Originally release as a 91 minute X-rated feature titled Le journal érotique d'une Thailandaise or An Erotic Journal of a Lady from Thailand, this French Emmanuelle knock-off isn't part of the official canon of movies based on Emmanuelle Arsan's erotic novels even though it names itself as the third in the series. Rather this flick was just an attempt by producer Dick Randall to cash in on the franchise name, and in it's Not-Rated form runs 75 minutes and skimps on the hardcore action. Once Goodbye Emmanuelle, the actual third movie in the real series was released on video as Emmanuelle 3, the rights owners changed this picture's name to Emmanuele 3. Not that it matters: there isn't even a character named Emmanuelle in this story about a fashion photographer's exploits in Thailand as the woman billed as "Emmanuelle" and played by Asia hottie Sylvie Cointre is actually named Clito. The big draw here, however, is ultra-babe Brigitte Lahaie, a classic French blonde porn star with a positively killer body who gets down and dirty in several scenes. Also adding to the many flesh minutes in this picture is Lahaie's near-doppleganger France Lomay, and fellow Parisian porn vets Catherine Greiner, Marilyn Jess, and Julia Perrin. Also filling out the cast in all the right ways are an uncredited gaggle of honeys we're calling "Unknown Emmanuele 3 Harem Girls" and an Indonesian actress known simply as Manu who spends a lot of time getting sudsy with France Lomay.

Exploitation writer/director Jean Rollin's 1980 horror film about the repercussions of an environmental accident and it subsequent cover-up is, on the surface, a rather different kind of picture for the auteur. Rather akin to early David Cronenberg works Shivers and Rabid, La nuit des traquées plays out in a contemporary setting - a Parisian high-rise sanitarium in place of Shivers' Canadian condominium complex - and stars a former porn star - the positively breathtaking Brigitte Lahaie in place of Rabid's Marilyn Chambers. But the similarities end there as Rollin is more concerned with the doomed relationship between his leads than any political intrigue or conspiracy. If you're familiar with the writer/director's work, it's easy enough to understand why: there's a lot more opportunity for exploitative nudity and gore if the focus is intimate rather than far-reaching.

As a result, this story about a man trying to uncover the mysterious past of a beautiful escaped inmate from a well-guarded psychiatric clinic is still a uniquely Rollin film. Though there are larger ideas presented, (the patients' exposure to the biological hazard results in symptoms similar to Alzheimer's and their ill-treatment is jarring), there's plenty of smutty action here as many of the female patients are portrayed by former adult stars and spend a good portion of their time naked! There's also some seriously gratuitous violence including a rather infamous scene where a patient winds up exactly the way all children are told they'll end up if they run with scissors. Unfortunately, she didn't even get to run with her pair!

At times stilted and boring, there's plenty of exploitative elements to keep gorehounds and flesh hunters interested in the proceedings, especially when they involve Brigette Lahaie who has got to be one of the finest looking women ever to grace the screen. Not to be outdone, Dominique Saint-Cyr, Elodie Delage, and Dominique Journet (in her screen debut) all impress with their striking good looks. Of course the most memorable actress in the picture has to be poor Catherine Greiner. A French pornographic actress with 80 credits to her name during her decade long career, it's unlikely Grenier will ever be known for anything other than her aforementioned death by scissors.