In classic film communities, November becomes Noirvember, a month dedicated to celebrating and viewing classic noir films. Film noir is defined by its black and white visual style, unbalanced compositions, and an overall mood of menace and fatalism. Derived from hardboiled crime fiction that emerged during the Great Depression, film noir usually revolves around crime and greed. Though its exact definition and categorization tends to still be up for debate, it’s most commonly associated with the crime dramas of the 1940s.

If you’re venturing into noir this month, The Night of the Hunter should be at the top of the list. A fairy tale noir and southern Gothic masterpiece, The Night of the Hunter is a beautiful work of art as well as a chilling horror tale that has influenced many modern filmmakers.

Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, The Night of the Hunter tells of Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a self-appointed preacher and serial killer who marries gullible women and murders them for their money. When arrested for driving a stolen car, he learns that his cellmate stowed away a lot of money from a bank robbery, though he dies before divulging the loot’s location. When Powell leaves prison, he sets about wooing his cellmate’s widow and menacing the man’s children, who swore they’d never tell where dad hid the money.

Upon release in 1955, the film was a flop both commercially and critically. It was the directorial feature debut of Charles Laughton, who’d had an illustrious career as an actor that overshadowed this effort, and the failure ensured he never directed another feature again. It’s a damn shame, too. While critical appraisal has long since turned around in the decades post-release, The Night of the Hunter works as a standalone promise of what could have been.

In his debut, Laughton proved a master of composition and shadows. The German expressionism that’s a common trait of film noir is there, but Laughton uses it to create a visual fantasy told through the lens of the innocent. Nearly every frame a stunning work of art. Laughton balances the dreamlike fairy tale quality with Southern Gothic horror. It’s not just the visuals and mood that creates a chilling film, but the fact that it presents one of the greatest villains in cinematic history.

There’s a strong possibility that even if you haven’t seen this movie, the image of Reverend Harry Powell with his infamous H-A-T-E and L-O-V-E tattoos across his knuckles will look familiar. “Ah, little lad, you’re staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand?” he asks young John Harper (Billy Chapin), in a façade of religious fanaticism and kind-heartedness. Underneath is a calculated killer, a sinister force of evil that stalks John and his sister Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) relentlessly for the entire narrative. Mitchum’s bone-chilling portrayal, complete with Laughton’s framing of him in shadows, makes for one dangerous foe that deserves more recognition.

Over the years, consensus started to turn around on the film, and it began influencing modern filmmakers. There’s speculation that David Lynch paid tribute to the film’s first shot with the closing shot of The Elephant Man, both featuring narrators among the floating stars. The Coen brothers make good use of the film’s song “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” in multiple films of their own, and the famous “the Dude abides” catchphrase from The Big Lebowski is a spin on the film’s quote, “Children are man at his strongest. They abide.”

Above all, though, from a modern horror perspective, none have worn the film’s influence on their sleeves quite like Ari Aster.

The final shot of the treehouse in Hereditary is a direct homage to The Night of the Hunter. In an interview with Film School Rejects, he revealed that the stunning and eerie image of a corpse underwater was at the forefront of his mind when crafting a specific aftermath shot that occurs halfway through Hereditary. The Night of the Hunter permeates modern genre film even while remaining an underseen gem.

Laughton’s single directorial effort tests the boundaries of what film noir can be, making it a perfect selection for Noirvember. The film closes out on Christmas, making it a perfect seasonal treat as well. There’s no wrong time to seek this film out, though. Stunning cinematography by Stanley Cortez, a fantastic score by composer Walter Schumann, Mitchum’s dangerous villain that brings unrelenting chills, and Laughton’s firm grasp of visual style that defies simple genre categorization come together to make The Night of the Hunter a true masterpiece.