Night of the Hunter (1955)

The old Universal horror movies like Wolfman and Creature from the Black Lagoon get more love as trendsetting genre films rather than as quality pictures, but Night of the Hunter homages their stark black and white images with a more horrible creature than they ever could have conceived. A beautiful film that did not get its due back in the day, Night of the Hunter is fucking awesome.

     In his opening scene, Reverend Powell (Mitchum) tells the audience about how he murders widows for their money, setting up the monster of the film. Then we move to John (Chapin), our young hero, who promises his bank robbing father he will never tell where the money is held. When Powell comes looking for the money, John will have to stand up for his mother and sister Pearl as they succumb to Powell's evil charms.

     This movie goes hard. Not just with gorgeous contrasts of black and white, but with switchblades and shotguns brought to arms. Powell unearths the hypocrites in society and in himself, playing them to get what he wants. Besides cash money it's hard to really tell what he wants. He's a monster who roams the earth spreading pain and misery because he enjoys it. His time ends not because a great number of people stand against him but because a few see through his lies and corner him like an animal.

     All actors here are kicking ass. Mitchum channels every inch of his charm and lethal bravado into Powell, romancing and menacing in equal terms. John actor and Cooper actor stand strong and resilient, not believing the evil with believable speculation. Shelley Winters shines as an almost wraith-like entity, a shell of a person who goes along with Powell because she's told she has to make a choice to marry him not because she wants to. One could see how she's dead from the beginning and Powell only hastens the process.

     Overall, one of the masterpieces of noir, crime, southern gothic, whatever. Just a damn good dark film that everyone who likes movies should check out.