06. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955, USA) [1,651.30 points; 20 votes]
S&S: 53 | TSPDT: 43 | BOXD: 141
MORBS SEZ: "The child actors in Hunter aren't particularly outstanding, are they? I also prefer about ten Mitchum performances to this one, even though he's indelible … Has a horror villain ever been dispatched by a superficial wound from an old biddy with a shotgun? then led away by the police... insufficiently apocalyptic ... also 'spawn of the devil's own strumpet' is one of my fave things to call kids … there's no doubt it's a superbly crafted religious-fable-meets-Big Bad Wolf film, but something about it still bugs me. Mostly Lillian Gish."Acting is so 2010. Concern for "good acting" has blinded many a viewer to genius cinema. And the condemnations are never insightful, pivoting on some bogus, received notion of verisimilitude. Yawn. And yeah, if you told me this was the greatest film of all time, I wouldn't argue with you for a second.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, May 20, 2011 11:53 AM
loooooooooove night of the hunter
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:17 PM
Once again, a film so ahead of its time it basically destroyed the director's career.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:18 PM
i still wish i liked this film more than i do
― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, January 1, 2004 12:44 PM
Old things bore me.
― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Thursday, January 15, 2004 8:40 AM
I love Curse [of the Cat People] for many of the same reasons I love Night of the Hunter. It doesn't read as "horror" as well to those who didn't enjoy the thrill of horror as kids.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Thursday, October 13, 2011 1:40 PM (7 months ago)
love night of the hunter, don't consider it a horror movie … i don't know what it is exactly
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:17 PM
i love this film so much i can barely bring myself to defend it. i dunno, i'm sure there are things to criticize about it, but none of the criticisms on this thread really ring true for me -- or if they do, i don't see them as flaws. like, the kids undeniably act 'poorly' and woodenly, but somehow that works for me as part of the texture of the film. i sure don't think that more 'realistic' kids would have made the film better.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, May 20, 2011 12:13 PM
I was genuinely shocked to see Shelley Winters dead at the bottom of the lake in a movie from 1955.
― it was a dark and stormy genitals. (Phil D.), Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:20 PM
TS Out Of The Past vs. Night Of The Hunter
Which is the iconic Robert Mitchum performance: the passive wisecracking tough guy or the malignant preachifying bogeyman? Votes cast for Cape Fear go to Night of the Hunter.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:00 PM
You cannot poo poo the scare factor of this movie if you didn't see it when you were a little kid. this was the catalyst of many years worth of nightmares. still one of my three or four fav movies evah, also solidified Robert Mitchum as my future sexual ideal. creeeeepy :(
― AIDS BENEDICT (Adrian Langston), Tuesday, December 28, 2004 5:01 AM
i put that "pretty fly" song on all my mixtapes back when i was small
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, July 20, 2010 5:08 PM
For a second I thought you were talking about "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and was confused.
― Cunga, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 5:20 PM
― Milm & Foovies (Eric H.), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:11 (two years ago) link