closer look at the story. Robert, a young man, drives through the night, when suddenly Elisabeth (Brigitte Lahaie) appears in front of his car. She seems confused and remembers nothing except her name and that she was trying to escape - but from where and from whom? Robert takes Elisabeth to his home, but a doctor followed them and he takes Elisabeth back to the place she ran away from - a lunatic asylum in a skyscraper. Robert has doubts that this a normal psychiatric hospital, it rather looks like a prison with the heavily armed guards. Does the doctor have a secret to hide?
This is a surprisingly quiet movie, literally. Music is often absent from the soundtrack. This stylistic means fits the situation of the mentally ill who complain about their loss of memory or lack of ability to use their limbs. Many scenes are painfully slow moving, but if you liked other movies by Rollin, you won't mind. That is setting a mood of intensity and concentration that you get into or you don't. The human touches are well done, especially the scene when Elisabeth feeds another inmate who cannot hold a spoon with her hands. Furthermore, I want to point out the memorable performance of red-haired Dominique Journet (in her first screen appearance!) as Véronique, Elisabeth's friend who tried to escape with her. When she loses the ability to speak and wanders around with empty eyes - behind which lies a scream -, such are moments of absolute horror, but in a very sophisticated way. The motif of two girls trying to survive together in a strange, hostile world, by the way, is one of the most typical for Rollin, see "Les Deux Orphelines Vampires" for example. And just like that later film, "La Nuit des Traquees" is a good movie for its low budget!
36% - Audience
5.6Plot summary
On a cold dark night, a man is driving through the countryside and discovers a young woman who seems to be running from something. The man stops and puts her in his car and does not notice another woman, who is completely naked, calling out for her. The woman tells the man that her name is Elizabeth; she insists there are people after her but she seems to be confused and frightened. He takes Elizabeth to his apartment in Paris and realizes she is incapable of remembering anything for any length of time. He tells her his name is Robert, which she has trouble remembering a few minutes later. She begs him not to leave her as she will forget him, and the pair make love, during which Robert tells Elizabeth to remember his face so she will never forget this time together. The next morning Robert has to go to work and when he's gone, Dr. Francis breaks into his apartment to persuade Elizabeth to return to the clinic, where she escaped from, where people are being treated for memory loss. On her return to the clinic, Elizabeth seems to remember the woman, the one who called out for her the night before, but they only remember each other's name, nothing more. The two of them attempt another escape and manage to get in contact with Robert, as Elizabeth remembers him, but they are both recaptured. Robert locates the clinic where he is told by Dr. Francis that the patients are suffering from a disease that slowly takes their memories away, and soon all the afflicted will become like the walking dead, but Robert refuses to believe this and is determined to rescue Elizabeth. The doctors at the clinic begin to dispose of the people whose memories have gone completely. Robert manages to find Elizabeth, but it is too late now that the disease has taken her completely. Dr. Francis shoots Robert in the head and he becomes just like Elizabeth. Unaware what is going on around them, Elizabeth and Robert walk side by side.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Quiet. Slow. Futuristic. Gory. Sexy. Surreal.
Very strange and haunting
One can always depend on French cult filmmaker Jean Rollin to come up with something bizarre and different -- and this quirky excursion into sci-fi territory certainly fits that particular outre bill quite nicely. The gorgeous Brigitte Lahaie delivers a fine and affecting performance as Elysabeth, a young woman who has been stricken with a peculiar mental disorder that's causing her to slowly, but surely lose both her identity and memories. Elysabeth finds herself trapped in an oppressive high-rise clinic building with a bunch of other people suffering from the same malady.
Rollin relates the intriguing premise at a deliberate pace, ably crafts a compelling enigmatic mood, wrings a good deal of pathos from the offbeat premise (the final image in particular is simply heartbreaking),makes good use of cold urban structures and landscapes, astutely captures the existential horror of being reduced to a mindless vegetable state, and, naturally, doesn't skimp on either the yummy female nudity or arousing soft-core sex. The sound acting by the capable cast holds everything together: Ravishing redhead Dominique Journet as the forlorn Veronique, Vincent Gardere as the smitten Robert, Bernard Papineau as the chilly Dr. Francis, Rachel Mhas as equally aloof assistant Solange, and Cathy Stewart as the needy Catherine. Kudos are also in order for Philippe Brejean's droning electronic score and Jean-Claude Couty's stark, yet still stunning cinematography. An interesting curio.
Strange and inept cult movie but not according to Rollin standards.
So far I disliked every single Jean Rollin movie I've seen, and that always bothered me because he's an acclaimed Euro-trash monument and extremely popular amongst many regular reviewers on this lovely website; people whose opinions I always value and usually concur with. Apparently everybody always appears to pinpoint some sort of gloomy and stylistic filming trademarks in his work that are completely lost on me. Rollin's movies are unimaginably boring, they all feature the same basic concept (lesbian vampires in various settings),the dialogs are incredibly absurd, the marvelous Gothic setting are always underused and the production values are cheaper than the price of a bus ticket. I had actually given up on Rollin's repertoire already (especially after enduring "The Iron Rose"),until I found out about "Night of the Hunted". Allegedly, this movie doesn't feature any lame lesbian vampires and stands as a bona fide horror movie with gruesome killings and macabre plot twists. And the verdict is yes and no! On one hand, this is undeniably the most compelling and inventive Rollin film I had the pleasure of seeing thus far (and also the only one that I watching without dozing off ). On the other hand, it still remains a moronic movie with a nonsensical plot and emotionless sex sequences to compensate for the dullness. Jean Rollin heavily attempts to generate an atmosphere of secrecy and suspense, mostly through a lack of information and vaguely introduced characters, but barely manages to hide the fact he actually hasn't got a story to tell at all. The unearthly beautiful lead actress Brigitte Lahaie and the beautifully ominous musical guidance are the only elements that keep you hooked on the screen. During a nightly drive back home to Paris, a young man abruptly has to stop for a confused and scarcely dressed girl who comes running from the woods. Her name is Elisabeth but furthermore she can't remember anything about herself and from what or whom she was running away. Her case of amnesia is so bad she even continuously forgets who picked her up. The next day, she's kidnapped again by an old guy and taken to a sinister apartment complex where multiple people in the same bizarre mental state are held captive. Elisabeth knows nothing, but she does sense she needs to escape from here. Obviously I won't reveal the denouement, but I can assure you it is quite dumb, illogical and far-fetched. Apparently Rollin realized this as well, because the explanation is kept very brief and quick. There's a large number of overly weird and senseless sequences, the sex footage is dire and filmed without passion, the nasty make-up effects look cheap and randomly thrown without actual purpose. As said, the score is mesmerizing and Brigitte Lahaie's perfect body is addictive to glaze at.