The Night of the Hunted

(Jean Rollin, 1980)
Release date: 21 August 2023
Limited Edition Blu-ray

One of Jean Rollin’s least-seen and most underrated works, The Night of the Hunted (La Nuit des traquées) finds the director moving away from his trademark tales of vampirism to explore a nightmarish, dystopian world.

In the dead of night, Elisabeth is rescued from unknown pursuers by Robert and taken to safety. But, after she is kidnapped and taken to an austere clinic whose distressed and abused patients are suffering from progressive memory loss, Robert sets out to find her and discover what is taking place in the clinic.

Shot at night on a shoestring budget, with a cast mostly drawn from France’s adult-film industry, The Night of the Hunted stars Rollin regulars Brigitte Lahaie (Fascination) and Natalie Perrey (Lips of Blood), and offers a stark and melancholic take on contemporary society.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K restoration from the original negative by Powerhouse Films
• Original French mono soundtrack
• Selected scenes audio commentary with writer-director Jean Rollin (2006)
• Selected scenes audio commentary with actor Brigitte Lahaie and Jean Rollin (2006)
• Audio commentary with film expert and author Tim Lucas (2023)
• Jean Rollin Introduces ‘The Night of the Hunted’ (1998): filmed appraisal
• Jean Rollin on the ‘The Night of the Hunted’ (2007): the director in conversation with festival programmer and journalist Joshua T Gravel at the Fantasia Film Festival, Montreal
• Perdues: ‘La Nuit des traquées’ (2023): updated documentary on the making of The Night of the Hunted, directed by Rollin’s personal assistant, Daniel Gouyette, and including interviews with Lahaie, critic Daniel Bird, and key collaborators Jean-Pierre Bouyxou and Natalie Perrey
• Le Pont (2023): short film revisiting the aqueduct seen in The Night of the Hunted
• Newly edited archival interview with Lahaie (2023)
• Newly edited archival interview with producer Lionel Wallmann (2023)
• Archival interview with porn performer Alain Plumey, who acted in The Night of the Hunted and Fascination, filmed at the Museum of Eroticism (2006)
• Filmed critical appreciation by author and musician Stephen Thrower (2023)
• Alternative sex scenes
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image galleries: promotional and publicity material, and behind the scenes
• New and improved English translation subtitles
• Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Ruairí McCann, archival writing by Jean Rollin on the making of the film, an archival interview with actor Brigitte Lahaie, and full film credits
• Limited edition of 10,000 numbered units (6,000 4K UHDs and 4,000 Blu-rays) for the UK and US