The Night of the Hunted

The Night of the Hunted (1980)

Genres - Drama, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Sex Horror  |   Run Time - 90 min.  |   Countries - France  |   MPAA Rating - R
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

This offbeat mixture of eroticism and dystopian science fiction was directed by French cult figure Jean Rollin. While driving along a lonely road in the middle of the night, a man (Vincent Gardnere) sees Elizabeth (Brigette Lahaie), a beautiful woman, wandering by the side of the road, obviously disoriented and wearing only a flimsy white nightgown. Another woman, Veronique (Dominique Journet), equally dazed and entirely nude, looks on. When Elizabeth collapses, the man takes her back to his home, where she confesses that she has amnesia and isn't sure what's happening to her. The two feel drawn to each other and spend the night making love, but the man's home is invaded, and Elizabeth is taken away. Trying to find her, he discovers that Elizabeth and Veronique have been taken back to a mysterious asylum from which they escaped, where a variety of surreal and sexually-oriented tortures await them. Shot on a low budget in a mere two weeks, La Nuit des Traquees was heavily cut in most of its video releases prior to its appearance on DVD; it was released in English-speaking countries as The Night of the Hunted.

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Keywords

amnesia, asylum [mental hospital], cult, eroticism, France, surrealism