The Night of the Hunted (5 Stars)

While watching Jean Rollin's films in 4K I'm giving them better ratings. Is it because I appreciate them more in better quality? Or am I simply enjoying them more after multiple viewings. Whatever the reason, I'm giving "Night of the Hunted" a five star rating for the first time. I don't understand why I ever gave it less.

A young man called Robert is driving home at night. He sees a woman yelling for help. He picks her up and offers to drive her home, but she doesn't know her address or even her name. As he soon discovers, it's not just amnesia. Her memories are breaking down. Within 30 minutes she forgets everything that's happened. She doesn't even remember getting into Robert's car. He takes her home with him and they become lovers, but the next morning their romance is forgotten.

The woman has been tracked by two mysterious doctors. They take her to a hospital where dozens of patients are suffering from the same symptoms. At least, they claim it's a hospital. It looks more like a bare apartment building. Anyone who tries to help a patient leave is shot. It's left open until the final scenes whether the doctors are trying to heal the patients or are responsible for their illness.

The narrative unfolds in a deliberately ambiguous way, focusing less on clear explanations and more on atmosphere, emotional disorientation and the terrifying idea of losing one's identity piece by piece. This ambiguity is what makes the film a beautiful masterpiece.

John Wick 2 (5 Stars)

"John Wick: Chapter 2" takes the sleek, stripped-down revenge framework of "John Wick" and expands it into something far more elaborate; not just a sequel, but a deepening of a strange, ritualised underworld that now feels almost mythic in scope.

In the first film, the mythology was tantalising but restrained. We glimpsed a hidden society of assassins governed by codes, currencies and neutral zones; The Continental stood out as a kind of sanctuary, its rules lending the violence a peculiar sense of order. John Wick himself was less a man than a whispered legend; "Baba Yaga" invoked in hushed tones, his past suggested rather than explained.

"Chapter 2" decisively pulls back the curtain. The sequel introduces the idea that this world is not merely a loose network, but a fully institutionalised hierarchy with global reach. The High Table –  an unseen governing body  – shifts the tone from crime thriller to something closer to dark fantasy; power is abstract, distant and absolute. This is no longer just about gangsters; it is about systems that feel ancient and unbreakable.

The expansion is most effective in its details. The gold coins, already present in the first film, are given greater texture as a kind of all-purpose currency that transcends national borders. Blood oaths, embodied in the "marker", introduce a feudal element; obligation is literal, sealed in blood and enforced with ritual gravity. These touches suggest a society bound less by law than by tradition, as though the assassins operate under a code older than modern civilisation.

Crucially, the film also widens the geographical scope. Rome becomes a stage for this underworld’s operations, with its own Continental branch and its own local customs. This decentralised yet unified structure reinforces the sense that John Wick’s world exists parallel to our own; invisible, but everywhere. The mythology grows not by exposition dumps, but by showing how the same rules manifest in different places.

Yet there is a trade-off. As the mythology expands, John Wick himself becomes slightly less mysterious. In the first film, his legend was defined by absence; here, the film risks over-defining him by embedding him more concretely within the system. His past is no longer just rumour; it becomes contractual, bureaucratic. The danger is that myth turns into lore, and lore into something almost procedural.

That said, the sequel cleverly uses this very expansion to trap its protagonist. By formalising the rules of the assassin world, Chapter 2 turns them into a mechanism of inevitability. Wick is no longer simply avenging a personal loss; he is ensnared in obligations he cannot escape. The climax, set within the mirrored halls of a modern art museum, feels like a visual metaphor for this shift; infinite reflections of a man who can no longer step outside the system that defines him.

In the end, "John Wick: Chapter 2" succeeds not just by raising the stakes, but by redefining them. The violence is still balletic and precise, but it now unfolds within a world that feels governed by mythic rules rather than mere narrative convenience. Where the first film hinted at a hidden order, the sequel reveals it; vast, intricate and ultimately inescapable.

It's a bold move. By expanding its mythology so aggressively, the film risks diluting the elegance of the original’s simplicity. Yet it also lays the foundation for a saga that can sustain itself beyond a single act of revenge. John Wick is no longer just a story; it is a world, and in "Chapter 2", that world finally takes shape.

Success Rate:  + 2.3

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Fascination (5 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's tenth film, made in 1979. It's yet another vampire masterpiece. The film takes place close to Paris in 1905. A jewel thief called Marc has betrayed the other members of his gang and is on the run across the countryside. He takes a refuge in a mansion occupied by two women, Eva and Elisabeth. They claim to be servants looking after the mansion while the owners are away, but Marc doesn't believe them. Unknown to Marc, the two women are waiting for the arrival of five other women to perform a yearly ritual.

While dancing with Elisabeth, she tells Marc, "At midnight you'll see what seven women can do to one man". There are only five women in this photo, but I'm sure they can handle a man as well. As a matter of fact, even one woman is too much for a man to handle. We see this when Eva kills the four gang members hunting Marc by herself.

Eva is played by the French actress Brigitte Lahaie. Jean Rollin met her when she took part in "Vibrations Sexuelles", a hardcore sex film that he made in 1977 when he was desperate to make money. He recognised her as a talented actress and promised he would give her a part in one of serious films. He hired her a year later for "Grapes of Death" (not yet available in 4K). She went on to appear in another three of Rollin's films, including "Fascination".

Lips of Blood (5 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's eighth film, made in 1975. It's a beautiful, emotionally moving film. Many of Rollin's fans consider it to be his best film, and I can understand why.

