The Night of the Hunter

Name: The Night of the Hunter
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Film-Noir
Released: July 27, 1955
Duration: 92 min
Rating: 97
Cast: Billy Chapin, Don Beddoe, Evelyn Varden, Gloria Castillo, James Gleason

1955

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 135 Ratings

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8.3

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8.3	User Score Universal acclaim based on 135 Ratings

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The Night Of The Hunter

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: July 27, 1955 | Approved

Starring: Billy Chapin, Don Beddoe, Evelyn Varden, Gloria Castillo, James Gleason, Lillian Gish, Peter Graves, Robert Mitchum, Sally Jane Bruce, Shelley Winters

Summary: A traveling preacher's (Robert Mitchum) nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow (Shelley Winters) are uncovered by her terrified young children.

Director: Charles Laughton and Robert Mitchum and Terry Sanders

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Film-Noir, Film-Noir

Rating: Approved

Runtime: 92 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Beautiful, haunting, poetic, and intensely personal, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER is a unique, terrifying masterpiece. Read full review

100

Mark Asch

From its guileless exposition and comically life-drawn Americana, to its Scripture quotations and sensitivity to a child’s perspective, the film proceeds with a simplicity of inexhaustible depth. Read full review

100

Time Out London Tom Huddleston

It’s the most haunted and dreamlike of all American films, a gothic backwoods ramble with the Devil at its heels. Read full review

100

Ed Gonzalez

Perverse yet remarkably life-affirming, Night of the Hunter may be the best film ever made about spiritual perseverance. Read full review

100

Roger Ebert

One of the greatest of all American films, but has never received the attention it deserves because of its lack of the proper trappings. Many "great movies'' are by great directors, but Laughton directed only this one film, which was a critical and commercial failure long overshadowed by his acting career. Read full review

100

Michael Atkinson

Laughton understood Agee's proximity to Grimm vaudeville, and fashioned the most intensely expressionistic movie of its day. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

This start for Gregory as producer and Laughton as director is rich in promise but the completed product, bewitching at times, loses sustained drive via too many offbeat touches that have a misty effect. Read full review

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Oct 18, 2017

I started to watch the new Netflix show Mindhunter on monday, I'm on episode 2 and I was talking with some guys on Facebook about serial killers and thrillers about them, I love the genre, it's one of my all-time favorites. Someone mentioned this film and while I've heard about it before, II started to watch the new Netflix show Mindhunter on monday, I'm on episode 2 and I was talking with some guys on Facebook about serial killers and thrillers about them, I love the genre, it's one of my all-time favorites. Someone mentioned this film and while I've heard about it before, I never actually got the chance to watch it.
It has nothing to do with the show but the film is the adaptation of a novel inspired on a real-life serial killer.

And how is the film? it's incredible, it's so good, the story, the way in which was filmed, the noir style, the narrative, the performaces, especially Robert Mitchum, who's at the same time charming and a bastard, this film is really, really good.
Also something interesting is that while the film it's actually really old somehow it looks older, that doesn't mean it looks bad at all is just that the style doesn't fit to the style of other films I've seen from the 50's.

The Night of the Hunter it's a bleak film, I've heard some consider it a horror film and maybe it fits the category in some way but it's more a dramatic and suspenful experiencie than a horror one. Anyway, I really loved it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

cutnshoot

Apr 9, 2011

It is too bad that Chas never got to direct again. This is one of America's great films.....told as a fairytale "once upon a time" style. I saw it on late night T.V. in the 60's and have seen it many time since, (big time screen and T.V.) and it never gets old. One of Mitchum's best andIt is too bad that Chas never got to direct again. This is one of America's great films.....told as a fairytale "once upon a time" style. I saw it on late night T.V. in the 60's and have seen it many time since, (big time screen and T.V.) and it never gets old. One of Mitchum's best and unusual turns. There is nothing mediocre about this film at all. Doesn't get any better than this!… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

ryancarroll88

Aug 27, 2010

One of those movies that if I had seen as a child it would have terrified me to no end, and having seen it now, it just sits eerily in the back of my mind. It is truly a perfect thriller.

6 of 7 users found this helpful61

EpicLadySponge

Apr 18, 2016

Can't tell whether I'll see the Night of the Hunter again or spread the word about it to everyone and then see it again. It's funny because all of the options have 'seeing it again' meaning that I love this movie so much and that means you too.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

royalguy07

Jan 21, 2023

Lost me a little in the final 20 minutes, but the lead performance was so well crafted and haunting and the overall structure was perfect.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Compi24

May 28, 2015

Charles Laughton employs some badass imagery in his only directorial effort "The Night Of The Hunter," a fitting love letter to German Expressionism and Aesop's fables on good and evil.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

carldamnit

Nov 18, 2018

I'm giving it a 0 because it had beautiful shots but all the conspiracy theories about why it wasn't a success in its day bother me, it's not a good movie.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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