Editorials
‘The Night of the Hunter’: An Underseen Southern Gothic Masterpiece
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.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Trap’ – Official Trailer Previews a Wild New Horror Experience from M. Night Shyamalan
‘The Exorcism’ – Russell Crowe Stars in Horror Movie Formerly Titled ‘The Georgetown Project’
You must be logged in to post a comment.