When Frederic was 12 years old he got lost late at night. He found an old castle whose sole inhabitant was a mysterious pale woman. He immediately fell in love with her, as 12-year-olds do. She let him stay the night in his castle, and the next morning she sent him back to his mother. He promised to come back the next day, but he didn't.

Time went by. Frederic forgot the woman. 20 years later he's at a party with his girlfriend, when he sees a photo of the castle being used in a perfume advertisement. Memories come flooding back. He's determined to find the castle again. But there's some sort of conspiracy. He contacts the photographer who took the photo, but she's murdered by a vampire before she can tell him.

When he eventually finds the castle, the woman is still waiting for him. She hasn't changed. She says that she's loved him all these years.

That's an oversimplification of the plot. There are a few shocks on the way. But the atmosphere is still haunting and beautiful.

Jean Rollin has a cameo as a funeral caretaker.

He's killed by four beautiful vampires when he's on the night shift. To be honest, this scene is totally gratuitous. But I can understand Rollin wanting a scene where four scantily clad vampires are on top of him. If it were me I'd insist on at least twenty takes before moving on.

Demoniacs (5 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's seventh film, made in 1974. He claims it was the first film for which he had a large budget available. This is obvious in the choice of locations, which are larger and more extravagant than in his previous films.

I was recently told, in a different context, that I overthink things. I denied this at first, but I can understand what my friend meant. Applying it to "Demoniacs", overthinking makes it difficult to enjoy the film. It's Rollin's most incomprehensible film so far. So much of it doesn't make sense. Maybe it would make sense if it were explained, but Rollin doesn't explain what happens. It just happens.

It starts with a real world background. A group of wreckers operate on the French coast. They're modern landbound pirates. They use lights and false signals to make ships run aground, where they steal the cargo and kill the survivors. The ship that they wreck in this film doesn't bring them great riches. The only chest that washed ashore contains clothes and a single necklace. But there are two survivors: the women shown above. Rather than killing them immediately, they rape the women first.

This is where the supernatural story begins. The two women haunt the wreckers as ghosts. Or are they really ghosts? In later scenes they're wounded in battle, but they heal from their wounds quickly.

The two women are found by a clown who takes them to a ruined castle to meet a bishop. He tells them that they can only get revenge by freeing a powerful being who's been held in the dungeons for centuries. A vampire? Don't overthink it. After releasing him, he gives them his power for 24 hours, so they can fight and defeat the wreckers.

The wreckers are men, with the exception of their leader Tina. She's cruel and sadistic, demanding that the men who follow her show no mercy on their captives. Do you recognise her? The actress is Joelle Coeur, who played one of the schoolgirls in "Schoolgirl Hitchhikers" a year earlier. This is her usual appearance, when she's not made up to look ten years younger.

Does the plot make sense? Not really. I didn't overthink it. You shouldn't either.

Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (3 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's sixth film, made in 1973. The title written on the box of the new 4K release is "Girls Without Shame", a literal translation of the original French title, "Jeunes filles impudiques". The title "Schoolgirl Hitchhikers" was given when it was dubbed for American audiences, to make it sound more racy. The film itself contains no hitchhiking, and the girls don't claim to be schoolgirls. The actresses were both in their late twenties when they made the film. The brunette Monica (Joelle Coeur) could just about pass for an older teenager, whereas the blonde Jackie (Gilda Arancio) looks more like a woman in her 30's.

It's a simple plot, a criminal story with erotic elements that borders on farce. Two young women are in the woods camping. They find an abandoned mansion and move in. What they don't know is that it's also being used by a jewel thief, who returns late in the evening. After a night of sex the two girls leave. The thief discovers that his jewels are missing and chases the girls. But it wasn't them.

This unnamed man is the thief. Do you recognise him? It's Jean Rollin himself. He did brief cameos in most of his films, but this is his only film in which he plays an important role. His name is missing from the credits.

Whatever the film is called, it's untypical for Jean Rollin's films and doesn't come up to the standard of his usual work. It's not bad, but there's nothing special about it. If you're a Jean Rollin fan like me you'll want it to complete your collection.

Requiem for a Vampire (4 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's fourth film, made in 1971. He's on a roll; four films, and they're all about vampires. Admittedly, his type of vampire is unlike any vampires shown in American or British films, but they're still vampires.

As any fan of Jean Rollin will tell you, the cinematography of his films is more important than the plot. He wants to paint luscious scenes. The pace often slows down so that the camera can pan across a gorgeous field, or a sunset. Enjoy the imagery.

You'll find recurring elements in Rollin's films. They almost all have cemeteries and castles. He's obsessed with vampires, clowns and lesbians; I can't say in what order. "Requiem for a vampire" begins with two clowns, Marie and Michelle, taking part in a car chase. They wander into a castle, where we see that they're lesbians. Later in the film they become vampires. The perfect mix for a Rollin film.

As usual, things aren't all explained. When asked why they're dressed as clowns, the girls say they were performing at a party. But they don't explain why they were being chased. Did they rob somebody? It's not important.

Jean Rollin says this is his best film. I disagree, because I find the BDSM scenes where the women are whipped distasteful.

A beautiful girl sitting on a grave. This is the sort of beautiful image that you'll find in Rollin's films. The actress is Marie-Pierre Castel, who has an identical twin sister Catherine who appears some of Rollin's other films. Supposedly, he always wanted them to appear together, but Catherine had to skip this film because she was pregnant.