| "A Jean Rollin Classic” |
| |||||
Night of the Hunted, The
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1980/ITALY RATED 18
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1980/ITALY RATED 18
6
| All written material is © from 2006 to Present at DVD Resurrections. This website is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The opinions which are expressed within these pages are solely those of DVD Resurrections. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One of the main criticisms I always encounter about Jean Rollins’ films are that they are slow. I have never picked up on that until this film. That
factor doesn't make it a bad film though as it has been touted as his weakest film . Night of the Hunted is a strange, sexual and slow moving film.
Throw in a bit of sci-fi in terms of architecture and this is what you will get.
A young man named Robert is driving at night when he suddenly sees a young girl appear in front of his car. The woman is Elisabeth (played by
Rollin regular Brigitte Lahaie), she is confused and dressed in only a nightgown and can not remember a single thing. Robert takes Elisabeth back
to his apartment where we are subjected to a very awkwardly long sex scene. When Robert leaves his apartment someone comes to take
Elisabeth away.
It turns out Elisabeth is an escapee from a lunatic asylum that is housed in a black and heavily guarded skyscraper. In this asylum everyone is
practically a vegetable. No one recalls anything or anyone and to make matters worse patients start dying all over the place. In terms of death
scenes we are privy to some pretty cool ones including scissors in the eyes, beatings, stabbings and scenes of exterminations very reminiscent of
Nazi style executions of Jews. I felt that there was a correlation trying to be made between the methods of the SS soldiers and their treatment /
experiments of the Jewish people and the way the mental patients were being treated and disposed of, especially considering the patients were
transported in trains, much like the Jews were as the SS herded them from all over Europe.
There's usually a lot of surrealist elements to Rollins' films, and I didn't really find many in Night of the Hunted. Its a languid paced film that is more
dreamlike than surreal. Full of stark imagery, nudity and blood this is an exceptional film from Jean Rollin that is probably more suited to fans of
slow paced Euro-art films, rather than the horror, and especially fans of Rollins’ lesbian vampire horror films.
factor doesn't make it a bad film though as it has been touted as his weakest film . Night of the Hunted is a strange, sexual and slow moving film.
Throw in a bit of sci-fi in terms of architecture and this is what you will get.
A young man named Robert is driving at night when he suddenly sees a young girl appear in front of his car. The woman is Elisabeth (played by
Rollin regular Brigitte Lahaie), she is confused and dressed in only a nightgown and can not remember a single thing. Robert takes Elisabeth back
to his apartment where we are subjected to a very awkwardly long sex scene. When Robert leaves his apartment someone comes to take
Elisabeth away.
It turns out Elisabeth is an escapee from a lunatic asylum that is housed in a black and heavily guarded skyscraper. In this asylum everyone is
practically a vegetable. No one recalls anything or anyone and to make matters worse patients start dying all over the place. In terms of death
scenes we are privy to some pretty cool ones including scissors in the eyes, beatings, stabbings and scenes of exterminations very reminiscent of
Nazi style executions of Jews. I felt that there was a correlation trying to be made between the methods of the SS soldiers and their treatment /
experiments of the Jewish people and the way the mental patients were being treated and disposed of, especially considering the patients were
transported in trains, much like the Jews were as the SS herded them from all over Europe.
There's usually a lot of surrealist elements to Rollins' films, and I didn't really find many in Night of the Hunted. Its a languid paced film that is more
dreamlike than surreal. Full of stark imagery, nudity and blood this is an exceptional film from Jean Rollin that is probably more suited to fans of
slow paced Euro-art films, rather than the horror, and especially fans of Rollins’ lesbian vampire horror films.
| BUY DVD @ AMAZON.CO.UK |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||
| Search Review Database: |